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

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The ITGLWF’s policy on cross-border dialogue – Miller organizing workers on behalf of unions. That would indeed fly in the face of the principle of freedom of association. There is little doubt, however, that the discrimination of workers on the grounds of trade union membership and activity does, as in the case of other forms of discrimination, deserve positive remedial action. At present, initiatives under consideration range from suppliers’ awareness training to the brokering of negotiated “access” or “neutrality agreements” or non-interference guarantees to facilitate trade union recognition on the part of brands and retailers, rather than simply reacting to the many complaints of violations of ILO Conventions Nos. 87 and 98 as they emerge. Breakthrough? In April 2005, Spectrum — a knitwear factory that employed some 2,000 workers in the Savar district of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and producing for some 23 (mainly European) retail brands, collapsed, killing 64 workers and injuring 84. The factory had been built on a swamp without proper foundations. Permission had been given for a four-storey building, but the owners had added a further five floors, and placed heavy machinery on the top floors. In the wake of this disaster, the ITGLWF organized a mission of major buyers to the site. The delegation consisted of representatives from the ITGLWF itself, the Business Social Compliance Initiative, the Cotton Group of Belgium, Inditex of Spain, Karstadt Quelle of Germany, and ETI of the United Kingdom. The first employer member of the delegation to respond almost instantly to the needs of the workers in Bangladesh was Inditex: in addition to making €35,000 available for the establishment of a Spectrum Fund, the company announced its intention to embark on an improvement programme with its 73 suppliers, disclosing their locations as part of a programme of work with local unions in Bangladesh. In a series of joint follow-up visits aimed at establishing proper administration of the Spectrum Fund, the general secretary of the ITGLWF and the head of CSR of Inditex began to discuss ways in which the company and the ITGLWF could work together to address compliance issues in the company’s supply chain. 25 This culminated in an IFA 25 The company had traditionally based the bulk of its manufacturing activity in Spain where CCOO-Fiteqa, the local ITGLWF affiliate, had membership in several supplier factories. 183
Cross-border social dialogue and agreements that was formally signed in October 2007 (ITGLWF, 2007c). Prior to this, two serious freedom of association violations had occurred at supplier facilities belonging to River Rich in Cambodia and TopyTop in Peru in the first half of 2007 (ITGLWF, 2007d). These incidents required country visits by both the general secretary of the ITGLWF and the head of CSR of Inditex, which resulted in the establishment of workplace systems of industrial relations and capacity-building programmes. In the period up to the formal signing, staff from the ITGLWF initiated work with the CSR department of Inditex with a view to revamping the company’s audit methodology and engaging on the issue of purchasing practices. Conclusions This chapter has outlined the flexible multi-track approach pursued by the ITGLWF in its quest for cross-border social dialogue with MNCs in the TCF sector. The peculiarities of globally outsourced apparel production have a critical impact on the trajectory of ITGLWF’s policy and practices with regard to MNCs. Despite the problematic nature of seeking meaningful cross-border dialogue along apparel supply chains, the ITGLWF has nevertheless succeeded in securing its first IFA with an apparel retailer — Inditex. It remains to be seen whether this will lead to similar agreements with other global brands or retailers in the same sector. Alongside this goal, the ITGLWF continues to seek dialogue via involvement in multi-stakeholder initiatives, global campaigns and national meetings between brand owners, their suppliers and ITGLWF affiliates, in order to address the difficult implementation of freedom of association and collective bargaining principles. Crucially, the recent disclosure of supplier locations by leading companies in this sector represents, in many respects, the attainment of a major policy objective of the ITGLWF with regard to MNCs. Nevertheless, the promise that has been held out by the willingness of CSR managers to engage in dialogue on the implementation of freedom of association and collective bargaining, and by their efforts to encourage suppliers to attend such meetings, marks the beginning of a critical process. It is not the role of MNCs to organize on behalf of a global union or its affiliates and companies know their place in this respect. However, the contested terrain is the extent to which forms of positive action can be resorted to in order to address the ongoing 184
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CROSS-BORDER SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND AG
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Published by the International Inst
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Cross-border social dialogue and ag
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Contributors Dominique Bé, an econ
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Contributors Nathan Lillie is Assis
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Acronyms BWI Building and Wood Work
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Introduction Konstantinos Papadakis
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Introduction - Papadakis each with
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Introduction - Papadakis above. Thi
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Introduction - Papadakis tices unde
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Introduction - Papadakis role of co
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Chapter 1 International framework a
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International framework agreements:
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Chapter 3 International framework a
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International framework agreements
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Part 3 Legal dimensions 113
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Appendix
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