A window of Ben & Jerry in San Francisco, illustrated on Wednesday. The ice cream company declared in a legal file that Unletely and suddenly ousted its CEO earlier this month.
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Ben & Jerry’s accuses the parent company Unilever of having ousted its CEO in retaliation for its activism on social networks, the last climbing of a long battle on the independence of the ice manufacturer.
The company based in Vermont and five administrators of its independent council initially prosecuted Unilever and its American subsidiary, Conopco, before the Federal Court in November 2024, alleging that companies had silenced its attempts to support Palestinian refugees, among other causes.
Ben & Jerry’s said these actions violated his 2000 merger contractwho created the Independent Council and gave it “the main responsibility for the social mission and the essential integrity of the brand”. The company has a well documented story From frank plea, supporting the causes of racial and climatic justice to the reform of campaign financing through what it calls its “progressive and non -partisan social mission”.
In a Modified complaint Placed Tuesday in the South New York district, the accused of Ben & Jerry Unilever of continuing to censor his publications on social networks – including in the month of black history and freedom of expression – and to carry out a “professional reprisals” leading to the steep abolition of his CEO.
“Unlike their obligations under article 6.14, Unilever has repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry staff, including CEO David Stever, if they do not comply with Unilever’s efforts to silence the social mission,” he said. “This month … Unilever followed their threats.”
Ben & Jerry’s said that Unilever’s leaders announced Stever’s withdrawal on March 3, for reasons unrelated to his performance at work and without following the stages described in the merger agreement.
A spokesperson for Unilever declared to NPR in a statement that “decisions on the appointment, remuneration and revocation of the CEO of Ben & Jerry will be taken by Unilever after a good faith consultation and a discussion with the Independent B & J Council”, in accordance with the merger agreement.
“Unfortunately, despite repeated attempts to start the board of directors and follow the correct process, we are disappointed that the confidentiality of a professional conversation of employees was made public,” added the company. “We hope that the B & J Independent Board will commit according to the original agreement process.”
Ben & Jerry’s said that Unilever has ignored the stipulation of the merger agreement that he consults an advisory committee of the board of directors before making decisions concerning the deletion of a CEO.
“Unilever has announced its decision even before the committee was appointed and tried to force the independent council in the breakdown of the decision by unilaterally dictating artificial and hasty deadlines,” he wrote, accusing Unilever of giving the Council only four days to respond and refuse its request for access to documents.
Stever was appointed CEO in May 2023More than three decades after joining the company as a tourist guide. Ben and Jerry’s says that under his mandate, he “outperformed the Unilever ice cream wallet” and was classified n ° 2 on the 500 brand authenticity index Two years in a row.
Even so, the trial Allegues that Unilever’s leaders reprimanded Stever during his January 2025 performance review to “acquiesce repeatedly (ING) to the demands of the independent board of the social mission” by authorizing certain publications on social networks.
“On information and beliefs, the motive of Unilever to remove Mr. Stever is his commitment to the social mission of Ben & Jerry and the essential integrity of the brand and his will to collaborate in good faith with the independent council, rather than real concerns concerning its performance history,” said the complaint.
In response, Unilever has filed a Rejection Request The complaint of Ben and Jerry, claiming that his assertions are baseless, because the independent members of the board of directors do not have the right to pursue prosecution on behalf of the company and also did not specify the damage which resulted from the alleged actions of Unilever.
He indicates that the current dispute is the “direct result” of the decision of the opinion board of directors on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “without any regard to the negative impact” on the two companies.
“Unilever continues to support B & J and his social advocacy work,” he wrote in his response. “Over time, B&J’s social mission has changed, but in recent years it has become a head because B & J is looking to plead for unilateral, very controversial and polarizing subjects that endanger Unilever, B & J and their employees.”
When did the quarrel started?
The past few years have been a rocky route for Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever.
In 2021, Ben & Jerry announced that he Stop selling your ice cream In the Palestinian territories occupied by Israeli, calling for this practice “incompatible with our values. “”
This decision provoked multiple prosecution in the United States and Israel, accusations of anti-Semitism and disinvestment of “hundreds of millions of dollars” in Unilever’s actions, said Unilever in his judicial file on Wednesday.
