Trade unions are committed to ETI; to its rights-based approach grounded in ILO standards; to its search for good practice; and to the social partnership it can promote. But our work on codes is only one part of the international trade union response to globalisation. Voluntary codes cannot replace the two guarantees of sustainable protection for working people and their families. They cannot replace either the duty of governments to protect their citizens through the enforcement of good law that complies with the ILO’s standards, or the sustainable protection that flows from social dialogue between employers and trade unions. What happens to the improvements a retailer demands of one supplier if it moves the contract to another? How do workers hold on to improvements unless they are anchored in a negotiated agreement with the employer or protected under law?

Democracy is based on rights – the ability of people to defend their own interests. Organising is critical for workers to be able to protect their rights and central to development and the fight to eliminate poverty. The best way for working people to advance themselves has always been through forming unions: the power to fuel democracy, dignity and prosperity. Alternatives to democracy, including corporate paternalism or enlightened dictatorship’, do not produce a climate in which workers’ rights and interests can be fully protected. We believe that democracy, political and industrial - the combination of effective, democratic governance and strong and free trade unions - is ultimately the only way to transform society in a fundamental and sustainable way and to bring those excluded on the fringes of society into the mainstream.

How do workers hold on to improvements unless they are anchored in a negotiated agreement with the employer or protected under law?
 

Workers in the informal economy

Fundamental rights at work are universally applicable and inalienable human rights – rights to which all workers, everywhere are entitled. ETI must promote this universality more consistently and with greater strategic vision. If companies support the rule of law, they should encourage formalisation of the employment status of informal economy workers. Trade unions do not believe that livelihoods will be destroyed if people are protected under law; indeed, the experience of all developed countries is that improving the situation – and legal protection – of workers results in more and better jobs and better societies.

Tax matters

But even democracies cannot protect all their citizens through good national labour law if their tax base and revenue is insufficient to ensure proper public services, including well-functioning labour inspectorates. So if multinational enterprises want to see sustainable improvements in working conditions, they also need to support national governments by paying their taxes in full and by encouraging formalisation of businesses and employment to bring supplier companies and their workers into the tax base.

Towards legal compliance and social dialogue

Why then are trade unions so committed to ETI and to the common vision and complementary agendas of its three parties? Because, while voluntary codes are no substitute for good law or social dialogue, we believe they may promote the rights which ensure that workers can negotiate for better jobs and better lives. Codes may be used among employers to promote a culture of compliance with good law, and they may open up space for freedom of association, social dialogue and collective bargaining – with local and national unions and with global union federations.

That is the purpose of our engagement with ETI. Over the next five years, we want to see rapid progress with more trade unions involved in a wider range of sectors and barriers to trade union freedoms removed. We want to see more examples like the TUC’s work with our British and South African ETI partners in the wine industry in the Western Cape (see page 15). This demonstrated that codes can promote sustainable improvement, based on partnership and commitment to success from all sides. We need more wins like that as ETI develops.

Codes may be used among employers to promote a culture of compliance with good law, and they may open up space for freedom of association, social dialogue and collective bargaining.

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