Union drive at IKEA plant in US takes aim at Swedish furniture giant’s worker-friendly rep [View All]

Source: Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. — The union attempting to represent workers at IKEA’s only U.S. plant is challenging the Swedish furniture giant’s vaunted corporate ethos, accusing the retailer of paying its American workers low wages and tolerating unsafe working conditions.

Approximately 320 workers at IKEA’s Swedwood Danville plant will vote Wednesday whether to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The machinists union has put IKEA’s reputation as a labor- and environment-friendly Swedish employer at the forefront of its organizing drive as it attempts to organize workers at the company’s subsidiary, Swedwood. They assemble the sleek, low-cost bookshelves and coffee tables that the big-box retailer sells in its distinctive, cheery, blue-and-yellow stores.

IKEA’s corporate conduct is guided by its so-called IWAY Standard, which outlines environmental, social and working rules — an 18-page document governing everything from drinking water supplied to workers to lighting levels to a ban on child labor. The company says the standards follow a directive that “the IKEA business shall have an overall positive impact on people and the environment.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/union-drive-at-ikea-plant-in-us-takes-aim-at-swedish-furniture-giants-worker-friendly-rep/2011/07/23/gIQApz64UI_singlePage.html