News

Yesterday, UNI and G4S reached a settlement of a case brought in December, 2006 alleging violations of the OECD Guidelines for Multinationals. The process was handled by the National Contact Point (NCP) for the Guidelines in the UK, which accepted the allegations relating to 4 countries (Nepal, Mozambique, Malawi and DRC) for further review in late 2007.



For the first time in the history of the office, the NCP then appointed an arbitrator, John Mulholland to manage a formal mediation and conciliation process. The case was complex and had been impossible to resolve. Mr. Mulholland brought the parties together in a series of meetings which resulted in a voluntary settlement.



The UK NCP’s office was reorganized in 2006 in response to concerns that its structure did not allow it to vigorously address complaints under the Guidelines. An advisory board was established involving representatives of the TUC and other stakeholders. .



The OECD Guidelines are the only set of multilaterally adopted standards which apply to the conduct of multinational companies in the labor and employment arena. They are an important step away from unilaterally adopted CSR policies and towards an international norm for employer accountability.



NCPs carry the authority of the home government which, if used creatively and persistently can result in at least a structured dialogue and in many cases effective enforcement.



UNI thanks the UK NCP for its commitment to support the negotiations and mediation in this case and commends the UK TUC, and other groups such as RAID, for their initiative to strengthen the NCP.



Settlement summary:



In Mozambique and Malawi, the parties have agreed to processes through which the union and company (at the national level) will agree upon a statement and then communicate to employees their statutory rights, such as the rights to days off, annual leave, overtime, retirement and medical leave. The aim of this process is to both protect the rights and interests of G4S employees and to build and strengthen the local relationships between G4S and the unions which represent its employees. The settlement establishes a special dispute resolution process to handle problems which may arise.



G4S has agreed to increase overtime pay in Malawi to 100% of wages in 2009 and the national parties are negotiating concerning further improvements in coming years.



The parties have made some specific commitments in connection with the issues presented in Nepal and DRC.



G4S has also reaffirmed its ongoing commitment to honour and respect national law and to respect the ILO core Labour Conventions, including the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.



To read the NCP’s official statement copy and paste this link into your internet browser: http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file49308.doc



For more information, please contact Christy Hoffman: Christy.hoffman@uniglobalunion.org