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

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Cross-border social dialogue and agreements “soft” accountability mechanisms under the banner of corporate social responsibility (CSR). 2 Among them, a small number of cross-border instruments, referred to as “international framework agreements” (IFAs) or “global framework agreements”, have emerged since the late 1980s. They constitute the focus of the present volume. IFAs can be found under different names, for example “agreement on code of conduct” (IKEA in 1988); 3 “joint declaration on human rights and working conditions” (BMW in 2005); “international framework agreement” (EADS in 2005); “global framework agreement on the development of good working conditions in operations worldwide” (Veidekke in 2005). Their common element is that they are negotiated instruments between MNEs and global union federations (GUFs), namely international federations of national unions by sector of activity. This volume deals mainly with various facets of IFAs. Yet it also examines other efforts to introduce a global “social floor”, i.e., rights and entitlements accessible to all workers in the global economy, through cross-border organization, dialogue and regulation in specific sectors, namely the maritime and textile sectors. It also addresses relevant issues such as the possibility of cross-border solidarity action as a complement to cross-border dialogue. Data concerning IFAs At the time of writing (December 2007), 62 IFAs existed in the world, covering approximately 5.3 million workers. Detailed information in this regard is provided in table 1 in the appendix. While the number of IFAs is small compared with the number of unilateral codes of conduct adopted by MNEs and with the global workforce of MNEs (roughly 95 million excluding subcontractors and suppliers, according to Kim, 2006), the pace at which IFAs have spread since 1988 when the first such instrument was concluded has accelerated dramatically: whereas 23 IFAs were concluded from 1988 to 2002 (15 years), another 33 were signed in the four-year period 2003–2006. By 2005, at least eight MNEs 2 This notion includes corporate codes of conduct, statements on business ethics, management standards, monitoring initiatives and multi-stakeholder initiatives. For a brief overview, see Servais (2005). 3 A list of the enterprises and IFAs can be found in the appendix. 2
Introduction – Papadakis each with an IFA were ranked among the top 53 non-financial MNEs (UNCTAD, 2007). In 2007, the number of IFAs expanded further, including the textile, apparel and footwear sectors that had – until then – shown little interest (Miller, this volume). By December 2007, six more IFAs had been concluded. By the same date, the MNEs which had reached the IFAs accounted for approximately US$ 3.4 billion in sales. If, instead of focusing on those agreements which have been at least co-signed by a GUF, one took a “wider” definition of IFAs to include all kinds of transnational texts negotiated between workers’ organizations or representatives at enterprise level (including European trade unions and European works councils, or EWCs) on the one hand, and specific MNEs on the other, the number of IFAs would amount to hundreds, most of them adopted in the last few years. In 2006, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities identified 91 such texts (Pichot, 2006). According to more recent — albeit unpublished — data drawing on European Union (EU) research on transnational agreements, to date approximately 150 joint texts would exist, covering more than 7 million workers around the world. In terms of the “narrower” definition of IFAs however, the sector with the most negotiated agreements is the transport equipment manufacturing industry (11), followed by construction (8) and postal and telecommunications services (4), chemical industries/utilities (water, gas and electricity) (4) and the media/culture graphical industries (4). (See the appendix tables.) The maritime sector represents a major exception in that no IFA has been reached. 4 This is because, instead of an agreement covering a single MNE, the entire sector is covered by a fully fledged collective agreement negotiated between the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), and the International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC). It covers wages and other terms and conditions of work, including maternity protection. The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) serves as an important background to these developments in that it sets, among other things, a global standard for the terms and conditions of seafarers’ employment as well as procedures for the periodical revision of seafarers’ wages. 4 If one uses the ILO definition of sectors (which identifies 22), two more sectors — education and health — are not covered by any IFA. This is not surprising as these are generally public rather than private services. However, one IFA has been signed in the public services sector, between Union Network International (UNI) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which is an international public institution. 3
Page 1 and 2: CROSS-BORDER SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND AG
Page 3 and 4: Published by the International Inst
Page 5 and 6: Cross-border social dialogue and ag
Page 13 and 14: Contributors Dominique Bé, an econ
Page 15 and 16: Contributors Nathan Lillie is Assis
Page 17 and 18: Acronyms BWI Building and Wood Work
Page 19: Introduction Konstantinos Papadakis
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Page 27 and 28: Introduction - Papadakis role of co
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Cross-border social dialogue and ag
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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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Part 4 Varieties of dialogue and re
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Chapter 8 The ILO Maritime Labour C
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The ILO Maritime Labour Convention,
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Chapter 9 A report on the European
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A report on the European Commission
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Appendix
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