IndustriALL and Solvay renew their global framework agreement for five years

The signatories will continue their two joint missions per year to assess Solvay’s safety policies and the agreement’s implementation in a country and a site chosen with IndustriALL. Solvay Global Forum of eight Solvay union representatives from major countries, will from now on be in charge of monitoring the fulfillment of the agreement.

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL General Secretary said:

This agreement is a benchmark in terms of social dialogue in the chemical industry. We have established a strong culture and constructive labour relations worldwide over the last 12 years. The renewal brings a Global Forum, which will be an important platform for dialogue between union/employee representatives and management.

With the agreement, Solvay reaffirms its respect for the International Labor Organization’s social standards and the principles of the United Nations Global Compact. It now also includes its commitment to the OECD’s guidelines for multinational enterprises. Solvay expects its suppliers and subcontractors to apply these same principles.

The GFA has been updated to add new social projects, such as the protection of mental safety at work and societal actions and reinforces Solvay’s commitments to health & safety at work, anti-discrimination, diversity as well as environmental protection.

For Solvay, the five year renewal is testimony of the relationship of trust we’ve successfully developed with IndustriALL for more than a decade now. We advocate an open, challenging and constructive dialogue with our employees and their representatives. This dialogue is part of our sustainability commitments and a contributor to our overall performance

said Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Solvay.

Valter Sanches and Jean-Pierre Clamadieu signed the renewal of their five-year accord at Solvay’s headquarters. Also present were Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, Albert Kruft, coordinator of Solvay Global Forum, and Carol Landry, International VP of United Steelworkers. 

Global Unions and LafargeHolcim to develop Global Framework Agreement

“We strongly believe that people are core to the success of the company and our ambition is to create a workplace that is safe, diverse, inclusive, and respectful where people enjoy coming to work. We want to build on our past track record of constructive and responsible social dialogue with the global unions through the development of a Global Framework Agreement”

said Caroline Luscombe, Head of Organization and Human Resources at LafargeHolcim.

“We expect that LafargeHolcim ensures the respect and promotion of international labour regulations in all the geographies where it operates”,

said Valter Sanches, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union.

“We welcome the results of the meeting and are ready to put our energy in developing a strong agreement for the well-being of workers of the company”,

said Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of BWI.

The meeting concluded with all parties agreeing their mutual intent to begin to draw up a Global Framework Agreement that will prioritize four key pillars: fundamental rights, health and safety, exchange of information and solution of conflicts and contractors management. Detailed discussions between LafargeHolcim and the BWI and IndustriALL on the agreement are expected to begin in due course with a protocol signing expected in 2017.

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Press contacts:

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL Global Union, tel. +41 79 945 57 26
Fiona Murie, BWI, tel. +41 79 446 12 90

IndustriALL Global Union – represents 50 million workers in 143 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors and is a force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world. For more information http://www.industriall-union.org/

BWI – The Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) is the global union federation for unions covering workers in the building, building materials, wood, forestry and related areas of work. The BWI has 335 national affiliates in 131 countries with a global membership of 12 million. For more information http://www.bwint.org/

Global agreement with ThyssenKrupp receives award

Wilhelm Segerath, Group Works Council chair, together with European Works Council chair Wolfgang Krause and Susanne Herberger and Tekin Nasikkol, members of the International Committee received the prize on behalf of all trade unionists and Works Council members involved in the negotiation and implementation of this ground-breaking agreement.

Every year German unions jointly with labour institutions and the support of the ministry of labour hold a “Works council day“, honouring works councils for extraordinary achievements for their employees.

This year, IndustriALL’s agreement with ThyssenKrupp won the silver medal for its ground-breaking conflict resolution model. In her speech IG Metall’s vice president Cristiane Benner referred to the complaint system. This system allows employees to report violations of the agreement and get an answer following a joint investigation by management and the international committee. A case can be closed when it is mutually agreed.

Wilhelm Segerath, Group Works Council President and member of the IG Metall board, stated:

"The new global framework agreement and the integrated complaint and conflict resolution system are, in our eyes, a first step to enforce adherence to ILO standards regarding human and employees’ rights all over the world – not only in Germany or Europe."

