International Framework Agreements Research Articles

Problems and prospects of labor law in the research of German labor law scientist Manfred Weiss

The purpose of writing this article was the desire to acquaint readers with the most significant scientific views of a respected colleague, a scientist in the field of labor law, Professor Manfred Weiss. For the review, the scientific research of Professor Weiss over the past ten years, concerning the most pressing problems of labor law, was selected. The result of studying the works of Professor Weiss was the systematization and presentation of the problematic issues he studied within the framework of three sections of the article. In the first section, assessing the risks of labor law delegitimization, Professor Weiss explores the transformation of the world of work at various historical stages, including the present one. Labor law should be adapted to modern conditions in several areas: the search for new models of organizing the collective will of workers; expanding the scope of labor law; mitigating the risks posed by new forms of employment; human rights and protection against discrimination. The second section of the review of works is devoted to the transnationalization of labor relations. According to Weiss, the lack of decent labor standards in global supply chains and the irresponsibility of multinational corporations are acute. Tools to counter these forces should be sought not in national labor law, but in the international context. Attempts to develop binding international standards have so far been unsuccessful, and according to Weiss, international framework agreements have the greatest potential in regulating labor relations with a transnational element. Finally, the third section brings together Professor Weiss' reflections on the impact of digitalization on the world of work. Recognizing the inevitability of human displacement by artificial intelligence and robots in certain areas, the scientist is concerned about the development of early solutions to several of the most pressing problems in the interests of respecting the rights and interests of workers. These include strengthening the role of lifelong learning, revising the scope of labor legislation in a circle of people, revising the concept of working time, strengthening the protection of personal, official and commercial information, changing the approach to protecting the life and health of an employee and searching for a new concept of work-life balance, finding ways development of collective representation. The professor recognizes the positive aspects of the impact of digitalization on the world of work, but on the condition that its negative consequences in the form of objectification of labor subjects will be overcome.

Economics of investment projects in the field of biomass power plants

Economics of investment projects in the field of biomass power plants

How effective are international framework agreements in subsidiary companies of multinational enterprises? A case study of the international framework agreement of Anglogold Ashanti, Ghana

This paper investigates issues relating to the two International Framework Agreements (IFA) of 2002 and 2009 of AngloGold Ashanti (AGA). IFAs have emerged as a necessary and innovative instrument of global industrial governance (Hammer, 2005) and the globalisation of business activities, and they influence financial direct investments and multinational corporations. The study investigated the effectiveness of IFA in the operations of AGA, focusing on stakeholders’ awareness/knowledge and appreciation of IFAs and the relevance and functionality of the IFA in the operations of AGA. The study occurred within the theoretical framework of sociology of law/legal sociology, which stipulates that an agreement is effective if it ensures designated effects and shapes social behaviour in a predetermined and socially appropriate manner. The methodology was qualitative with a case study design entailing data from desk research and interviews among selected mining stakeholder groups of national and local unions, AngloGold staff, government agencies, academics/researchers, other professionals and NGOs. The results showed that there was little or no awareness/knowledge of IFAs and, therefore, there was virtually no appreciation of the relevance and appreciation of these global agreements. Although AngloGold was purported to be an IFA signatory in all industrial relations literature as it deals with such framework agreements, there was no functioning IFA at AngloGold. While such agreements within the world of industrial relations are very relevant and functional especially outside Africa, this research has shown that local and national unions should be assisted by their global counterparts to deal with the challenges of international labour standards to make such IFAs very relevant and functional in Africa.

The effectiveness of international framework agreements as a tool for the protection of workers' rights: A metasynthesis

AbstractAre international framework agreements (IFAs) an effective trade union response for regulating multinational enterprises and protecting workers' rights? Using a metasynthesis methodological approach, which we apply to a corpus of 36 empirical studies, this article aims to 1—provide empirical and practical answers to this question and 2—offer a theoretical reflection on the notion of effectiveness as applied to the case of IFAs.

Right time for the community based mental health care

The World Health Organization has produced a series of publications to create the general framework of mental health services. One of the main data sources is the WHO guide on community mental health services and the document promoting person-centered and human rights-based approaches. It includes the regulation of service providers' relations with the housing, education and employment sectors at the point of implementation of regional and national policies and the promotion of actions that are respectful of human rights and focused on recovery. It is a guide that offers various technical packages for the establishment and successful implementation of community-oriented mental health services. Various international framework agreements, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, also suggest the establishment of community-oriented mental health services. The common goal of up-to-date medical evidence-based information and international policymakers is to make the community-based mental health service model permanent on a global scale, especially in low-income and developing countries.

