International Instruments for Protection and Promotion of Workers’ Rights in the Era of Globalization

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International Instruments for Protection and
Promotion of Workers Rightsin the Era of
Globalization
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Points for Discussions

• Summary of international instruments available
  for trade unions in their campaigns for core
  labour standards and labour rights
• Focus on multinational enterprises as a focal
  point for trade union campaigns

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International Opportunities for TU

• UN
• UN Declration on Human Rights, Internatonal
  Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
  rights, the UN GLOBAL compact
• ILO
• Conventions/recommendations
• Supervisory mechanism
• FoA
• ILO Declaration on Fundamental Workers Rights
• ILO Tripartite Declaration on MNEs and Follow-up
• OECD
• Guidelines on MNEs
• TUAC
• IMF/WB
• SAPs and PRSP
• WTO
• G8 and regional / bilateral /unilateral
  initiatives
• Consultations with labour unions and labour
  rights clauses
• CSR and private voluntary initiatives
• Codes of conduct
• Negotiated instruments

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UN Global Compact (1)

• Shared value for the global market, promoting
  global citizenship
• 10 Principles
• Human Rights
• 1. Businesses should support and respect the
  protection of internationally proclaimed human
  rights.
• 2. Make sure they are not complicit in human
  rights abuses.

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UN Global Compact (2)

• - Labour
• 3. Businesses should uphold the freedom of
  association and the effective recognition of the
  right to collective bargaining
• 4. The elimination of all forms of forced and
  compulsory labour
• 5. The effective abolition of child labour
• 6. Eliminate discrimination in respect of
  employment occupation.
• - Environment
• 7. Business should support a precautionary
  approach to environmental challenges
• 8. Undertake initiatives to promote greater
  environmental responsibility
• 9. Encourage the development and diffusion of
  environmentally friendly technologies.
• Corruption
• 10. Businesses should work against corruption in
  all its forms, including extortion and bribery

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ILO and the INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CODE

• Conventions
• Recommendations
• Declarations

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ILO ConventionsSupervisory Mechanism

• For Ratified Conventions
• Article 22 Report - Review by CEACR
• Article 24 Representation
• Article 26 Complaint
• For Non-Ratified Conventions
• Article 19(5-e) Report
• For Freedom of Association matters
• Special procedure through Committee on Freedom of
  Association

ILO Declaration
Annual Reviewon Non-ratified Core Standards

General Survey
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ILO Declaration on Fondamental Principles and
Rights at Work

• Core labour standards
• FoA and C.B.
• Discrimination
• Forced labour
• Child labour

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ILO Tripartite Declaration on Principles
concerning MNEs

• Adopted in 1977 by GB (amended in 2000) as a
  voluntary instrument to
• Regulate conduct of MNEs
• Define the terms of MNEs relations with host
  countries, esp. in labour-related and social
  issues
• Aims for
• Enhancing the positive social and labour effects
  of the operations of MNEs

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ILO MNE Declaration Follow-up

• A Procedure adopted by GB in 1980 (revised in
  1986) as promotional tool to
• provide for the submission of requests for
  interpretation in cases of dispute on the
  meaning/application of its provisions
• Survey
• The effect given to the principles of the
  Declaration is monitored through a periodic
  survey (7th Survey for 96-99)

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OECD Guidelines for MNEs

• Adopted in 1976, and reviewed in 2000
• Guidelines is
• Recommendations addressed by governments to MNEs
• Voluntary principles and standards for
  responsible business conduct
• Major components NCP, CIME, and TUAC

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OECD Guidelines 2000 Review

• Expanded Coverage
• All core standards, environment performance,
  human rights, corruption and consumer interests
• Global application, not just in OECD countries
• Strengthened National Contact Point (NCPs)
• handle enquiries, assist in solving problems, and
  report and meet annually on national experiences
• promote Guidelines for effective implementation
• New Actor NGO

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IMF/WB

• SAPs
• PRSP

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CSR and private voluntary initiatives

• Initiatives undertaken by management
• CSR and the process of globalising production
  (EPZ)
• Importance of the image of the company/fragility
  of markets

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CSR and TU

• CSR is a positive process for TU if
• - Strengthen FoA and the creation of unions
• Strengthen C.B
• Support organising
• Not only comply with the law but it goes beyond
  national legislation (socially and ethically
  responsible to stakeholders/local communities)
• Alliances TU and civil society

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Development ofPrivate Voluntary Initiatives (PVI)