"This also fosters solidarity within our multinational group. There are quite a lot of international or global agreements in force already. But we have made special efforts to create a monitoring or detection system that enables all our employees worldwide to report violations in a way that protects them and ensures a good solution with involvement of the international committee.“

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL’s director for mechanical engineering, stated:

"IndustriALL is proud to be part of this agreement, and I am also proud to represent IndustriALL in the international committee which monitors the agreement and follows up with the complaints that come in. We know that an agreement – as strong as it is – can never replace the local, regional and national trade union work in the company. But it can help to find solutions in conflicts where local parties are in a deadlock.“

IndustriALL and Tchibo sign framework agreement strengthening workers’ rights across the supply chain

IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary Jyrki Raina, Tchibo CEO Dr Markus Conrad and his designated successor Thomas Linemayr, Member of the Management Board for Non Food Senay Tansu, today signed a global framework agreement (GFA) covering the entire Non Food supply chain.

Tchibo is the first German retail company to sign a GFA with IndustriALL. The agreement aims to further improve working conditions, including freedom of association and worker participation, in countries from where Tchibo sources its merchandise.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina welcomes the agreement:

“Tchibo has played an important part in pushing for industry-wide collective bargaining for workers, as well as the Bangladesh Accord for Building and Fire Safety in garment factories. By signing this agreement, we consolidate our partnership and empower the people who work for Tchibo in supplier factories around the world.”

 “We want to achieve living wages for all people employed in a country’s garment and textile industry, in each production country” says Tchibo CEO Dr Markus Conrad.

Global Framework Agreements

Global Framework Agreements (GFAs) protect the interests of workers employed in all operations of the multinational companies who sign them.

GFAs are negotiated at the global level between trade unions and companies. They establish the best possible standards on trade union rights, on health and safety, and on the labour relations principles adhered to by the company in its global operations, regardless of the standards existing in a particular country.

Norsk Hydro

Norsk Hydro was established more than 100 years ago and today is a leading global supplier of aluminum products and energy solutions. The Hydro companies have a total of 23,000 workers in more than 40 countries worldwide. The production facilities are mainly located in Europe, North America, Australia, and Qatar. 



The parties also committed to work together to build an open network channel, which ensures implementation of the GFA in all Hydro workplaces.

The agreement covers provisions of freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, discrimination, forced labour, child labour, health and safety, wages, working conditions, employment conditions, skills training, HIV/AIDS, and environmental conditions, referencing the standards established by the core labour conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Unions meet with EDF management for annual GFA evaluation

The Consultation Committee – made up of management and worker representatives – met in Paris from 6-8 July 2016 to review the global framework agreement (GFA)  implementation throughout the worldwide operations of the company.
 
The workers’ side was represented by affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union and Public Services International from France, Belgium, the UK, Poland and Hungary, as well as a workers’ representative from China.
 
Management was represented by CEO Jean-Bernard Levy and senior HR managers.
 
EDF and the global unions signed the agreement 11 years ago, committing the company to social responsibility, environmental sustainability and workers’ rights. Unions value the agreement, but expressed their concern about the quality of implementation. According to the unions, implementation of the GFA needs to be improved even though the company is now trying to reduce costs, which is likely to affect workers’ social welfare, and adherence to the agreement.
 
Reports show that social dialogue is not functionally properly in Belgium, as power plants are being closed, and unions feel that the right to strike and to bargain collectively at national level is not in place.
 
During the previous year, pension provision has been in danger in the UK, while there has been an attempt at social dumping in call centres. Polish and Hungarian representatives also fear the social aspects of selling projects. The committee has begun to work on a social foundation as a response.
 
The priorities identified by company, outside the framework of the GFA, are to reduce CO2 emissions; improve health and safety; offer vulnerable people support to access energy; use digital innovation to improve energy efficiency; open dialogue and consultation to all the projects around the world and promote biodiversity.
 
After a series of discussions, renegotiation of the current agreement is now on the agenda.  
 
IndustriALL Energy director Diana Curiel Junquera said:
 
“We value EDF’s global level commitments to labour relations, however our global unions have some important red lines. Coverage by the GFA of all operations of the company throughout the world, without exception, is one of them”.
 