Open and Consistent Geospatial Data on Population Density, Built-Up and Settlements to Analyse Human Presence, Societal Impact and Sustainability: A Review of GHSL Applications

This review analyses peer-reviewed scientific publications and policy documents that use built-up density, population density and settlement typology spatial grids from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) project to quantify human presence and processes for sustainability. Such open and free grids provide detailed time series spanning 1975–2015 developed with consistent approaches. Improving our knowledge of cities and settlements by measuring their size extent, as well as the societal processes occurring within settlements, is key to understanding their impact on the local, regional and global environment for addressing global sustainability and the integrity of planet Earth. The reviewed papers are grouped around five main topics: Quantifying human presence; assessing settlement growth over time; estimating societal impact, assessing natural hazard risk and impact, and generating indicators for international framework agreements and policy documents. This review calls for continuing to refine and expand the work on societal variables that, when combined with essential variables including those for climate, biodiversity and ocean, can improve our understanding of the societal impact on the biosphere and help to monitor progress towards local, regional and planetary sustainability.

Trabajadores inmersos en procesos de subcontratación transnacional: ¿qué protección desde el plano internacional?

La proyección a nivel internacional de las estrategias empresariales de subcontratación plantea numerosos y destacados retos en términos de protección de los trabajadores. La proliferación de cadenas mundiales de suministro cuyos últimos eslabones se hallan en Estados en vía de desarrollo exige respuestas de carácter internacional que colmen las carencias de normativas internas, laborales y sociales, aun embrionarias. Respuestas a modo de normas internacionales o herramientas de softlaw —señaladamente, de la OIT— o de instrumentos privados —códigos de conducta o de buenas prácticas— o con implicación de interlocutores sociales —acuerdos marco internacionales—. Habida cuenta de las limitaciones intrínsecas de los derechos internos —cuyo ámbito de aplicación se circunscribe al territorio del Estado correspondiente—, se procede a la ponderación de la eficacia de dichos instrumentos internacionales —heterónomos y autónomos— a efectos de reconocimiento y garantía de derechos laborales básicos a los trabajadores que se hallan en la periferia del proceso productivo, a menudo en Estados carentes de sistemas reguladores y de control mínimamente solventes.

International Framework Agreements

When the negative outcome of globalization in the 1990s was becoming more visible and transnational companies were heavily criticized, the first global union federations started to negotiate transnational agreements with transnational companies to counter unilateral codes of conduct which had been proclaimed at that time. Today there are more than 140 international framework agreements (‘IFAs’) with the aim of ensuring social standards are at place, some dedicated to specific topics. These agreements developed and now often contain specific provisions on implementation and monitoring, sometimes including complaint and dispute resolution mechanisms. Some of these IFAs provide local trade unions with specific rights like access to the premises or neutrality in case of unionizing campaigns. Thriving examples are the Indonesian Freedom of Association Protocol and the Bangladesh Accord, which contain detailed provisions, as will be analyzed below. This development may be described as the beginning of transnational collective bargaining.

From codes of conduct to international framework agreements: contractualising the protection of human rights

This article analyses international framework agreements (IFAs) in the light of Polanyi’s account of interventions to embed markets and thus regulate them. This special type of voluntary market regulatory arrangement that is shaped by multinational companies and international trade unions and constructed through the activities of the state is envisaged as a possible tool to embed liberalism even though several challenges must be taken into consideration.

The Linkage Between Labour Standards and International Trade: How to Offset the Global Inequality?1

AbstractFrom a historical point of view, the linkage between core labour standards and global trade has been recurrent for 200 years. Supporters of such a correlation argue that countries that do not respect the International Labour Organization (ILO) core labour standards gain competitive advantage that can result in a ‘race to the bottom’ phenomenon. Critics claim that protectionism and false humanitarianism is hidden behind this concept. Despite a long debate on this subject, there is still significant divergence in power between developed and developing countries. A response to the plight of many workers is still needed. Thus, the author will focus on some attempts to resolve existing problems, mainly: whether labour standards should be left to the ILO, included in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agenda or both forces should be combined; whether the inclusion of a social clause in trade agreements could improve the situation of workers; whether the imposition of trade sanctions on countries that do not adhere to the core labour standards could ensure the extension of fundamental rights of workers on their citizens. The author will also comment on the concept of a global labour and trade framework agreement (GLTFA), that is, the proposal based on international framework agreements and ILO tripartite system.

Global union federations and international framework agreements: Knowledge exchange and creation

International Framework Agreements negotiated between Global Union Federations and multinational companies are a major innovation which bring collective bargaining to an international level. We focus on the role of the union negotiators and analyse two cases, drawing on studies of innovation processes in business organizations. We identify types of learning processes and the exchange and creation of knowledge, and examine relations inside international trade union networks. We find that two conditions are necessary to develop an innovatory role: international unions must coordinate exchanges between different communities, holders and creators of specific union knowledge, and must also facilitate the dissemination of knowledge by maintaining the regularity and quality of exchanges between network members.

