France Telecom has become the latest company to sign an international framework agreement with a global union federation. Covering more than 200,000 employees worldwide, the global agreement signed on 21 December 2006 between the French multinational, the Union Network International (UNI), and telecom unions around the globe, addresses respect for ILO core standards across the group - including the right to join a union and to bargain collectively and freedom from discrimination and forced or child labour. ILO Online spoke with Dominique Michel, Team Leader of the ILO's Multinational Enterprises Programme, about these global agreements.
ILO Online: What's a Global Agreement?
Dominique Michel: An international (or global) framework agreement (IFA) is an instrument negotiated between a multinational enterprise and a Global Union Federation (GUF) in order to establish an ongoing relationship between the parties and ensure that the company respects the same standards in all the countries where it operates. Sectoral trade unions from the home country of the multinational also participate in the negotiation of the agreement. Although framework agreements are not corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, they are often referred to in the CSR debate because they are one of the ways in which companies can express their commitment towards the respect of certain principles. However, the specific aspect that distinguishes frameworks agreements from CSR initiatives is that they result from negotiation with international workers' representatives. Framework agreements are thus one of the possible developments of industrial relations in the era of globalization.
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