Say "No" to Veolia



In December 2012, Veolia pulled out of the tender process for the multi-billion pound contracts for North London Waste Authority, much to the united campaigns' delight.  

Due to strict confidential rules surrounding tender processes, we will never really know why Veolia removed themselves from the bid process, other than the fact that it was clear they were losing money hand over fist in the bid process, they were never going to make the revenue they wanted because the revised potential waste volumes and fuel generation volumes were a great deal lower than they needed, and the deafening cacophony from the enormous international campaign ranged against Veolia was being effective in raising public awareness in their many, profound professional failings, such as their abysmal operational methods and in-ethical business practices thus seriously undermining their brand and adding to their incessant financial woes and rocky share price, all of which had made their bid untenable.

The announcement of their withdrawal was a moment of real celebration for the collaborative campaigns.  The only sadness is that Veolia continues to trade, which is a moral and business travesty.

Past postings:

12 June 2012
To Councillors and Officers of the North London Waste Authority and its seven member boroughs

re: Veolia
We are writing to you before your next meeting on 22nd June to ask you to reconsider your shortlisting decision with regard to Veolia. We do so in the light of recent developments and further legal advice.

1. We attach a new legal briefing note prepared by Hickman & Rose solicitors which argues that There is every reason for excluding Veolia from public contracts in the UK and no good legal reason not to do so.
2. We refer you to Francis Maude’s written parliamentary answer on 23rd May 2012 (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120523/text/120523w0004.htm#12052384000139) confirming that “The Public Contracts Regulations 2006 sets out the procedures to be followed by public authorities when they wish to procure goods, works and services. These include mechanisms by which a company may be excluded from a tender exercise, for example where a company … has committed an act of grave professional misconduct in the course of their business or profession.”
3. We submit compelling evidence that Veolia is complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements (six Factsheets attached). See in particular Factsheet 2The Jerusalem Light Railway (JLR) and Veolia’s other business activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Factsheet 5Veolia’s racist practices in its recruitment practices (attached)
4. In a meeting involving MP Julian Brazier on 24th May in Mr Brazier’s officeMr Robert Hunt (Veolia's Executive Director Business Development, Projects and External Corporate Affairs) confirmed – if confirmation were needed – that Veolia is a single entity. We have argued all long that there is no substance to the claim that Veolia’s status as a single entity can/should be questioned, or that what Veolia does elsewhere is not relevant to Veolia in the UK. On the contrary, there is compelling evidence that Veolia worldwide is one companyand sees itself as one company (see Factsheet 1 attached). Quite simply, if one division of Veolia is involved in activities of grave misconduct and Veolia as a whole profits from such conduct, then Veolia as a single entity including all of its divisions and subsidiaries must necessarily be implicated in such misconduct. 

5. The belief that this is overridden by the provisions of the 1988 Local Government Act is challenged head-on by the legal advice of Hickman & Rose. You seem to be acting on the presumption that,  under this Act, you can’t ever consider what a company is doing elsewhere. This is manifestly absurd: for instance, it would mean that employing child labour for 16 hours a day at £5 a week, for example, was simply not relevant when assessing the possibility of grave misconduct by that company. It would also make a mockery of Francis Maude’s insistence that there are “mechanisms by which a company may be excluded from a tender exercise, for example where a company … has committed an act of grave professional misconduct”. Hickman & Rose establish quite clearly what non-commercial actions might be excluded from consideration under the 1988 Act and the misconduct of Veolia is not excluded.

6. Veolia is a company that prides itself on its principles. It publishes its Ethics, Commitment and responsibility” programme on its website and the very first of the Guiding Principles in this document is “Strict respect for the law”, from which “no exceptions” are allowed. It is the view of  Hickman & Rose that “Veolia’s activities, insofar as they aid, abet, facilitate and exacerbate humanrights violations and discrimination, clearly constitute misconduct sufficiently grave to warrant the exclusion of Veolia Environmental Services from bidding for (or being awarded) any new contract. “

7. We are of the opinion that you, as councillors, responsible for the wise deployment of public monies, would be failing in your duty if you do not respond to these important issues of law and moral principle. In the interests of transparency, these issues need to be brought fully into the open. We call on you to put the arguments made above and in the attached documents to Veolia and to allow us all to assess the company’s response.

