OECD official reminds multinational investors: Respect workers’ rights

The trade union advisory arm of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has reminded foreign companies here to respect workers’ rights in their investment destinations as mandated by the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Kirstine Drew, policy advisor of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC), an advisory arm of the OECD, said 39 member-countries and 11 non-members of OECD signed the said guidelines in 1976. It was later revised in 2011.

It ensures protection of workers’ rights in countries where foreign investors locate.

She urged the Philippines to help increase awareness of the OECD Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct as majority of these multinational companies invest in the country’s export processing zones.

These rights include the workers’ rights to join trade union, right to collective bargaining, access to information on the situation of company and access to decisions of the company that will affect their employment.

“It’s important for the government and the workers here [in the Philippines] to be aware of the OECD guidelines because these multinational firms eye investments in the export processing zones where workers are barred from joining trade unions,” said Drew in an interview with the BusinessMirror.

The Paris-based policy advisor is in the country for a two-day workshop on OECD Guidelines on Business Conduct being hosted by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Philippines at the Richmonde Hotel in Ortigas on Tuesday and Wednesday.

She said OECD members who are signatories on the Guidelines (on Responsible Business Conduct) have their respective National Contact Points (NCPs) offices attached to the government that hear workers’ complaints against multinational companies with head offices in their countries.

These OECD governments are hosts to the world’s biggest multinational food industries such as Nestlé, Unilever and Coca-Cola.

“Once a complaint against these companies is filed, the OECD countries sets up the mediation team through the NCPs and hear workers’ complaint,” Drew said.

Drew said despite decisions of NCPs that favor workers, many multinational companies, mostly those from the US, Korea and Brazil (a non-OECD member but a signatory to the Guidelines), refuse to comply with the decisions.

“Companies that refuse to comply with the decisions of NCPs and those that violate OECD Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct face reputational risks globally,” Drew said.

She said results of mediations by the NCPs are published globally and will impact on the image of the multinational firms and their chances of bigger investments.

Drew added the Philippine government and trade unions in the country should be aware of the OECD guidelines now that more multinational companies from developed countries are either investing or increasing their presence in the country.

Quoting TUAC-OECD records, she revealed that multinational companies from the US and Korea and Brazil have the most number of complaints from workers in their investment destinations.

She said US companies “do not cooperate fully” with the guidelines prescribed by the OECD despite complaints raised by workers and decisions of NCPs that favor workers.

Drew said 95 percent of cases filed with the OECD countries’ mediation boards include multinational companies that intimidate and harass workers who join trade unions, signing agreements with yellow unions or so-called dummy unions formed by companies and union busting. –Estrella Torres, Businessmirror