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

Cross-border social dialogue and agreements
Employer’s obligations to employees under labour or social security laws
and regulations arising from the regular employment must be respected.
The parties shall work towards creating permanent employment relationships.
Similarly, regulations concerning wages and working time refer to
the respective national legal framework and emphasize, for example,
“legal and industry minimum standards”; equal pay; the need to provide
clear, written information on wages; the need to ban wage deductions
unless expressly permitted by national law; or even benefits. An interesting
element in the agreements with Brunel, Euradius, Impregilo, Inditex,
Norske Skog, OTE, Portugal Telecom, Royal BAM, Veidekke and VolkerWessels
is their explicit commitment to offer a “living wage”, although
some other IFAs include provisions that are essentially similar without
using the term. The Inditex-ITGLWF (2007) agreement states:
External Manufacturers, Suppliers and their Subcontractors shall ensure
that wages paid for a standard working week shall meet at least the minimum
legal or collective bargain agreement, whichever is higher. In any
event, wages should always be enough to meet at least the basic needs of
workers and their families and any other which might be considered as reasonable
additional needs.
With regard to working time, a large number of agreements define
minimum rest periods, and include general policies on overtime as well
as regular paid holidays.
On the third level, IFAs include provisions on health and safety,
training or restructuring depending on the specific circumstances in the
sector or MNC. Health and safety in particular occupies a prominent
place in these agreements, as further underlined by the inclusion of only
the ILO’s Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155)
and the Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167)
(Impregilo, ISS, OTE, Portugal Telecom, Royal BAM, Veidekke and
VolkerWessels apply both, while Brunel, Euradius, IKEA, Inditex,
Lafarge, Nampak, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Schwan-Stabilo, Staedtler and
Telefónica refer to Convention No. 155 only). In addition, a considerable
number of MNCs commit to apply various industry-specific ILO
codes and guidelines in this area. Equally, many IFAs state the importance
of improving skills and training in preventing occupational hazards
while only the agreements with Danone, EdF and Rhodia take a broader
perspective that integrates training with work organization, internal
labour markets, geographical mobility and restructuring. Arcelor and
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