- Some Nestlé employees in Ukraine have left because of the company’s business in Russia, Reuters reported.
- An executive director said in an internal email that he was “saddened to hear that employees are resigning.”
- The manufacturer of Cheerios and KitKats said it would continue to sell basic necessities in Russia and donate the profits.
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A huge number of Western companies have stopped doing business with Russia, and a handful of those still trading there have met with a backlash from employees in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries, according to a Reuters report.
This includes some Nestlé employees in Ukraine who left due to the decision of the Swiss food company to continue trading in Russia, the newspaper said, citing an internal email to executives Marco Settembri, head of Nestlé’s European business.
He said he was “sad to hear that employees are resigning” and “deeply concerned to hear that employees have been harassed and threatened” on social media for staying with the company, according to Reuters.
“We have focused on the safety and security of our Ukrainian counterparts and are doing everything we can to support them and their families,” a Nestlé spokesman told the paper.
The spokesman said Nestlé had about 5,800 employees in Ukraine at the start of the war, but many have left the country since then. The company says it has given advances on staff salaries, relocation support money, emergency packages, legal and immigration advice and job offers at other companies run by Nestlé. It says it has also turned part of a factory in Poland into accommodation for workers and their families who have crossed the border.
Nestlé still sells basic necessities in Russia
Western companies, including McDonald’s, Goldman Sachs and PayPal, withdrew from Russia after it invaded Ukraine in late February.
Nestlé, which produces basic products such as Cheerios cereals, Gerber baby food and Nescafe coffee, has suspended some of its Russian operations, including advertising, capital investment and the flow of “minor imports and exports”, but has continued to sell products in Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken out against the company, accusing it of using “cheap PR” to defend its decision to continue its business in Russia amid a “thirst for profit”. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Schmihal said CEO Mark Schneider did not show “any understanding” during talks on Nestlé’s decision to stay in Russia.
Some of the company’s employees, based in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lviv, also sent an open letter to Schneider to Nestlé’s internal communications board, saying staff felt “betrayed” by ongoing operations in Russia, Reuters reported.
On March 23, Nestlé said it would suspend sales of many of its products in Russia, including those under the KitKat and Nesquik brands, but would continue to sell essentials such as baby food and medical nutrition.
“Although we do not expect to make a profit in the country or pay related taxes in the foreseeable future in Russia, any profit will be donated to humanitarian aid organizations,” the company said. It made $ 1.82 billion in sales in Russia in 2021, or 2% of the company’s total revenue.
Nestlé told Reuters that all its activities related to Russian business are now carried out in the country, which has seven factories and more than 7,000 employees.
“In (my team) we stopped working with Russia and we never want to work with them again,” a Lviv-based Nestlé employee told Reuters.
Nestlé did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Not only Nestlé employees are angry that their company has continued to operate in Russia.
In March, about 130 employees of the American food giant Mondelez, based in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, sent a petition asking CEO Dirk Van de Put to stop all business in Russia, Reuters reported, citing screenshots of an internal social media post. media. The staff said it “strongly opposes” Mondelez’s decision to stay in Russia, adding that all taxes and salaries paid to the country “supply its army and kill even more Ukrainians”, according to Reuters.
Mondelez European President Vincenz Gruber responded by saying: “We stand by our colleagues, not by the decisions of their governments / states,” Reuters reported.
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