The New Union Avoidance Internationalism: How Anti-Union Firms are Using ILO Jurisprudence to Undermine Freedom of Association

22 | International Union Rights | 26/2 FOCUS | THE ILO AT 100 Anti-union organisations in the US are attempting to reframe the freedom of association debate: interpretting a 2010 decision as ILO endorsement for Americanstyle anti-union campaigns The United States is alone among rich democracies in having an enormous industry of consultants and law firms dedicated to keeping their clients – which include many large multinational corporations -union free. These firms have perfected union avoidance techniques – captive audience meetings, anti-union arguments that bend but don’t break the law, and anti-union videos and websites – thus making it extraordinary difficult for unions to organise in the private sector. In recent years, several firms have expanded their union avoidance activities globally: Littler Mendelson, Jackson Lewis and Seyfarth Shaw and others employ hundreds of attorneys in several continents, provide union avoidance advice to multinational corporations and have annual revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars. These law firms operate globally, and they have taken their anti-union arguments to the debate over international labour standards. Using the ILO Committees In 1977, the US left the ILO over accusations that it was ignoring human rights violations in the Soviet Union and threatening to expel Israel. It rejoined three years later, after the ILO – which was facing financial hardship – criticised labour violations in communist states and defeated a motion condemning Israel. Following the decision to rejoin in February 1980, unions have filed multiple complaints with the CFA over the US government’s failure to adequate protect the right to organise. The US is virtually alone among developed democracies in not having ratified either Convention 87 or Convention 98, and has failed to ratify over 70 ILO Conventions. Unions have argued that the activities of union avoidance firms are by definition incompatible with Conventions 87 and 98. In 1987, the International Association of Machinists filed a complaint stating that US law allows companies to hire anti-union consultants ‘for the sole purpose of denying workers freedom of association’. However, the CFA ruled only on narrow issues and declined to comment on the more significant issue of whether the activities of consultants whose sole purpose is to undermine workers’ right to organise violate 87 and 981. At the time of the IAM complaint to the CFA, these firms were a problem for US unions – now they are a global problem. These law firms operate globally, and they have taken their anti-union arguments to the debate over international labour standards. Union avoidance law firms have grown concerned that unions have successfully used ILO conventions and other international standards to advance campaigns for freedom of association. In the past two decades, unions have participated in a growing number of global organising campaigns. With the assistance of UNI Global Union, ITF and other GUFs, these multi-faceted campaigns have stressed employer violations of ILO conventions and used soft law instruments such as the UN Global Compact and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations. In response, union avoidance law firms have used ILO jurisprudence to bolster their arguments that employers and have a right – and even an obligation – to oppose unions. In the past decade, union avoidance firms have sought to counteract labour’s use of global standards, warning employers that modern organising campaigns frequently include both ‘an international angle and global union federations’. Several union avoidance firms have major practice areas specialising in helping MNCs oppose organising campaigns and counteracting unions’ use of global standards. These firms have helped MNCs ‘formulate and implement strategies to respond to efforts by labour unions… to discredit them through global campaigns’. They warn MNCs against signing international framework agreements with global union federations, despite ‘increasing pressure’ to do so, because IFA’s provide labour organisations with ‘ammunition’ and ‘can deny a business the use of union avoidance measures’2. Rather than simply react defensively to organised labour’s new-found internationalism, union avoidance attorneys have advised employers to take a proactive stance on global standards and use them offensively against GUFs. One union avoidance attorney cautioned that employers must ‘own the debate [on international standards] or the unions will definite it for you’3. US attorneys have proposed using the OECD process...

Legal Challenges of the EU-Belarus Relations

EU-Belarus relations have seen many changes throughout the years ranging from closer engagement to isolation. Although recently the relations started to improve, the main international agreement between Belarus and the EU is still the one concluded by the Soviet Union. Even though there are plans on changing the situation and concluding a new international framework agreement with the EU, it is clear that Eurasian integration is of primary importance for Belarus. This article focuses on analyzing the legal basis of the EU-Belarus relations, effect that international contractual obligations have in the domestic legal order, and the way membership to the Eurasian Economic Union influences that. It is argued that new contractual legal framework between Belarus and the EU is imaginable, although it would be limited, among others, due to transfer of certain exclusive competences to the supranational level of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Do international union alliances contribute to the effectiveness of international framework agreements? A comparative study of Telefonica and Portugal Telecom

This study explores how international union alliances (IUAs) contribute to the effectiveness of international framework agreements (IFAs) in emerging or developing economies. Drawing on a distinction between procedural and normative effectiveness, it conducts a longitudinal analysis based on detailed multi-level case studies of two telecom multinational companies – Telefonica and Portugal Telecom – which have signed IFAs. It explores the impact of four dimensions of IUAs (governance structures, material resources, deliberative processes and access to institutional resources) on the effectiveness of IFAs. Key conclusions highlight the importance of procedural effectiveness for normative effectiveness and the role of IUAs’ organizational and institutional resources in ensuring respect for workers’ rights through IFAs.

