Framework Agreements

Here at GLS we’re always on the search for new global labor strategies.  We encourage our growing readership to write us about of emerging ideas and trends. One new strategy of interest that is widely used and supported in Europe is the “Framework Agreement.”  These agreements differ from corporate codes of conduct in that they are negotiated with unions and provide for some kind of union participation in implementation and monitoring.  About two dozen global firms with more than two million workers have signed them. (Click here for Union Network International’s “Global Framework Agreement’s” page.)

The “Declaration of Social Rights and Industrial Relations” signed by Volkswagen, the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) and European Works Council, for example, requires the company to provide its workers worldwide with the right to form unions, protection against discrimination, a safe working environment, and minimum wage standards consistent with local conditions.  Volkswagen was pressured to accept the agreement by Western European workers who already have those rights; as Robert Steiert of the IMF puts it, the agreement is most important for “workers at plants to be built or taken over by Volkswagen, especially in lesser developed countries."

Such agreements are no panacea.  So far they cover only those workers directly employed by the companies, not the growing number of workers employed by suppliers contracted by the firms. In the VW agreement, the company pledges to “encourage” its suppliers to abide by the agreement, but it does not stop Volkswagen from contracting with labor rights violators.  The auto unions see the need to tighten this language as an important next step. Indeed, if they do not find a way to extend decent wages and standards throughout the supplier chain, they will find that they represent fewer and fewer workers.

Framework agreements are made between big international bureaucracies on both sides of the labor-management divide. The communication that they foster is more likely to be among high union officials and top company officials than among workers, shop stewards, and local union leaders in different countries. This can limit both the effectiveness of the agreements and their capacity to build a movement.  Implementation and monitoring of framework agreements can be difficult where no union exists in a workplace. 

But, in part because of the limited staff and resources of the federations that sign them, some of the framework agreements have led to the development of global networks of participating unions to directly monitor them.  These networks and the general flow of information which often results from these agreements help workers identify common interests, common problems, and discrepancies in company policies.

Some US trade unionists dismiss framework agreements because they usually have not lead to new members—the primary focus of US trade union strategy. In contrast, many trade union officials and activists we talked with in Europe who have experience with framework agreements see them as a first step in global union coordination at the firm or industry level.

N.T.

Comments

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Comment from a Norwegian guy:
From a Westen European view the point of using these agreements to build global networks between unions is very important. As you can see from this list: http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991216332&Language=EN - the agreements are quite different in content, except the references to ILO conventions. Some are stronger on monitoring, sanctions, demands towards suppliers, rights as to training of shop stewards etc etc. Some agreements also involve local unions directly (for example the Statoil agreement)- not only the global union or national union.
I think this strategy could be promising, but it is crucial that the agreements are used to build and strengthen the local unions and a network between them.
For one: The global unions themselves have not resources to monitor the agreements.
But more important: The union movement can only grow stronger through strengthening of the local unions.
For global cooperation it is crucial to build networks within the MNCs. Global agreement is one way to make this possible.