Yours sincerely
Yael Kahn, No2VAG and Islington resident
Richard Kuper, Jews for Justice for Palestinians and Camden resident

Supporting Factsheets:


Factsheet 1: Veolia’s Corporate Structure and Control: a Single Entity

Factsheet 2: The Jerusalem Light Railway and Veolia’s other business activities in the OPT


Factsheet 3: Veolia Environmental Services supports Israel’s violation of international law through its profits

Factsheet 4: Veolia’s activities and services are not for the benefit of “the local population”

Factsheet 5: Veolia’s racist practices in its recruitment practices

Factsheet 6: Additional legal points when assessing Veolia’s conduct – the responsibility of the UK


Some additional references

The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Light Rail Train: Consequences and Effects, December 2009

A Different Jewish Voice (Een Ander Joods Geluid) & United Civilians for Peace (Cordaid, ICCO, Oxfam Novib and IKV Pax Christi), Veolia Fact file and relevant maps of East Jerusalem, planned routes of the light rail, and the Tovlan landfill. (There is also an extensive legal opinion in Dutch only.)

Adri Nieuwhof, Video of Evidence to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Implications of Corporate Activities In & Around Settlements (Part 2), starting at 3’03″


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Previous posts:

On 10 February 2012 from 9am, councillors from seven North London boroughs - Camden, Barnet, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest - will gather again at Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, WC1H 9JE (located opposite St Pancras Station) to hold a further North London Waste Authority Board meeting (NWLA), making crucial decisions which they deferred from December 2011 whether or not to award contracts worth more than £4 billion to crisis-hit international services conglomerate VEOLIA.

PLEASE CONTACT Waltham Forest's two representatives on the NWLA Board:

CLLR CLYDE LOAKES
cllr.clyde.loakes@walthamforest.gov.uk
Mobile 07812 160124


CLLR AFZAL AKRAM
Mobile 07799 417418


TELL THEM "NO" TO VEOLIA!

DON'T TRASH OUR BOROUGH:
BIN VEOLIA INSTEAD!

As No2VAG campaign puts it: "Join hundreds of residents from across the 7 boroughs who have already communicated their concern about Veolia's appalling practice history, for example guilty of explosions in 2007 that put residents in other parts of the UK in considerable danger, closing the M6 & M55; to Veolia's grave misconduct in aiding and abetting the Israeli violation of international law and human rights of the Palestinians.  No one must be able to say that the NLWA awarded these contracts in ignorance of the complicity of one of the bidders with flagrant and ongoing war crimes."

Tell Clyde and Afzal you want Waltham Forest to have nothing to do with Veolia because:
- Local government regulations allow councils to exclude companies from public contracts if they are guilty of 'grave misconduct'.  Veolia operates the Jerusalem Light Rail, the purpose of which is to consolidate the link between the illegal Israeli settlements with Israel. The Jerusalem Light Rail has been criticised as illegal under international law by the UN Human Rights Council.
- When Veolia advertised for drivers for the Jerusalem Light Rail, it stipulated that applicants must have served in the Israeli military and be able to speak Hebrew to mother tongue standard.  This blatant form of discrimination, which excluded Palestinians, including those who are citizens of Israel, from applying for the jobs, is not compatible with the anti-discrimination policies of UK local authorities
- Veolia operates the Tovlan landfill for rubbish from inside Israel in an illegal Israeli settlement in Occupied Palestinian Territory.  Interviews with the Palestinians working at the landfill have revealed terrible working conditions - below minimum wages and a lack of safety equipment and procedures (more info available on request). 
- Veolia subsidiary YARV Sherutei Noy 1985 was recently awarded a contract to collect waste from Israeli military bases in occupied Palestinian territory.  Veolia has now partnered with the Israeli military - which stands accused of committing gross violations of international humanitarian law - and is assisting it to continue its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. 
- Veolia operates bus services along settler-only roads in occupied Palestinian territory. When the Palestinian Freedom Riders boarded a settler-only bus earlier in 2011, they were dragged off and arrested, simply because they were Palestinians.http://jfjfp.com/?page_id=30853