Forced Labour: Best Practices

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MCTU Newsletter - June 2010

The Global Unions Committee on Workers’ Capital (CWC) launched a new briefing paper, “Investing in Decent Work” this week at the ITUC Congress in Vancouver. The paper argues that forced labour is as much an issue of investment risk, as it is a matter of social responsibility. Investments in companies that employ forced labour presents diverse sources of risk, ranging from political, legal, regulatory, and reputational threats that could ultimately affect a company’s share price, operational performance and long-term financial viability. Investors are responding to these risks and taking action to mitigate forced labour in some sectors. However a crowded responsible investment agenda and difficulties in integrating social issues in investment decision-making pose barriers to more effective and coordinated investor responses on forced labour. The CWC proposes that institutional investors and trade union trustees in particular can leverage their rights as shareholders, build on existing policy frameworks and work with partner organisations to mitigate the observed barriers.

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Investing in Decent Work

The Global Unions Committee on Workers’ Capital (CWC) is an international labour union network for dialogue and action on the responsible investment of workers’ capital. It is a joint initiative of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Global Unions Federations (GUFs), and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC). The CWC works to educate union pension trustees on responsible investment issues, monitor global trends and policies related to corporate and financial market governance and examine ways in which the responsible investment of workers’ capital can yield economic and social value in our communities.

All Global Unions have reached agreement on a number of key principles to protect the rights of workers by focusing on the impact of temporary employment agencies on employment. The principles also emphasise the special dangers for migrant workers, who are often engaged by temporary agencies or other intermediaries. Abuses of migrant workers supplied by agencies are all too common. They include the denial of trade union and other human rights, human trafficking, confiscation of passports, deceptive practices with respect to wages and working conditions, and the denial of legal redress in the countries in which they work.

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Global Union Principles on Temporary Work Agencies

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