Unilever, General Motors: Worker Sharing Agreement

The economic paralysis caused by the quarantine is leading Argentine companies to seek novel solutions to get through the crisis and guarantee the continuity of employment.

An example of this is given General Motors and Unilever, who launched an agreement that will allow the transfer of their workers in Rosario, where both companies have production plants.

As a first step in this initiative, some 15 suspended GM operators will be able to actively work at the Unilever factory, says La Nación.

In addition, the operators will collect 70% of the salary they have been receiving from GM and to this they will add a full salary for their work at Unilever. It will be, it is expected, for a few months.

The idea was born at Unilever, where they explain that they want to show that in times of crisis you can think of tools that allow an improvement in the situation of workers.

“At Unilever we decided to carry out this initiative to make synergy with industries that are not operating today and have idle capacity. We contacted different companies from different industries and the first to join this strategic alliance, unprecedented in the market, was General Motors” said Melina Cao, director of Human Resources at Unilever.

And he added: “This agreement allows us to temporarily incorporate part of its payroll of workers to ensure supply in this context of a health emergency.”

At present, Unilever has 3,500 employees in Argentina (2,500 are in plants, distribution centers and points of sale) and 12% of its workforce is out of work because it belongs to the risk group..

For her part, Alejandra Trucco, manager of Labor Relations of General Motors, added: “The Unilever proposal and we liked it, because our activity is stopped, sales are stopped and we are making a great effort to keep the business running. ”

A total of 1,400 employees work at GM, and there are 1,200 production at the Rosario plant. “Since the pandemic, we have an agreement with Smata whereby they are all suspended, collecting 70% of salary with a commitment to job stability until on December 31 of this year. This is the driver that leads us to think about alternatives, “says Trucco, according to La Nación slogan.

So far, GM has no government help to pay the salaries, nor have Repros been awarded to them.

The proposal is broadcast by the automaker and people can voluntarily sign up to participate in the program. A selection process is carried out and they enter with the same salary charged by a Unilever operator in the same role.

GM also pays 70% of his salary. “The person continues to be employed by General Motors under his suspended condition,” says Trucco. “His job at GM is guaranteed and all contributions are made to him. It is all very transparent.”

Both professionals clarify that, since the two production processes are different, people will learn new skills that also contribute to employability.

Should GM need employees back, the contract is no longer in force and Unilever will hire new workers.

Other details of the agreement

What was signed was a “framework understanding agreement” to generate a program that allows Unilever to temporarily hire General Motors employees who are not operating today.

The workers will add the salaries of GM (70% due to suspension) and Unilever.

All those General Motors employees who work at the Villa Gobernador Gálvez plant (Santa Fe) – in the categories of multipurpose production and maintenance employees – who are in a situation of suspension of their employment contracts will have the opportunity to be hired temporarily. by Unilever.

It will be in accordance with the signing of the agreement of understanding, enabling the figure of “moonlighting“and making it possible for interested employees to participate in the program and work at the Unilever Plant located in said locality,” stipulates the agreement.

Employees who are hired by Unilever will have a term contract according to current regulations, and hiring conditions, and Unilever will assume all the legal and conventional responsibilities and obligations that correspond exclusively to the validity of said contract, indicates La Nación.

The personnel of General Motors that is effectively hired by Unilever, will maintain their status as an employee of General Motors, with all the rights and obligations corresponding to this situation and will maintain the payment of the percentage of suspension foreseen; in addition to the salary that Unilever will pay for the term of the contract.

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