The European Trade Union Confederations (ETUC) and Sustainlabour carried out a study to examine how the International Framework Agreements (IFAs) could advance commitments on sustainable development, with a special focus on environmental protection and health and safety issues.
The International Framework Agreements or Global Framework Agreements are those agreements negotiated between Multinational Companies (MNCs) and Global Union Federations (GUFs). Their purpose is to ensure the equal implementation of international labour standards in all countries and locations where MNCs operate.These are proposals by unions in order to improve the social and labour performance of multinational companies as well as the social and work conditions in the context of globalization.The IFAs are therefore tools for social dialogue with a global reach. In recent years much has been written on the potential and the implications of IFAs. Their development has fostered extensive academic interest. There have been numerous studies devoted to the analysis of their contents and the various actors' expectations. The high level of interest reflects their potential. They could potentially fill an important gap in the ongoing process of globalization: multinationals operate globally whereas labour standards are predominantly national in scope.
The main purpose of this project was to assess the potential of the IFAs to serve as tools for social dialogue and to promote sustainable development policies within multinational companies.
The study
The study analyzes the 72 IFAs signed up to June 2009, and also includes field research, that focuses on certain agreements and was carried out through questionnaires and interviews with company and trade union representatives. The report examines contents of OHS and environment clauses and offers some insights for trade union action advancement in these areas.
The contents of the IFAs reflect the issues that are considered to be part of social dialogue at the national level (at headquarters) as well as at the international level. While these vary substantially from one place to another, certain contents such as occupational health and safety now occupy a prominent position in the negotiations between workers and companies.
It is interesting to note that there are no IFAs that have been drawn up solely on environmental issues. OHS is an area that is much more mature; clauses account for some of the most detailed and specific contents of the framework agreements. 58 of the 72 texts include references to occupational health and safety and 49 contain specific clauses.
The realisation of the potential of the environmental clauses has come at a later stage. But, according to a survey conducted as part of the study, there has been an improvement in the quality of environmental references in the latest years.
The importance of both issues varies greatly from sector to sector. Despite the overall recognition of occupational health and safety as a central issue relating to all productive activities and jobs, its importance has been more evident for sectors where exposure to risk is higher or more visible - mining, chemical and building/construction.
Likewise, the importance of environmental policies varies greatly from one sector to the next. The need to bolster changes in the production methods will be determined mainly by driving forces such as pressure to minimize the environmental impacts; compliance with national legislation; and the need to comply with international agreements (on issues such as climate change). This “economic” importance of the environment has stimulated a growing interest of trade union organizations to become more involved in environmental issues, as they are an important part of companies´ global strategy. Trade unions are subsequently demanding greater access to the process of elaboration and monitoring of environmental policies and workers are increasingly aware of the need to create sustainable and decent jobs for the future.
Strategic decisions regarding production will also be increasingly influenced by environmental policies aimed at mitigating the impacts of production on natural resources, and consequently could be of growing interest for global social dialogue. In this regard, an existing challenge as well as opportunity is how to optimize the potential of the IFAs to trigger changes as part of this process.
Sustainlabour presented findings from the study in Brussels at a Conference organized by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) from February 16-17, 2010. The study includes the joint participation of Sustainlabour, ETUC and the Global Federations.
International Framework Agreements 
The study