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

Transnational collective bargaining at company level – da Costa and Rehfeldt
the EWCs or WWCs have been given an important role in monitoring
the agreement, along with management.
The IMF was not only the “inventor” of the world councils of the
1960s in the automobile sector, it also set up half the 60 councils created
in the 1970s, and now figures prominently among the GUFs having
recently signed the largest number of IFAs. The IMF signed its first IFA
in 2002. Reynald Bourque has pointed out a specific element of the IFAs
signed by the IMF: they are also co-signed by EWCs (Leoni, GEA,
Rheinmetall) or by WWCs (Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler, Renault,
SKF) and, in some cases, by EMF representatives (Bourque, 2005). The
negotiation of some of these agreements has even been delegated to the
works councils. The councils are also in charge of the follow-up of some
of the agreements. By comparison, the IFAs signed by other GUFs are
mostly either signed by the GUF alone or co-signed by the national
union organization of the headquarters of the MNE.
Conclusions
IFAs have been achieved thanks to a reinvigorated international
union strategy supported by renewed union actors and structures, in
which Europe has played an important role. Our European excursion has
shown that the foundations of transnational collective bargaining may be
found in Europe and are strongly related to the issue of workers’ representation,
notably through EWCs and WWCs. There have since been
important developments in both the form of transnational collective bargaining
and the process of adoption of EFAs and IFAs.
IFAs constitute the response of GUFs to the multiplication of codes
of conduct on corporate social responsibility and the environment unilaterally
set by a growing number of MNEs. IFAs make enterprises more
responsible than unilateral and voluntary charters, particularly when they
contain joint follow-up procedures. In 1996, the ICFTU produced,
together with the ITSs, a “model code” containing a list of basic principles
to be included in codes of conduct. They also subsequently made an
explicit distinction between codes of conduct and framework agreements
of international or European scope. Each GUF has now developed its
own model IFA that is based, to a greater or lesser extent, on the initial
ITUC agreement. The IMF model contains a follow-up procedure
through a joint committee comprising equal numbers of management
61