The Role of International Framework Agreements in Transnational Labour Regulation

The regulation of labour in the workplace is never an easy task but it is even more complex and challenging if it has to take place across national borders in a globalised world. Globalisation and a transnational labour environment impact on the ability of the employer to regulate or manage a labour force that is based in different countries. The migration of workers across national borders, the existence of multinational companies and the demands of transnational labour relations present management with many challenges. This article is premised on the conviction that corporate social responsibility codes and other codes of conduct, due to their voluntary nature, are not enough to effectively manage and regulate labour in a transnational environment. The authors suggest that international framework agreements are a far more effective management tool for transnational labour regulation.

The Role of International Framework Agreements in Transnational Labour Regulation

The regulation of labour in the workplace is never an easy task but it is even more complex and challenging if it has to take place across national borders in a globalised world. Globalisation and a transnational labour environment impact on the ability of the employer to regulate or manage a labour force that is based in different countries. The migration of workers across national borders, the existence of multinational companies and the demands of transnational labour relations present management with many challenges. This article is premised on the conviction that corporate social responsibility codes and other codes of conduct, due to their voluntary nature, are not enough to effectively manage and regulate labour in a transnational environment. The authors suggest that international framework agreements are a far more effective management tool for transnational labour regulation.

An emerging transnational industrial relations? Exploring the prospects for cross‐border labour bargaining

AbstractGlobal union federations (GUFs) and multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been concluding “international framework agreements” (IFAs) to protect their interests amidst the globalizing economic landscape. By modelling the underlying bargaining processes, the authors show that IFAs can be expected when both sides exhibit risk aversion, although the agreement will favour the less risk‐averse side. Since globalization has created fewer vulnerabilities for MNEs than for GUFs, IFAs have so far typically delivered only minimal benefits for labour. But this should change in the future if strengthened transnational union capacities and abilities to threaten MNEs with reputational costs bring greater equalization of attitudes towards risk.

Negotiating the Chiquita-COLSIBA International Framework Agreement: An Unlikely Happening

This paper analyzes how the unlikely event of an International Framework Agreement between Chiquita and Latin American banana unions came about in 2001. It provides background on IFAs, discusses the terms of the Chiquita-COLSIBA IFA, and analyzes the negotiating positions of the corporate and labor parties as well as the external and internal conditions that framed the negotiation between the parties.

Transnational Collective Agreements and the Development of New Spaces for Union Action: The Formal and Informal Uses of International and European Framework Agreements in the UK

AbstractTransnational collective agreements (TCAs) are an important development in the international dimension of industrial relations. This article compares four case studies of multinational companies in the UK covered by TCAs. Findings show that while the formal influence of TCAs was limited, they were invoked around particular disputes and could strengthen union influence in a context otherwise characterized by limited union rights. Such influence depended on the co‐ordination of workplace‐ and firm‐level industrial relations institutions, union access to management at headquarters level and union receptiveness to and outward engagement with transnational activity. The formal but also the informal dimensions of these dynamics played a significant role.

Labour Standards in Global Value Chains: Disentangling Workers’ Voice, Vicarious Voice, Power Relations, and Regulation

Theoretical developments and case studies have started to explore the complexity and intricacies of new forms of labour regulation in Global Value Chains (GVCs). This paper builds on these to integrate what we know into a coherent framework that can guide practice and future research. We bring together existing knowledge on new forms of labour standards regulation—such as Private Social Standards (PSSs) and International Framework Agreements (IFAs)—into a framework that integrates and disentangles the contextual determinants, processes, regulatory mechanisms, and outcomes of such regulation in GVCs. Of special significance is the distinction between regulatory processes—vicarious voice, workers’ voice, coordinated international campaigns—, and regulatory mechanisms—IFAs and PSSs. Extant literature tends to deal with existing forms of regulation without much clarity on their respective roles. Our framework identifies two pathways from regulatory processes to regulatory mechanisms: the labour power and the customer power pathways. Our framework also establishes clear connections between concepts, underlining links of causality and moderating effects. We explore the impact of value chain structure, and specifically, the connections between workers’ and vicarious voice, on regulatory outcomes. With regard to the structure of supply chains, we examine the coupling of operations and the sensitivity of value chain participants to reputational risk and drive within value chains. We add the significant dimension of ‘internal drive’ to existing understandings of drive to capture the possible internal discrepancies leading managers in multinational companies (MNCs) to apply mixed incentives to their suppliers to comply with labour standards. Additionally, we introduce the concept of ‘vicarious voice’, which we define as a situation where workers’ voice is substituted by that of actors who, unlike local unions or activist unionism, do not have a close representative link with workers. Vicarious voice may be composed of ethical consumerism, social advocacy, and international union federations.