Permanent work contract is a guarantee against precariousness and offers the social protection needed to improve working conditions. Danone knows that. That’s why the company signed a convention on March 15, with UIF (the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’s Associations) which gives priority to this type of contract.

UIF is a Union Federation and a member of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). It aims at promoting a dignified life for those who contribute to prepare the food we eat, from planting to service. Danone’s ambitions fit with this idea, and they both agree on common principles:

• Employees must be entitled to fair recruitment conditions without any discrimination
• This job must guarantee security, a decent wage and an access to training

Consequently, this convention promotes long-term contracts and “considering the risks faced by the employees in precarious jobs […] the agreement affirms that only full-time permanent positions enable a predictability of work and offers social protection”. More than providing the employee with a more secure future, and the requirements to obtain a home loan, this type of contracts is also beneficial for companies. Working teams are more stable and the employees are more involved. In this document, the use of fixed-term contracts is limited to “temporary and non-recurrent jobs and as such, justified as necessary to a sustainable and local activity of Danone”.

Signatories are committed to pay equally for work of equal value and to guarantee non-discriminatory conditions of work. This agreement must be disseminated to Danone-owned businesses as well as to the group’s suppliers and its application will be enhanced. And IUF must inform its affiliated organisations.

Notice that Danone, for whom the social protection of its employees is very important, chose one of our members to ensure their supplementary social coverage, it is AG2R Prévoyance.