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

Cross-border social dialogue and agreements
used to help overcome certain difficulties associated with IFAs. These
constraints include the absence of an international framework to support
transnational collective bargaining; the imbalance of power between the
social partner signatories to IFAs; the voluntary nature of IFAs, which
makes their implementation dependent on the good-will of enterprises;
and the limited resources and capacities of GUFs to negotiate and service
the agreements.
The chapters of the present volume look at a different piece of the
puzzle that is the emerging transnational industrial relations framework.
They are ultimately aimed at: (a) shedding light on the history and recent
developments in the area of cross-border social dialogue and agreements;
(b) identifying methodological and knowledge gaps in this area; (c) generating
a debate on current or potential areas for action by policy makers
and international organizations active in this field, including the ILO;
and (d) helping define new research topics and policies.
As this is a collective work comprising contributions from authors
with different backgrounds (policy, academic) the reader will no doubt
observe that these views do not always coincide on various policy issues
(for example on the desirability of codes of conduct). Moreover, as several
authors are affiliated to different institutions, it should be emphasized
that the views expressed in this volume are the authors’ only and do
not necessarily reflect those of their institutions. Finally, the reader may
notice that this volume does not contain contributions reflecting explicitly
the point of view of MNEs and employers’ organizations. This gap
will be filled by a forthcoming International Institute for Labour Studies
research project aimed at examining the impact of IFAs from their point
of view.
References
Block, R. et al. 2001. “Models of international labor standards”, in Industrial Relations,
Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 258-92.
Bourque, R. 2005. Les accords cadres internationaux (ACI) et la négociation internationale
à l’ère de la mondialisation, Discussion Paper Series No. 161 (International Institute
for Labour Studies, Geneva).
da Costa, I.; U. Rehfeldt. 2007. “European works councils and transnational bargaining
about restructuring in the auto industry”, in Transfer: The European Review
of Labour and Research, No. 2, pp. 231-6.
Daugareilh, I. 2006. “Les accords cadres internationaux: une réponse européenne à la
mondialisation de l’économie ?”, in M. Descolonges; B. Saincy (eds.): Les nou-
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