Hydro is a Fortune 500 energy and aluminium supplier operating in ...

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Human Rights
Freedom of Association
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
clearly states that employees can protect their
interests through trade unions. In the principles
of the UN Global Compact, freedom of association
implies respect for the employees’ entitlement
to join associations of their own choice.
In Europe, these associations are generally
labour unions, and Hydro has good experience
of constructive dialogue between management
and trade unions. However, employees may prefer
different forms of cooperation in other parts of
the world, such as China and North America.
During the establishment of a Hydro production
plant in Canada, several labour unions offered
to protect the interests of the employees. In
the Canadian system, employees can vote to
join a union by a defined majority, and the unions
were actively promoting the benefits they could
offer. However, the employees did not want to
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free
choice of employment, to just and favourable
conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination,
has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just
join any of these unions, preferring to negotiate
through an internal works council. They felt that,
in their particular local circumstances, this was
the best way of establishing a real dialogue, in
which the employers and freely-chosen employee
representatives could reach an understanding
of each other’s problems and find ways to resolve
them. If the employees at any time found this
solution was not satisfactory, they could vote for
inviting the support of a union. Thus they retained
their right to protect their interests through
trade unions.
The formal structure of cooperation is not the
main issue, but it is important to lay the ground
for open discussions, which culminate in jointly
acceptable agreements. A constructive rather
than confrontational dialogue brings about solutions
that benefit the enterprise, its stakeholders
and society at large.
and favourable remuneration ensuring for
themselves and their family an existence
worthy of human dignity, and supplemented,
if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade
unions for the protection of their interests.