Unilever (UL) plans to give shorter salary protections to non-European employees joining McCormick (MKC) after combining their food divisions, the IUF said Wednesday.

The company set a two-year compensation safeguard for European workers but capped coverage at one year for non-European staff, the union said.

The company refused to change terms, telling regional unions to negotiate coverage locally, and the labor organization plans to take action to secure equal two-year guarantees for all affected global staff, the IUF said.

The group urged McCormick to apply non-discriminatory workplace standards across the merged operations after the transaction closes in mid-2027, it added.

Unilever and McCormick did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment.