I have spoken to several employees at the Zalando warehouse in Brunna who testify to major problems with the working environment. They describe that the stress is high and that they are treated badly by managers, among other things. That image is shared by the union SAC. What is your opinion on this?
“We do not recognize ourselves in the Syndikalist SAC’s description. In our latest employee survey, 72 percent answered that they have time to do a good job during regular working hours. We are proud of our workplace and we have both high ambitions and standards for our warehouse and our working environment.”
“Our employees are our most important resource and a prerequisite for us to have a good business. Therefore, good and constructive cooperation with the Transport union, with which we have had a collective agreement since 2018, is extremely important.”
A recurring point of criticism concerns the fact that the possibility of taking micro-breaks of five minutes every hour has been removed. Why have you done that?
“Our work environment work and our schedules are designed in accordance with current laws and regulations and our collective agreement with the Transport union. We have fixed breaks – and of course those who need to take a shorter break can do so if necessary. On the other hand, we have reacted in cases where individual employees deviated by unreasonably long breaks, something that has a negative impact on the business and the work of the other employees.”
Another point of criticism is that managers/supervisors follow every step that the employees take and ask them to, for example, rush to the toilet. What do you think about such behavior?
“That description does not match the way we work.”
An incident that caused great outrage occurred last fall, when an employee collapsed during a meeting with managers. He is said to have injured his shoulder so badly that he is now unable to use one arm. Several employees are said to have demanded to know what happened, but without any answer. What is your comment on this?
“We never comment on the health of individual employees or any cases of illness out of consideration for the individual. We want to emphasize that we work systematically for a good and safe working environment and we have well-developed routines to offer support from occupational health care, rehabilitation or work adaptation if employees need this, due to injury or another reason.”
Several employees testify that they have been ostracized by managers when they got involved in a union. A club president at SAC was fired shortly after the company found out he was a trustee. SAC believes that you at Ceva engage in “union busting” and try to discourage union involvement. What is your comment on that? How do you see employees getting involved in trade unions?
“That is a completely incorrect statement. We fully respect our employees’ right to association. Our view is that the Swedish model works well. We have a well-functioning collective agreement and a constructive collaboration with Transport, with respect for our different roles.”
“It doesn’t happen often, but if we need to terminate an employment contract due to repeated mismanagement or breach of the employment contract, we act in accordance with current legislation and in consultation with our employers’ organization. Out of respect for the privacy of individuals, we do not comment on specific cases.”
We at Aftonbladet wrote about problems at the warehouse back in 2019, and several media have since followed up with similar articles. Now the testimonies indicate that the problems remain. Why is it like that?
“We are proud of our workplace and are constantly working to improve it further, in consultation with our employees and with Transport. But as in many larger workplaces, there are people who have a different view. However, we feel secure in the fact that our work environment is good, but it is always possible to make things better. In recent years, we have, among other things, improved the ventilation in the warehouse and areas for rest, switched to better safety shoes for our employees, and we have invested in leadership training for our leaders – to give some examples of our ongoing development work.”
SAC has proposed that an external expert be brought in to map deficiencies in the work environment. But the company management has opposed this. How is it that?
“We carry out systematic work environment work at our warehouse in Brunna. We do this in collaboration with our employees, safety representatives and the Transport trade union, with whom we have a collective agreement. The work includes regular safety committee meetings to improve and monitor the physical and psychosocial work environment, with good reporting systems and risk observations.”
“We have also improved the communication channels to make it easier for our employees to raise work environment issues, including through open meeting times with HR and the site manager, town hall meetings and a whistleblower telephone. In addition, annual third-party audits are carried out on behalf of our client. Our work is in line with the Swedish model, which we think works well.”
I have spoken to co-workers who say that there are cases where employees use narcotics (mainly tramadol) during work hours as a way to deal with stress and heavy workloads. Is it something that you know? If so, how are you working to address it?
“We have zero tolerance when it comes to drugs. Last fall, we conducted a routine and unannounced drug search at our warehouse. The search yielded a negative result, i.e. no traces of drugs were detected. This search was carried out in consultation with Transport and is one of several proactive measures we are taking to keep our workplace drug free.”
“Our attitude is that abuse should go away, but that employees should remain. If we discover that an employee has substance abuse problems, we work in the ways we can to ensure that they become drug-free, primarily through occupational health care.”
Why are staff not allowed to bring mobile phones into the warehouse?
“Mobile phones are not allowed in our warehouse for security reasons, which is standard for companies in our industry. For urgent situations, we have routines to ensure that family members can always get in touch with our employees.”