Faber Castell Peru: Workers organize in unions

05 April 2016 14:45

With the creation of the Workers' Trade Union of Faber-Castell in Peru a new step is given towards the genuine social dialogue and labour relations between the German multinational and its workers at the facilities of the city of Lima, Peru.

In a General Assembly, in mid-November this year, the workers of AW Faber Castell Peruana SA decided to form a union that groups together all workers and so allow a collective bargaining with the company as established by the Social Charter and / or the International Framework Agreement signed in 2001 between Count Anton Wolfgang Von Faber-Castell and the Building and Wood Workers' International (www.bwint.org).

Since the Social Audit, which was made in late 2014 and throughout 2015, the management of human resources of Faber-Castell Peru, the BWI leadership and workers' representatives have held talks with more than 850 workers about the working conditions in the plant.

At present, the international trade union family grouped in the BWI, and particularly its affiliate in Germany, IG Metal, that along with other Faber Castell's labour unions across the world monitors the Framework Agreement, has sent a greeting because of the maturity shown by the company and the newly born union organization. "...this Is a historical sign of maturity and social responsibility for one of the oldest companies in the world, as an example of high standards of quality among which are included the industrial relations of respect and consideration between the management and workers," said Nilton Freitas, Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the BWI, who today has also sent a letter to the general management in welcoming this initiative.

From the trade union side, the first union leadership sees this experience as the possibility of being represented before the employer, to have a cohesiveness as a group than as individuals they don't, which allows them to represent their peers in the various instances of the collective bargaining, sign the relevant collective work tools, ensure their compliance and enforce the rights that arise from them, in search of improving the living conditions of workers and their families, said Eddy Huamán, first General Secretary of the union leadership.