9 May 2022
The CGT and CFDT, respectively the second and third largest representative unions at Orpea in France, are asking UNI global union to reverse the global agreement signed in April with the nursing home giant. Contacted by Planet Labor, the global union federation stands its ground. The International Trade Union Confederation and the European Trade Union Confederation, which received a copy of the letter sent on 4 May, have still not chosen their side.
15 April 2022
French nursing home group Orpea has penned a three-year global framework agreement with UNI Global Union, for a partnership covering ethical employment, social dialogue, collective bargaining and trade union rights. The agreement comes as the group, which employs 70,000 people across 23 countries, faces various complaints of discrimination against union members as well as investigations into its working conditions in France. It has been panned by various trade union federations as a “pseudo agreement”.
5 April 2022
Belgian chemical group Solvay, which employs more than 23,000 employees worldwide, has renewed the global framework agreement (GFA) between itself and Industriall Global Union, the global union federation. Penned on 31 March 2022, the text – valid for a period of four years – anticipates legislative advances on companies’ due diligence obligations and should allow for social dialogue to be developed at the group’s sites in the United States, where union representation depends on a majority vote of...
20 January 2022
On 20 January 2022 the French multinational utility company, which operates in 70 countries, signed a global framework agreement (GFA) with three global union federations IndustriALL, BWI, and PSI. The agreement, which runs for a period of four years, commits the group to a global social protection programme, Engie Care, to prioritise sustainable employment, and to the creation of a ‘World Forum’, a joint dialogue body which will be responsible for monitoring the duty of vigilance. This text reinforces the...
22 July 2021
On 14 July, Spain’s leading department store chain, El Corte Inglés signed an agreement with the CCOO and UGT trade unions, which establishes the framework for their collaboration in the application of international labor standards and the compliance of their suppliers in third party countries. The agreement guarantees information exchange and joint effort in the field, in order...
13 July 2021
Since the signing of the first transnational company agreement (TCA) in 1988 between BSN (now Danone) and the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations), the Institut de recherches économiques et sociales (IRES, institute of social and economic research) has recorded more than 384 agreements, including 218 international framework agreements (IFAs) and 166 European framework agreements (EFAs). This inventory of signed agreements,...
21 January 2021
On 25 November 2020 the TK Elevator group (TKE group) together with IndustriALL Global union, the German works council, the European Works Council and the German trade union federation IG Metall signed a global framework agreement. TKE group (50,000+ employees worldwide) is the result of a spin-off by the German multi-industrial group Thyssenkrupp in early 2020. In 2015, former owner Thyssenkrupp signed a GFA on labor standards (c.f. article No. 8969) with IG Metall, and this TKE agreement has taken that up and...
18 January 2021
On 15 December 2020, the management of the Belgian chemicals firm Solvay and its global staff representation body, the Solvay Global Forum (see article n°10248), revised their first global agreement on the minimum levels of protection for employees in terms of welfare and healthcare, signed on 22 February 2017 (see article n°10083), in order to extend parental leave (mothers, fathers, co-parents and adoptive parents) to 16 weeks.
6 April 2020
The global framework agreement on digital transformation at Belgian chemicals group Solvay was signed on 17 March after being “discussed and elaborated with the European Works Council (EWC) and the Solvay Global Forum (SGF) with the support of lndustriALL Global Union”, the document outlines. The agreement comes after one year of talks and exchanges and seeks to provide a framework for management and employee representatives to engage locally with issues raised by the digital transformation to achieve detailed...
18 February 2020
On 14 February, Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor ASA signed a new global agreement with UNI Global Union that runs for three years and introduces several new provisions pertaining to equal opportunities, combatting discrimination, and treats freedom of association. The agreement covers the more than 20,000 employees in the company worldwide.
