Canadians challenge new Naspers CEO over work conditions
Fabricio Bloisi assured shareholders that protection for workers was important to him and the group
New Naspers CEO Fabricio Bloisi at the World Economic Forum earlier this year. Photo: World Economic Forum on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
- Naspers chairman Koos Bekker and new CEO Fabricio Bloisi were challenged by a Canadian shareholder group on Thursday at the corporationâs AGM.
- SHARE (Shareholder Association for Research and Education) raised concerns about the treatment of delivery workers under Bloisi when he previously headed up iFood which controls 80% of the Brazilian food delivery market.
- Delivery workers at iFood had complained of long hours, inadequate wages and poor health and safety conditions.
- SHARE is concerned that Bloisi will extend these controversial labour practices across the wider Naspers group, including Delivery Hero (25% owned by Naspers), Takealot, Superbalist and Mr D Food.
- Bloisi assured shareholders that better protection for workers is âvery important for companies like iFood and Prosusâ and that he believed iFood leads the push for this in Brazil.
A trade-union linked Canadian-based share association pitched up at the Naspers AGM this week to seek some assurances that alleged controversial labour practices employed by the groupâs new CEO Fabricio Bloisi, while he was running Brazil-based iFood, would not be rolled out to other Naspersâ operations.
iFood controls 80% of the Brazilian food delivery market and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Naspers which is one of the largest technology investors and operators in the world.
In addition to iFood, Naspers owns just under 25% of German-listed Delivery Hero, 33% of India-based Swiggy and 100% of South African-based Mr D Food.
In a bid to address their concerns Naspers chairman Koos Bekker invited representatives of Canada-based SHARE (The Shareholder Association for Research and Education) to oversee how the global ecommerce group takes care of its million-plus delivery workers and report back to the board at next yearâs annual general meeting.
Bekker was following up on comments made by the groupâs recently appointed CEO Fabricio Bloisi who assured shareholders in attendance at Thursdayâs Naspers AGM that âsocial impact is an area that is very important to meâ.
Bloisi, who took over the top job at Naspers in early July, was responding to SHAREâs description of iFoodâs controversial labour management policies.
Despite SHAREâs damning allegations, Bloisi assured shareholders that better protection for workers is âvery important for companies like iFood and Prosusâ and that he believed iFood, which controls 80% of the Brazilian food delivery market, leads in pushing for this in Brazil.
SHARE helps investors manage their assets in ways that contribute to positive social and environmental outcomes. The association has a network of institutional investors with 100-billion Canadian dollars (R1.3-trillion) in assets under management and sees things very differently.
It is also concerned that Bloisi will now extend iFoodâs poor practices to other areas of Naspers-owned Prosus.
Far from seeing iFood as a social pioneer, it alleges that, under Bloisiâs leadership, the company had not only opposed couriersâ efforts to improve the precarious working conditions, characterised by long hours, inadequate wages and poor health and safety conditions, but had caused them to worsen.
The association contends that iFoodâs refusal to participate in tripartite negotiations with the government and worker organisations had led to the failure to introduce legislation aimed at protecting the rights of food delivery workers.
SHARE is concerned that Bloisi will extend these controversial labour practices across the wider Naspers group, including Delivery Hero (25% owned by Naspers), Takealot, Superbalist and Mr D Food.
âGiven the labour unrest, regulatory risks and public criticism of Mr Bloisiâs management of labour rights for couriers in his previous post, what extraordinary measures and oversight will the board undertake to ensure that fundamental labour rights will be upheld by our company and its new CEO across its operations, and within its global platform company portfolio?â asked SHAREâs Maria Claudia Orozco.
Bloisi, who said that two million people were working per month in the eco-system created by iFood, told the meeting that he would like to see iFood and Brazil lead in creating more and better jobs âbut without killing the opportunities that technological advances createâ. He said this was not just a responsibility for iFood but also for Prosus.
âWe have proposed many ideas to the government and weâre very close to the government in trying to find ways that will make Brazil lead in this new world ⌠we have to think with our social responsibility hat on.â
He assured shareholders that social impact was important to him, âSo, I hope we have this discussion in future and that I have good results to show you.â
One shareholder attending the meeting told GroundUp that Bekkerâs suggestion of a report-back would be useful given how important the issue was and the fact that the parties seemed to disagree so fundamentally on what was actually happening.
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