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

The role of the ILO in promoting the development – Drouin
Sectoral meetings could, moreover, provide space for the negotiation
of sectoral agreements such as that in the tobacco industry. That initiative
brings together sectoral business associations, GUFs, nongovernmental
organizations and enterprises in an effort to eliminate child labour
in this field of commerce. Although the scheme focuses on one specific
issue, it is nonetheless possible to envisage sectoral agreements covering
the small spectrum of fundamental labour rights included in the 1998
ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Sectoral
agreements or common statements on fundamental labour rights
and social dialogue could extend the benefits ensuing from IFAs by
broadening the current scope of the accords, which is limited to individual
enterprises. The association of additional partners with sectoral initiatives,
notably NGOs, could also bring extra resources for follow-up
and implementation.
These are optimistic scenarios since the benefits that can ensue from
sectoral meetings in terms of social dialogue and agreements on fundamental
labour rights are constrained in several ways. For one thing, the
possibility of holding discussions on global social dialogue and IFAs
during sectoral meetings depends on the topics that are put on the
agenda. Priorities for each sector for the coming years have already been
fixed by the ILO, but as the promotion of social dialogue is the primary
strategic objective of the Sectoral Activities Branch, this should not prevent
discussions on IFAs during meetings, if the ILO wants to make it a
priority. Another limitation comes from the capacity of the participants
at sectoral meetings: GUF representatives are invited as observers and
their attendance is therefore theoretically not automatic. Affiliated trade
unions can nonetheless express their interest in discussions about IFAs,
as was done by IG Metall during a tripartite meeting of the transport
equipment manufacturing sector (ILO, 2005c, para. 31). It also seems
that it would be easier to negotiate an agreement at sectoral level when
there is a counterpart of the GUFs on the employers’ side, that is, a sectoral
employers’ organization. 23 The low frequency of meetings also limits
their potential as a forum for discussion on IFAs.
Sectoral meetings were a main focus of the Sectoral Activities
Department (now Branch) until the last review of the programme that
23
To facilitate sectoral dialogue, the ICEM called for the creation of an employers’ organization in
the oil and gas industry during a tripartite meeting of this sector, but this idea did not appeal to employers’
representatives (ILO, 2002c, para. 6).
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