The ITF’s Supply Chain Guidance sets out a practical framework for companies and supply chain actors to work with the ITF and our affiliated trade unions to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for human and labour rights abuses that may occur in supply chains. It enables a shift beyond audit-based compliance to worker-led, gender-responsive HRDD, aligned with international law and labour standards – helping companies to strengthen supply chain oversight, reduce legal and reputational risk, and deliver real improvements in working conditions.
Effective HRDD in transport requires direct engagement with workers and their representatives. Working with the ITF connects companies to established worker representation and industrial relations mechanisms that support early risk identification, ongoing monitoring, and credible remediation where harm occurs.
This guidance aligns with internationally recognised HRDD frameworks, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the ILO Tripartite Declaration concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, the ILO Forced Labour Protocol, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. These frameworks increasingly require companies to demonstrate how they identify, prevent and mitigate human rights risks across their operations and recognise freedom of association, collective bargaining and worker engagement as essential components of effective HRDD.
Companies have duties across their supply chains
All companies and supply chain actors are accountable for addressing human and labour rights not only within their operations, but also across their third-party relationships and supply chains. In transport, this includes responsibility for the conditions, safety and rights of all transport workers under which goods and passengers are moved, including subcontracted or any other intermediary services.
What is a safe, fair and sustainable supply chain?
A safe, fair and sustainable supply chain is built on decent work, transparency, accountability and sustainability. It must, at a minimum, guarantee respect for transport workers’ human rights. These rights specifically include:
- Internationally-recognised human rights
- International labour standards
- ILO codes of practice, guidelines and guidance
- Compliance with agreed industrial and sectoral standards for transport
These rights must be guaranteed for all workers, including formal, full-time, part-time, precarious, informal, temporary, agency, dependent, ‘gig’, contractors, disguised, apprentices and trainees, multiparty employment relationships, and all other non-standard forms of employment (NSFE).
HRDD must be applied throughout business operations
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Working with trade unions strengthens risk identification, prevention and mitigation
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises explicitly demand “risk-based due diligence…to identify, prevent and mitigate actual potential adverse impacts” and “engage with relevant stakeholders”, which includes workers and trade unions.
The UN Guiding Principles state that, “in order to gauge human rights risks, business enterprises should identify and assess any actual or potential adverse human rights impacts with which they may be involved either through their own activities or as a result of their business relationships. This process should… Involve meaningful consultation with potentially affected groups and other relevant stakeholders, as appropriate to the size of the business enterprise and the nature and context of the operation.”
Working with trade unions significantly strengthens risk identification because unions provide direct, on-the-ground insight into workplace realities and supply chain conditions that companies often cannot access independently. Human rights due diligence (HRDD) frameworks—grounded in the UN Guiding Principles—require companies to identify, prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts, making worker input essential to credible risk assessments.
Multi-stakeholder approaches that include trade unions have been shown to improve the accuracy of risk mapping by ensuring that the “most important risks for workers’ rights are identified and addressed effectively” across operations and supply chains. This is increasingly critical under mandatory HRDD legislation such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and national laws like Germany’s Supply Chain Act, which require companies to systematically identify human rights risks in their value chains.
Collaboration with trade unions also enhances prevention and mitigation, helping companies move from identifying risks to implementing effective solutions and demonstrating compliance. HRDD laws and standards explicitly expect companies to engage with stakeholders, including trade unions, to design and monitor corrective actions, creating more robust and accountable processes. Worker representation strengthens early warning systems, grievance mechanisms, and continuous monitoring—core elements of due diligence—ensuring that risks are addressed before they escalate into legal or reputational violations. As mandatory HRDD regimes expand globally, companies that embed structured social dialogue with unions are better positioned to meet legal requirements, evidence effective mitigation, and show regulators that their due diligence processes are meaningful rather than purely procedural.