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

Cross-border social dialogue and agreements
with international organizations of workers and employers, they do not
yet recognize the right to transnational collective bargaining or the right
to exercise international solidarity actions such as cross-border sympathy
strikes. Affirming these rights in a convention or another instrument,
such as the Tripartite Declaration, would surely encourage social dialogue
and collective bargaining at international level and contribute to redressing
the imbalance of power between the parties to IFAs. Overall, this
would create a favourable environment for the negotiation and implementation
of IFAs. The recognition of trade union rights in international
labour Conventions or other instruments relies, however, on the willingness
of States to respond positively to the guidance and pressures of the
ILO on the matter. Therefore, the opposition of some of the ILO’s constituents
could prevent the adoption of a new instrument or the revision
of existing ones.
The ILO could also actively promote the negotiation of IFAs
through sectoral activities and, more specifically, sectoral meetings. The
latter can provide an international forum to discuss social dialogue initiatives
and to allow dissemination of information and sharing of experience
about IFAs. So far, discussions on IFAs have taken place at a few
sectoral meetings, although these discussions were initiated by participants
at the meetings and not put on the agenda by the ILO. A more
proactive promotion of IFAs during sectoral meetings by the organization
itself could bring about certain opportunities to negotiate agreements
or joint understandings on fundamental labour rights. Sectoral
meetings could in turn provide an international platform for the negotiation
of IFAs. These prospects, however, are constrained by the limited
number of sectoral meetings and the scarce resources available to them.
The final means of action envisaged in this chapter is the provision
by the ILO of dispute resolution services and technical assistance to trade
unions and employers in order to further the effective implementation of
IFAs. Offering dispute resolution services could assist the parties in solving
existing disagreements concerning the application of the accords.
Technical assistance could support capacity building that is needed by
MNCs and trade unions to monitor and service the agreements adequately.
The only serious obstacle to the ILO’s implementing this proposal
seems to be limited resources.
Certainly, other ways for the ILO to encourage growth of IFAs need
to be explored. One of them would be through partnership with other
international organizations. The report of the World Commission on the
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