Negotiating globally

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Contexto de página: Página principal > Revista 'Transporte Internacional' > Issue 34 - January 2009 > Negotiating globally

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Service industry workers will benefit from a new global agreement that guarantees them labour rights. Christy Hoffman, from global union federation, UNI, explains how the agreement was negotiated

In June 2008, workers in the service industry were given a boost, thanks to a pioneering new global agreement. The agreement was negotiated by UNI, the global union federation with more than 15 million members in many services industries. The agreement with ISS breaks new ground in the area of specific organising rights.

ISS, the world’s leading facilities management company, has about 460,000 employees in over 50 countries. Most of its employees are cleaners, and the majority of these are women at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Low density and low wages are problems throughout the contract cleaning sector. The industry is growing, but union growth has not kept pace. The figures for ISS tell the same story. Although most of the company’s workers in Europe are covered by collective agreements, its expansion in the emerging markets and the US has meant that much of its workforce has no union protection. At the end of 2007, only a very small proportion of the workforce was unionised.

In 2003, UNI signed a fairly traditional global agreement with ISS, which required the company to respect worker rights. Yet, although the Danish company maintained a policy of allowing workers to freely join unions, the practical realities of organising unions in the sector were a barrier to real growth and strength. Even in Europe, membership growth is stymied by a lack of regular access to workers and workers’ fear of identification as a union supporter. The worksites are scattered and working hours are often short, making regular contact by a union representative even more difficult.

Increasingly, campaigns at the national level to organise cleaners brought UNI in contact with ISS to urge specific rights at the ground level.

When it came time for renewal of the 2003 agreement, UNI Property Services and ISS decided that the agreement should be more specific in order to address these issues. The ultimate goal was to ensure that the freedom to join a union could become a practical reality.

The new agreement contains a number of key provisions in the area of organising rights, in addition to its commitments to respect national law and the core labor standards.

Unions report that one of the most effective ways to address workers’ fear of joining or becoming active in a union is a clear letter from management which says: “It is fine to join a union and meet with a union representative. You will not be punished in any way.” ISS has agreed to do this, if requested.

A second barrier in the cleaning sector is the difficulty in achieving regular and effective access to workers. In particular, unions report that access to new employees, through induction meetings, training or other communication, is critical to sustained membership. ISS has agreed to facilitate access to new employees and unaccompanied access to the workplace (subject to customer consent) or to alternative arrangements where necessary.

Finally, and very importantly for the US affiliates, ISS has agreed to recognise unions as long as they meet the minimum requirements under national law. Management will not oppose the recognition process. Obstacles to recognition in the US and fierce union busting campaigns have long been a barrier to union growth there and this agreement will expressly not allow that.

For its part, UNI has agreed to make efforts “to raise and monitor standards among all of the companies in the markets” in order to reduce downward competitive pressure on ISS.

This is a very important part of the commitment. Improvements will be short-lived if the competition in the cleaning industry is able to underbid and displace ISS. The cleaning industry has low barriers to entry. There are many small businesses where working conditions are difficult to enforce. Even in heavily regulated Europe, industry often doesn’t respect law or collective agreements. It is important that the unions uphold their responsibility to monitor and improve conditions across the industry.

In order to help support this process, ISS has committed to put 100,000 Euros per year into a jointly managed fund.

The agreement will be enforced through a dispute resolution process which requires that the parties meet twice a year and binding arbitration where there is no agreed resolution of disputes that may arise.

The next months and years will be the critical test to see whether the agreement can help workers achieve improvements on the ground. UNI will develop a plan to focus its work in specific countries and hopes to find resources to supplement those already in place at the national level. Already, UNI Property Services unions have adopted organising goals for a number of countries.

Global agreements and organising in the transport sector: Stuart Howard explains how the ISS agreement shows the way

The emergence of giant global operators like Maersk, Hutchinson and DHL in the transport sector has created more interest in global agreements, also known as International Framework Agreements (IFAs), within the ITF. IFAs are agreements signed between global union federations and global companies to establish agreed labour standards throughout the company operations worldwide. At the present time there are around 50 such agreements, though none in the transport sector.

The ITF is currently looking at the experience of International Framework Agreements – good and bad, to help guide a strategy for the ITF. Lessons have certainly been learned along the way about what makes an effective agreement. One of the most common weaknesses identified in many IFAs is the failure to establish an effective monitoring process. The ITF itself knows the importance of being able to enforce compliance on companies through the long experience of its flag of convenience campaign. Shipowners who sign agreements with the ITF are required to pay into a fund, which enables the ITF to maintain around 130 ship inspectors in ports around the world.

The UNI framework agreement with the global property services company ISS draws on this example by getting the company to commit financial resources to fund monitoring. This is the first time that such a provision has been included in an IFA. The real significance of the ISS agreement, however, is that it is clearly linked to an organising strategy. The agreement is not seen as an end in itself but as a tool for building and expanding union coverage in the company and other companies in the same sector. This reflects, I believe, what should be the primary purpose of an IFA.

Stuart Howard is the ITF assistant general secretary.

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Issue 34 - January 2009

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