A huge number of Western companies have stopped doing business with Russia, and the few that continue to do so have been met with reactions from their employees in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries, according to a Reuters report. This includes some Nestlé employees in Ukraine who have resigned over the Swiss food company’s decision to continue trading in Russia, the publication said, citing an internal email to executives of Marco Settembri, head of Nestlé’s European operations. He said he was “saddened to hear that employees were resigning” and that he was “deeply concerned when he heard about employees being intimidated and threatened” on social media because they had left the company, according to Reuters. “We are focused on the safety and security of our Ukrainian colleagues and are doing everything we can to support them and their families,” a Nestlé spokesman said in a statement. The spokesman said Nestlé had about 5,800 employees in Ukraine at the start of the war, but that many had since left the country. The company says it provides staff pay advances, relocation support money, emergency care packages, legal and immigration advice and job offers to other companies managed by Nestlé. He says he has also turned part of a factory in Poland into accommodation for workers and their families who have crossed the border.
Nestlé continues to sell basic necessities in Russia
Western companies, including McDonald’s, Goldman Sachs and PayPal, have been withdrawing from Russia since invading Ukraine in late February. Nestlé, which makes commodities such as Cheerios cereals, Gerber baby food and Nescafe coffee, has given up some of its Russian activities, including advertising, capital investment and the flow of “non-core imports and exports”, but has continued to do so. to sell products in Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has slammed the company, accusing it of using “cheap PR” to defend its decision to continue its operations in Russia amid a “thirst for profit”. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said CEO Mark Schneider had shown “no understanding” during a conversation about Nestlé’s decision to stay in Russia. Some employees of the company, based in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lviv, also sent Schneider an open letter on Nestlé’s internal message board, saying the staff felt “betrayed” by its ongoing operations in Russia, Reuters reported. On March 23, Nestlé announced that it would stop selling 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. “While we do not expect to make a profit in the country or pay taxes for the immediate future in Russia, any profit will be donated to humanitarian organizations,” the company said. It made $ 1.82 billion in Russian sales in 2021, or 2% of the company’s total revenue. Nestlé told Reuters that all of its activities related to Russia’s operations were now being conducted within the country, which has seven factories and more than 7,000 employees. “My team (my team) has 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 a request for comment. It is not just Nestlé employees who are angry that their company has continued operations in Russia. In March, about 130 employees of the US food giant Mondelez based in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia sent a request to CEO Dirk Van de Put to stop all activities in Russia, Reuters reported, citing snapshots in an internal post. of social network. The staff said they “strongly oppose” Mondelez’s decision to stay in Russia, adding that all taxes and salaries paid to the country “feed its army and kill even more Ukrainians”, according to Reuters. Mondelez European President Vinzenz Gruber responded to the post by saying, “We stand with our colleagues and not with the decisions of their governments / countries,” Reuters reported.