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International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (Icftu) INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU) A TRADE UNION GUIDE TO GLOBALISATION (SECOND EDITION) ICFTU 5 Boulevard du Roi Albert II, Bte 1 1210 Brussels Belgium Tel.: ++32-2-224.02.11 Fax: ++32-2-201.58.15 E-mail: [email protected] This guide is also available on the ICFTU web-site. (other language versions included) http://www.icftu.org/pubs/globalisation This guide has been prepared by the ICFTU, in close cooperation with the GUFs and TUAC. We would like to express our special appreciation to ACTRAV, the ILO's Bureau for Workers' Activities. ACTRAV's support has made it possible to publish this guide. This is but one example of the extensive assistance provided to trade unions all over the world by ACTRAV. For more information on the work of ACTRAV, please check the overview on their services found in a box at the end of chapter 3. CONTENTS A TRADE UNION GUIDE TO GLOBALISATION (SECOND EDITION) CONTENTS FOREWORD . 7 INTRODUCTION . 8 PART I GLOBALISATION AND SOLIDARITY 1. THE MEANING OF GLOBALISATION . 9 The components of globalisation . 10 • Foreign direct investment . 10 Box: Globalisation in all directions – from migration of workers to migration of work 11 • Financial markets . 13 • Deregulation and liberalisation . 13 Box: Social Europe . 14 • Globalisation and the Public Sector . 15 Box: Trade and investment agreements and the public sector . 16 • Technology . 17 The meaning of globalisation for workers . 18 Box: Race to the bottom . 19 Box: Privatisation gone bad – PSI and water . 20 2. THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION STRUCTURE . 21 Over one hundred years of international trade unionism . 21 Box: The ITF and how it started . 21 International trade union organisations . 22 • Organisations for national centres (ICFTU, TUAC…) . 22 Box: Trade union relations at national and international level . 24 • Organisations for national trade unions (Global Union Federations or GUFs) . 24 Box: GUFs and their membership . 25 Box: Which is my GUF? . 25 3. TRADE UNION RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS 27 The universality and indivisibility of trade union rights . 27 3 Box: ILO conventions No. 87 and 98 . 27 CONTENTS International Labour standards and the ILO . 28 Box: The principles of the Declaration of Philadelphia . 28 • ILO, a tripartite organisation . 28 Box: The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work . 29 Box: ACTRAV - ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities . 30 4. AN INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE (WHO DOES WHAT AT THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL LEVEL ) . 33 International financial institutions . 33 Box: The international financial institutions – what are they? . 33 Box: Some changes at the World Bank . 35 Box: The IFBWW campaign for the incorporation of workers’ rights in World Bank procurement documents . 36 Workers’ rights in trade and investment agreements . 36 Box: WTO – What is it? . 37 Box: WTO debacle could mark beginning of globalisation with a human face . 39 Box: The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) . 41 Box: The World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalisation . 42 The national response . 43 Box: Belarus: international action on two fronts . 43 5. MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES. 45 Box: Multinationals - some facts and figures . 45 MNEs and trade unions . 46 MNEs and governments . 47 • Export processing zones . 48 Box: Life in an export processing zone in the Philippines . 49 6. THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF BUSINESS. 50 Corporate governance and accountability . 51 Industrial relations and accountability . 52 International accountability . 53 Box: Unicorn: TUAC, PSI and corruption . 53 What corporate social responsibility (CSR) really means . 54 • Who are the real stakeholders? . 55 What the social responsibilities of business really are . 56 CSR and the proper role of government . 56 Private standard setting and its dangers . 57 • Who decides when a business is being “socially responsible”? . 59 • Rating and reporting . 59 The internationally recognised standards of social responsibilities of business 62 • The ILO MNE Declaration . 62 • The OECD Guidelines . 63 Box: IUF, Nestlé and the OECD Guidelines . 64 Business and human rights . 65 Codes of conduct and the supply chain . 67 • The two kinds of codes . 68 Box: Supplier codes of labour practice – the multi-stakeholder initiatives . 69 • About monitoring, verification and what “social auditors” do . 72 • The real impact of the supplier codes . 74 The Global Compact . 75 Box: The 10 principles of the Global Compact . 75 4 CONTENTS PART II THE PRACTICAL INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION OF TRADE UNION WORK 7. SOLIDARITY, NOT CHARITY (INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION WORK - WHO DOES WHAT AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL?) . 79 Recognising the international dimension . 79 Box: Is there an international connection ? . 79 The first step is to join . 81 Who joins what . 81 Box: The IFJ, the global union for journalists . 83 8. PRACTICAL INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY (HOW DOES IT WORK? AND WHERE AND WHEN ) . 84 The range of international solidarity . 84 Requesting and showing international solidarity . ..
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