“We also want to see a strong commitment that suppliers and sub-contractors adopt these standards for their workers and of course, a commitment from the company to treat unions positively and remain strict neutrality concerning workers’ rights to take part in union activity.”           
 
EDF, which is largely owned by the French state, is the world’s largest producer of electricity. It produces most of its power through nuclear technology.

ENEL Global Works Council meets to develop GFA renewal

The Global Works Council of the Italian energy multinational ENEL held its annual meeting in Rome in July 2016, with representatives of management and unions from ENEL operations around the world. One of the items on the agenda was the renewal of the (GFA). The GFA was signed in June of 2013 between ENEL, IndustriALL Global Union and Public Services International (PSI). The agreement was valid for three years, and both global unions seek further improvement in GFA implementation through the renewal process.
 
The renewal of the European Works Council Agreement between the company and the European Federations, IndustriAll Europe and EPSU, was also on the agenda, and management and European worker representatives negotiated and agreed a new one.
 
Over the course of the three day meeting, union representatives raised issues that need to be resolved by the GFA to be renewed, many of them experienced by affiliates in Latin America. This includes some cases over agreed outputs at an operation in Chile, and a case in Peru where the union is seeking compensation for the family of a worker who lost his life at work three years ago. In Colombia, maintenance work has been subcontracted, and in Argentina, white collar workers are excluded from collective bargaining.
 
Diana Junquera Curiel, IndustriALL energy director, said:
 
“It is very important to have this agreement, which we believe is the best mechanism for ensuring fairness across all ENEL workplaces. Now it is time to renew and make further steps.”
 
“The renewed agreement should certainly be more effective, and we need to ensure complete implementation everywhere in the world that ENEL operates.”
 
ENEL management has committed to move forward the renewal process as soon as possible.
 
Ahead of the meeting in Rome, the ENEL Latin American regional union network met in Buenos Aires in April 2016, to prepare. This was the second meeting of the union network, after a previous meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2014. It was attended by affiliates to IndustriALL Global Union and PSI from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Panama and Peru.
 
The Latin American meeting set out to develop a mechanism to ensure compliance with the GFA and to establish a system of rotation for participating in meetings so that all Latin America affiliates are represented. The meeting sought to establish a system for the network, with continuous communication between unions and workers for the effective implementation of the Agreement.
 
During the meeting the affiliates spoke about issues in each country and chose Sintraelecol from Colombia and APSEE from Argentina as representatives to the Global Works Council.

IndustriALL and ENI agree on improved rights and world works council

The first global framework agreement (GFA) between IndustriALL and Italian oil and gas group Eni was signed in 2002 and renewed in 2004 and 2009. During the past 15 years, the company has expanded its exploration and extraction of oil and gas, refining and electricity operations to new and challenging countries such as Algeria, Angola, Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Libya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Venezuela.

At the same time, global agreements signed by IndustriALL have developed in scope and contents. The parties agreed that it was time to update this accord.

The renewed global framework agreement signed on 6 July 2016 in Barcelona by Eni, IndustriALL and its Italian affiliates FILCTEM-CISL, FEMCA-CISL and UILTEC-UIL implies among others the following improvements covering all Eni’s subsidiaries around the world:

The agreement reconfirms the rights based on ILO cornerstone conventions, and on gender equality, equal opportunities, maternity protection, and non-discrimination.

“We are happy to see that Eni is taking these steps with IndustriALL and its affiliates worldwide to develop serious corporate social responsibility in partnership with management and unions,” said IndustriALL general secretary, Jyrki Raina.

Eni

Founded in 1953, ENI is a privatized company in which the Italian government has retained 30 per cent equity. It has operations in oil and gas exploration, production, refining, marketing, engineering and oil field services, electricity generation, and in the petrochemicals industries.

With the agreement, ENI confirms its commitment to respecting and implementing fundamental human and social rights as enshrined in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Core Labour Conventions adopted by the ILO, including the right of workers to organize and bargain, prohibition of forced labour, prohibition of child labour and non-discrimination. In addition, the agreement provides for "continuing efforts to improve" and to "guarantee the highest standards" of health and safety for workers in all of its global operations.

