IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant to the private sector?

Chris Syder

csyder@dacbeachcroft.com

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?

ILO Governing Body representative for UK Employers

IOE Management Board representative for CBI

ILO Vice-Chair for the Application of Labour Standards Committee at the ILC

Employment law specialist, London

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?ILO conventions and recommendations reminder

A creation of tri-partite political negotiation – IOE represents the private sector’s interests

Primarily tools for governments – ratification required Awareness of regional and national employment and

social policy consultations = important First impact – national laws and application

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?ILO bigger picture

ILO is tri-partite (trade union bias) Trade unions need worker members Trade unions need a collective bargaining and freedom

of association agenda Trade unions need labour standards to apply pressure

to effect legal and social change

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?ILO bigger picture cont’d

Application to multi-nationals/supply chains – effect legal and social change

ILO standards are already part of the corporate agenda – a question of importance

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?Voluntary adoption – CSR/“human rights”

ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work

ILO Tripartite Declaration on principles concerning multinational enterprises and social policy

OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?Voluntary adoption – CSR/“human rights”cont’d

"Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights“

UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles

Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?

Forum on Business and Human Rights, 4-5 December 2012. WG focus = implementation

Question to answer: If not, why not?

Codes of conduct = commitments to respect and promote existing ILO standards

Importance of drafting (future?)

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?(In) voluntary adoption - global industrial relations/

campaigns

Global Union Federation campaigns

Transnational Company Agreement/International Framework Agreement/Global Framework Agreement

European Works Councils

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?(In) voluntary adoption - global industrial relations/

campaigns cont’d

Business case to engage = healthy element of consumer/reputational risk and brand protection

Commitments to respect and promote existing ILO standards

Importance of drafting (future?)

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?ILO labour standards creep

Ratification = government duty to report to ILO Private sector has the opportunity to complain; trade

unions predominantly complain Committee of independent experts – non-judicial

mandate Who is interpreting? Who is really supervising?

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?An example: (In) famous Convention 87 – freedom of association Right to strike interpretation Extension of the right to strike – general/political strikes 2012 – General Survey and CAS list crisis Why? Pressure to amend national laws and practice

and/or re-visiting of commitments to respect and promote Convention 87

Answer = visibility of the Experts’ agreed mandate

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?Labour standards risk management considerations

Corporate responsibility agenda – company values agenda development in light of CSR?

What are your supply chain responsibilities for labour standards? Legal, social, economic, ethical?

Fair globalisation – are you exploiting the developing world? Labour standards risk management

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?Labour standards risk management considerations

cont’d Brand protection/product boycotts. Labour standards

risk management

Future generational values? Respect for labour standards? Talent war; consumer loyalty?

Use of social media – more effective TU campaigning concerning freedom of association

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?Labour standards risk management considerations

cont’d Increasing global industrial relations issues – ongoing

austerity reactions - strikes Greater investor/shareholder accountability – effective

implementation of labour standards? Monitoring? Will we see an international complaints forum? NCP

development? ADR?

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?

What are your priorities?

What is your plan? Proactive or reactive?

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant? For instance:

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?“1 ILO: Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30)  2 ILO: Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132) 3 ILO: Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (No. 103) 4 ILO: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948, (No. 87) * Since 2010, Merck recorded the percentage of employees who principally have the right to collective bargaining”

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant? For instance:

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant? For instance:

“International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, and is committed to social justice and developing internationally recognised human and labour rights. The ILO is a tripartite agency bringing together representatives from governments, employers and workers. One of its main responsibilities is to shape and oversee international labour standards. IKEA engages in dialogue with the ILO on working conditions and labour standards.”

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant?

IOE GIRN meeting, Oslo, 25 November 2012

Are ILO labour standards relevant? For instance:

“The Coca-Cola Company is committed to upholding fundamental principles of international human and workplace rights everywhere we do business. Our commitment to respecting human rights, as formalized in our Human Rights Statement, is grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, related covenants and the International Labor Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights to Work. The workplace rights principles are encompassed in our Workplace Rights Policy, which covers company-owned operations and our Supplier Guiding Principles, which covers our supplier partners and independent bottlers. “