5. Banana Industry Review 1. International Union of Food Workers Based in Geneva, Switzerland Member of Global Union Federation 336 trade unions in 120 countries with membership of over 12 million workers. International labour unity principle About IUF 6 2 3 4 5 5
14. Banana Industry Review 1. Codes Of Conduct TNCs NGOs Non legally enforceable Increased Adoption Grocery supply code of practice 6 3 4 5 2 CHIQUITA SA 8000 Contents Unilateral ILO and UN Conventions 8
15. Banana Industry Review 1. Codes Of Conduct TNCs NGOs Non legally enforceable Monitoring by unions and MNCs Increased Adoption Grocery supply code of practice 6 3 4 5 2 Bi- lateral CHIQUITA SA 8000 legally enforceable Contents Process Components Unilateral ILO and UN Conventions Presumption of trade union membership MNCs Global Union Federation International FrameworkAgreement Limited resources of unions 9
16. Banana Industry Review 1. REVIEW COMMITTEE ILO conventions: Labour Sstandards 6 2 3 4 5 EDUCATION OF WORKERS Health and Safety Public International Campaigns Banned **COLSIBA: Latin American Coordination of Banana Workers Unions 10
55. 5. Feasibility Analysis FUNDING Donations ; Sponsorships 6 1 2 3 4 31 FAIRTRADE : Self-funding Sainsbury’s Fair Development Fund Pool resources with World Banana Forum & IFO - MAKEFAIR
56. 5. Feasibility Analysis Short-term Banana elasticity - 0.46, 0.6 for fresh fruit Compromise - less disposable income, does it become a luxury good – Sainsbury and Waitrose sales – CSR big issue 6 1 2 3 4 32
57. 5. Feasibility Analysis Medium-term No ongoing costs for the IUF. Cost of audit compliance borne by supermarkets. Heavy dependence on successful lobby outcome. Difficulty of lobbying for radical change. What is a fair price for suppliers 6 1 2 3 4 33
58. 5. Feasibility Analysis Long-term What’s a fair wage? EU first then USA, hard to implement global standards 6 1 2 3 4 34
59.
60. Ally with government to ensure enforcement of IFAs
[CONTINUED]The tendency of corporations to adopt various codes is increasing, as public pressure for social and environmental accountability becomes greater. Supermarkets across Europe such as Carrefour, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Aldi have adopted codes of conduct in line with international labour standards and fair dealing principles. The Ethical Trading Initiative and SA8000 both reflect commitment to labour standards. Companies also claim to be dealing with suppliers that share their values, or encouraging them to do so. For example, the three dominant banana-exporting companies have adopted SA8000 and claim to support their suppliers to do the same. Unique to the UK is the recently introduced Grocery Supply Code of Practice 2010, which imposes legislation on supermarkets, to ensure fairer dealing with suppliers and replaced the Supermarket Code of Practice that was in place from 2002. An enforcement body, in the form of an ombudsman service, operates to ensure compliance with the code. The code applies to supermarkets with grocery turnover in excess of £1 billion per year.Now we move on to IFAs.
International Framework Agreements can be entered into by MNCs and Global Union Federations, like the IUF (International Union of Foodworkers). These agreements cover the same content as codes of conduct, i.e. the outcome components of workplace democracy, in addition to the process components, such as shared sovereignty and employee participation. (Hyllman and Egels-Zanden, 2007) These IFAs presume the existence of trade unions, which are needed for the Agreements to take effect, so are not unilateral in nature, and can be legally enforced. Currently, with IFAs, unions and MNCs collaborate in their efforts to monitor implementation of the agreement. However, it can be argued that unions have limited resources, in terms of adequate experience of staff to effectively monitor compliance.
Moving on to the proposals for the medium term, the IUF will lobby the EU to introduce an EU-wide Grocery Supply Code of Practice, based on the current UK model. Given the limitations of codes of conduct and the advantages of the code of practice adopted in the UK, this seems more credible. It would apply to all European supermarkets with grocery turnover of over £1 billion, or equivalent.
One way to monitor compliance with the code, would be the introduction of a legal audit requirement. We suggest that the IUF should lobby the EU for this too. This would be more effective than the ombudsman service that currently enforces the code when dealing with disputes because this current system depends on suppliers voicing their concerns. They may choose to keep quiet for fear of losing business.
Since NGOs tend to have more resources than Union bodies, we propose this audit work could be carried out by NGOs willing to accept this work. Social Accountability International would be an ideal NGO to contact, as it audits compliance with social accountability standards, so has the necessary experience. Also, the European Banana Action Network, a body of 30 NGOs and trade unions. If audits reveal non-compliance the company would face criminal and civil sanctions, which would act as a deterrent.
Increased public pressure from the short term proposal should enhance full compliance with GSCOP. This compliance will have knock on effects further down the supply chain, by increasing the price of bananas. We hope consumer awareness will influence consumer choice towards accepting higher priced bananas.
