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Corporate Social Responsibility and Worker Rights: Institutionalizing Social Dialogue Through International Framework Agreements

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Abstract

International framework agreements (IFAs) represent a new generation of transnational agreements between multinational companies and global trade union federations. This paper analyzes the impact of such an agreement on a successful union organizing campaign in Colombia in 2012. We argue that management strategies towards corporate social responsibility and social dialogue influence the impact of IFAs on worker rights. However, this relationship is mediated by the capacity of managers and worker representatives at multiple levels to mobilize their capabilities. The results highlight the importance of institutionalized dialogue between managers and worker representatives, of the dissemination of capabilities across multilevel coordination structures and, most importantly, of their complementarities at various levels.

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Notes

  1. The violence against Colombian trade unionists is well documented. Of the 1743 unionists estimated to have been assassinated in the world between 1999 and 2009, 1107, or 63.5% were in Colombia (ENS and CCJ 2012). Furthermore, the rate of impunity for these crimes, according to some sources, stands at 94.4% and the few convictions that have been recorded in recent years point to the anti-union motivations behind these assassinations (PNUD 2011).

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Funding

This study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant number 410-2009-2558).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Resources Management, HEC Montréal, 3000, chemin de la Côte-Sainte Catherine, Montréal, QC, H3T 2A7, Canada

    Christian Lévesque & Marc-Antonin Hennebert

  2. School of Industrial Relations, University of Montréal, Pavillon M. Caron-L.Groulx - 3200 Jean Brillant, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Gregor Murray & Reynald Bourque

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  1. Christian Lévesque
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  2. Marc-Antonin Hennebert
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  3. Gregor Murray
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  4. Reynald Bourque
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Correspondence to Marc-Antonin Hennebert.

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Christian Lévesque, Marc-Antonin Hennebert, Gregor Murray, and Reynald Bourque declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Lévesque, C., Hennebert, MA., Murray, G. et al. Corporate Social Responsibility and Worker Rights: Institutionalizing Social Dialogue Through International Framework Agreements. J Bus Ethics 153, 215–230 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3370-9

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