• As response of global community to the growing
  power of MNEs
• Alternative Trade Organizations
• Social Labelling (SL)
• Codes of Conduct
• New Codes of Conduct (New COC)
• Framework Agreements (FA)

1970s
1990s
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Code of Conduct

• Unilateral declaration, mainly for social appeal
• Code of conduct for business
• consumer rights, product safety or environmental
  protection
• ethical behaviour codes for employees
• International instruments to monitor the social
  responsibility of business
• ILO MNE Declaration
• OECD Guidelines for MNEs
• attempt by UN to set a global code

NoteThese are not VPIs!
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New Code of Conduct

• Four Major Characteristics
• Purely private, voluntary initiative (PVI)
• Response to the situation of poor labour
  standards created by the failure of national
  governments
• international application
• Cross-cutting application to suppliers and
  subcontractors

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Definition of New Code of Conduct

• Commitments voluntarily made by companies,
  associations or other entities which put forth
  standards and principles for the conduct of
  business activities in the marketplace
• (Workers tool or PR ploy? by Dr. I. Wick)

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Number of New Codes

• 246 codes (June 2000 by OECD study)
• 118 by individual companies, 92 by industry and
  trade associations, 32 by partnerships between
  stakeholders and 4 by inter-governmental
  organizations
• Only 163 mention monitoring
• Only 30 mention freedom of association, and
  only10.1 refer to ILO codes

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Codes of Conduct (issues by frequency)
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Codes of Conduct Contents
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Codes of Conduct Contents (cont.)
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Certification Systems and Social Quality Labels

• ETI (Ethical trade Initiative, UK)
• FLA (Fair Labour Association, USA)
• FWF (Fair Wear Foundation, NL)
• TCFUA (Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of
  Australia
• WRC (Worker Right Consortium, USA)
• WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production,
  USA)
• ISEA (Institute of Social Ethical Accountability,
  UK)
• FLO (Fair Label Organization, UE)
• SA8000 (Social Accountability 8000, USA/Europe)
• Social Accountability Certification for Consumers
  (Italy)
• DET Sociale Indeks (Denmark)
• Label Socialment Responsable (France)

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Why New Codes are important for Trade Unions?

• New Codes are on labour practice

Great potential and also danger
Most companies adopt COC without involving trade
unions
So, they can be used as an excuse for having no
union
Truly applied, codes may establish ILSs as
binding international framework for responsible
corporate behaviour
So, unions involvement is vital
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Negotiated agreements and global labour relations

• Framework agreements negotiated between
• Global union Federations (GUFs) and MNEs

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Framework Agreements

• An agreement negotiated between an MNE and an
  international trade union organization (such a
  GUFs) concerning the international activities (or
  behaviour)of the company

Main purpose of framework agreements is to
establish an ongoing relationship between the MNE
and the GUFs to frame principles of industrial
relations and good labour practices
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Major Framework Agreements

• IUF- Danone (1988), Accor hotel group (1995),
  Nestle (1996), Del Monte (2000) and Chiquita
  (2001)
• IFBWW- Ikea (1998), Faber-Castell (2000),
  Hochtief (2000)
• ICEM- Statoil (1998), Freudenberg (2000)
• UNI- Telefonica (2000), OTE (2001), Carrefour
  (2001)

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Codes of conduct and FA
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Three Important Aspects for CoC and FA

• Capacity of GUFs to engage in F.A. or Codes of
  conduct with a large number of MNEs
• Capacity of MNEs to control subcontractors or
  supply-chains
• Practical applications (implementation) of
  F.A.and codes of conduct

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International Instruments
International
ILCs
Framework Agreements
ILO Tripartite Declaration on MNCs
UN Global Compact
CFA
ILO Declaration on F.P.R.W.
OECD Guidelines for MNCs
Code of Conducts
Social Labelling
Regional Economic Agreement
Public
Private
National Labour Relation / Tripartite Committees
Labour Legislation
National
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Policy and Strategy for T.U.

• Set up institutional mechanisms and capacities to
  fully utilize all the available international
  instruments
• Regular reporting
• Complaints procedures in case of violation
• Multilateral approaches to problem-solving
• Importance of International, Regional, and
  Sub-regional trade union networks/IT and
  communication systems

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PROGRAMME FOR WORKERS ACTIVITIES OF THE ILO
TURIN CENTRE(ACTRAV) WWW.ITCILO.IT/ACTRAV

• ACTRAV-Turin