...Prosegur’s response does not address any of the allegations in the Specific Instance that UNI filed last month with the Spanish National Contact Point, and relies instead on a general dismissal of the allegations which UNI submitted to the NCP four years ago. Prosegur asserts that many of the issues that UNI raised in the 2013 specific instance were resolved in favor of the company. In fact, many of the problems in the case were resolved because Prosegur withdrew or settled lawsuits, including those it had filed against its own workers for exercising their rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining...The new Specific Instance offers evidence that, while some of the problems in the older complaint were resolved, the company’s approach to industrial relations has not changed fundamentally. There continues to be a threatening and hostile atmosphere towards trade unionists and the new case provides significant evidence concerning incidents in both Colombia and Peru. In addition, the new Specific Instance documents widespread failure to respect minimum legal standards in India.
By its own admission, Prosegur continues to take a decentralized approach that in practice gives wide discretion to local managers working in countries with poor labor rights protections to use a lower standard, rather than imposing one global standard that upholds international human rights equally across all of its operations, not just in western Europe...