The Agreement commits the parties to "work towards the cultivation of working practices capable of promoting economic and social progress". This includes skills development programmes for workers, diversity management and promoting sustainable development goals. As regards contractors, the company undertakes to "formulate suitable guarantees against violations" within the framework of the agreement. Any violations of the terms of the agreement shall be reported and any remedial action undertaken by management will be communicated to the union. The agreement will be communicated throughout all operations using both company and union networks.

Holding multinational companies accountable

The ILO estimates that the number of jobs in global supply chains in 40 countries increased from 296 million in 1995 to 453 million in 2013. This represents more than one fifth of the global workforce.

Research published by the ITUC shows that the 50 leading multinational corporations employ only six per cent of the workers who manufacture their products directly. Suppliers and subcontractors employ the remaining 94 per cent, or a 116 million-strong hidden workforce.

The expansion of global supply chains has been driven by a business model expressly designed to take advantage of low wages and inadequate regulation and enforcement.

Research further shows that respect for workers’ rights in supply chains is declining. In the garment industry, there was a 73 per cent drop in the workers’ rights score of the top 20 apparel exporters to the US between 1989 and 2010.
At the same time there was a 42 per cent reduction in the price paid for the clothes they produced.

Workers at all stages of global supply chains can justifiably ask why their pay and conditions are so poor. They are making products or contributing services for companies that rake in massive profits and could well afford to guarantee all workers in their supply chains a decent standard of living.

CSR has failed. It has not been able to meaningfully improve wages and working hours, nor to ensure respect for workers’ right to join a union. Most notoriously, social auditing and certification bodies SAI and BSCI gave clean bills of health, respectively, to the Ali Enterprises clothing factory in Pakistan before it burnt down killing 254 workers and Rana Plaza before it collapsed, killing 1,134 workers in Bangladesh.

IndustriALL supports the call of the workers’ group for an ILO Convention on global supply chains. It should establish legal accountability and provide guidance for developing policy and legislation to ensure respect for workers’ rights.

In the absence of global rules for supply chains, IndustriALL has been taking action to hold the multinational companies in its sectors accountable.

IndustriALL has signed 47 global framework agreements with multinational companies, covering over ten million workers. Our recently signed GFA with H&M has already proven instrumental in solving conflicts in the company’s supply chains in Myanmar and Pakistan, leading to union recognition and reinstatement of dismissed workers. This agreement cover 1.6 million workers and our GFA with Inditex 1.4 workers, employed by the garment brands’ suppliers and subcontractors, guaranteeing their fundamental labour rights, and providing for joint dispute resolution mechanisms at local, national and global levels.

This is global supply chain responsibility in action.

But nothing less than a fundamental change to the way that production is organized in garment supply chains will provide relief to workers from poverty wages and crippling working hours.

Such a fundamental change may turn out to be the legacy of the Rana Plaza collapse, a defining moment for the way that companies approach supply chain compliance. It made possible a groundbreaking, legally-binding agreement between global unions and more than 200 companies: the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety.

The Accord establishes a new model of cooperation between global buyers and trade unions to enforce compliance with standards. The challenge now is to further develop this model to address other systemic supply chain rights violations.

Global garment companies and IndustriALL Global Union have now joined forces to apply such an approach to living wages in the garment industry in a process known as ACT.

IndustriALL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the global garment brands involved in the ACT process. The MoU is explicit in identifying the development of industry bargaining in garment producing countries as essential to achieving living wages and the need for effective recognition of workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining in order for this to be realized.

It requires the resulting industry-wide agreements to be linked to brand purchasing practices, to ensure that factories pay the agreed rate to their workers.

By creating mechanisms that link unions, buyers and suppliers, the ACT process aims to create a framework for genuine supply chain industrial relations for a fair and stable global garment industry.

ACT is the best chance we have to improve garment workers’ wages in a way that is scalable, sustainable and enforceable.

IndustriALL Global Union goes beyond naming and shaming multinational companies by entering into direct relationships with them to regulate their supply chains in the interests of workers. We need the assistance and cooperation of the ILO to support these efforts and to establish binding rules for supply chains that put a stop to the global race to the bottom on wages and working conditions.