The International Union of Food Workers (IUF) and Swiss union Unia have launched a campaign against Nestlé demanding the food giant respect workers rights.

Union representatives say the problem is largely at Nespresso factories in Asia. On Friday they introduced an awareness campaign called "Stop Nespressure" to highlight their grievances.

In Indonesia, workers who campaigned for the right to negotiate wages were subject to intense pressure from Nestlé management to abandon the cause, IUF said. Similar cases were reported in India and Hong Kong.

Nestlé spent SFr8.7 billion ($7.97 billion) last year buying back stocks to boost its earnings per share ratio. The IUL says that was 50 per cent more than what the company spent on salaries and wages for its workers.

Ferhat Soygenis, a spokesman for Nestlé, said the company rejects the allegations made by IUF and Unia. He said the food giant follows local laws and that there have been no infringements of guidelines set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"Nestlé is worldwide one of the preferred employers," Soygenis told swissinfo.ch. "Nestlé salaries and working conditions lie above the regional or national average, especially in developing countries."

Nestlé has 23 factories and roughly 15,000 workers in southeastern Asia and 456 factories with 280,000 workers worldwide.

swissinfo.ch and agencies

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