Unilever has declared in this week’s legal file that he continued to undergo the consequences of Ben & Jerry’s decision “to date”, saying that it remains on the anti-boycott lists in at least nine states and is under a Fatwah in Indonesia.
In 2022, Unilever sold his intellectual property rights to Its Israeli distributorWho then handed the products (with Hebrew and Arabic labeling only) on the shelves in the West Bank.
Ben & Jerry then continued Unilever, accusing him of bypassing his board of directors with commercial decisions. The 2022 trial ended with a regulationOn what details were rare – until Ben & Jerry has tabled his November 2024 trial.
This trial indicates that the 2022 settlement agreement obliges Unilever à “(R) Estepecies and recognize the main responsibility of the Independent Council of Ben & Jerry on the social mission of Ben & Jerry and the integrity of the essential brand” and “in good faith with the independent council to ensure that the two are protected and deepened”.
And he accuses Unilever of not doing it in the years that have followed, citing “various threats, reprisals and censorship”.
What are the publications on social networks in question?
Ben & Jerry’s alleys that Unilever has silenced his activism on social networks in direct violation of the colony on several occasions.
He says that Unilever blocked four positions “in support of peace and human rights” War of Israel-Hamas and following Humanitarian crisis in Gaza In the space of six months.
The first example was a position calling for peace and a permanent ceasefire in December 2023.
“Unilever has threatened to dismantle the independent board of directors and to continue the members of the board of directors if Ben & Jerry’s – with its motto decades of peace, love and ice cream” – issued the declaration supporting “peace” and a “ceasefire”, according to the trial.
He said that Unilever also prevented Ben & Jerry’s social media directors from supporting the Palestinian refugees in May 2024. The trial said that the leaders of Unilever challenged the press release because it “coincided with the attack of Iranian missiles against Israel”.
“When the case was intensified to me, I expressed concerns about the continuous perception of anti -Semitism which is a persistent problem,” wrote Peter Ter Kelve, president of Unilever ice cream, on the board of directors. “I saw myself that, in the light of timing and the nature of the post, it was not an appropriate message at the moment.”
Another example, known as Ben & Jerry’s, was a post blocked on the rights of the first amendment to campus demonstrators in June 2024. Unilever declared in his legal file that he had “raised reasonable concerns concerning the need to condemn the associated violence with protests and support rights of Jewish students also”.
Ben & Jerry’s trial accuses Unilever to censor publications on other subjects, including one for the day of the inauguration which “identified several social problems that Ben & Jerry believed to be challenged” under President Trump, including minimum wage, universal health care, abortion and climate change. The company alleges that UNIDER has blocked it, after weeks of work because it mentioned Trump by name.
He indicates that in recent weeks, Unilever has prevented him from publishing a month in the history of blacks and another, and another supporting freedom of expression and linking a petition for the publication of Mahmoud KhalilThe graduate of Columbia University owned by the American immigration authorities for its role in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Unilever denied “muzzle” the board of directors, writing in his motion that the members “were hardly silent”.
He listed cases in which the members of the board of directors published declarations – such as the call for a cease -fire and the demonstrators of the campus in support – to the media, including Reuters and the Financial timeand on their personal social media accounts.
What happens next?
Ben & Jerry’s also accuses Unilever of blocking his donations to two organizations, the Jewish voice for peace and the American Islamic relations.
Unilever says that he “exercised his right to retain consent to make a donation” after looking for the organizations and found that they had “made inflammatory comments” on the attack on Hamas on October 7 against Israel.
Ben & Jerry’s asks the court to order Unilever to release funds to these organizations, in addition to unpertified damages.
He also asks the court to order Unilever to “respectively and recognize” the independent council respectively and to comply with the rules of the merger agreement concerning the appointment and deletion of a CEO.
He also hopes that the court will ensure that “any restructuring of Ben & Jerry or his parents will eliminate or decrease the authority” of the board of directors. This restructuring is not hypothetical.
Unite announced last May that he would separate his ice cream unit – including Ben & Jerry – in a separate company as part of a restructuring which should be completed by the end of 2025.
The Ben & Jerry trial said that Unilever told the council on March 5 that the restructuring was “imminent”.