Workers must be given the opportunity to assert their rights themselves. 

The aim is to give workers a stronger voice and more rights.

Safeguarding labour standards 

In the long run, labour standards can only be secured on a lasting basis if workers are given the opportunity to represent their own interests. Workers’ representatives and trade unions are the instruments that enable workers to demand – and monitor – enforcement of their rights in the workplace in the long term. That is why we work in partnership with IndustriALL Global Union, an international confederation of trade unions. 

International Framework Agreement to promote workers’ rights 

In September 2016, Tchibo became the first retail company in Germany to conclude a Framework Agreement with IndustriALL Global Union for our supply chains for non-food items. 

It ensures that workers have the ability to unionise and to engage in collective bargaining beyond our Social and Environmental Code of Conduct. The agreement is designed to make it easier for them work with local trade unions to negotiate wages, benefits and working hours both internally and industry-wide. It strengthens our commitment to trade union rights and social dialogue and thereby reinforces the topic of freedom of association and workers’ representation in the WE programme.