CROSS-BORDER SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND AGREEMENTS: An ...

International framework agreements in the context of global production – Hammer
respect the United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, 12 the UN Global Compact, 10 the ILO Declaration on Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work, 12 the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises, and 5 the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles
concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy. Less frequent
are references to the Rio Declaration on Sustainable Development
(IKEA), the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women as well as the UN Declaration/Convention
on the Rights of the Child (EdF and IKEA). A further set of IFAs, mainly
in the BWI domain, rely on the ILO HIV/AIDS Code of Practice
(Impregilo, Lafarge, Lukoil, Royal BAM, SCA, Staedtler, Veidekke and
VolkerWessels) and make use of various ILO codes and guidelines in the
area of health and safety (Arcelor, Impregilo, Lafarge, Royal BAM,
Staedtler, Veidekke and VolkerWessels).
The actual commitment to ILO Conventions can also vary considerably,
for example from mentioning a single Convention (the Minimum
Age Convention, 1973 [No. 138]) in the SKF agreement to the 20 Conventions
and Recommendations in the IFAs with Impregilo or Volker-
Wessels. Despite these differences, the model of an IFA — built around
the eight core Conventions plus additional Conventions depending on
the corporate or sectoral context — has become largely established. With
regard to those IFAs that only include a small number of ILO Conventions,
in particular those concerning the freedom of association, and rights to
organizing, bargaining and representation (Convention Nos. 87, 98, and
135), Hammer (2005) pointed to their character as “rights agreements”.
Putting this contrast starkly, rights agreements establish the very
basis for organization in the first place, rather than explicitly recognizing
and extending the minimum standards of home country industrial relations.
Rights agreements are specific in that they are probably the result
of first organizing efforts against hostile employers (Wills, 2002a); the
ITGLWF experiences testify to the difficulties of campaigning for rights
agreements in a fragmented industrial environment with employer hostility
(Miller, this volume; 2004).
On the second level, IFAs include provisions on employment,
wages and working time, which are located within respective national regulatory
frameworks. Commitments relate mainly to the establishment of
employment conditions, aim to create permanent employment contracts
as opposed to fixed-term contracts, and sometimes regulate international
mobility. The OTE-UNI (2001, p. 4) agreement, for example, states:
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