‘The agreement creates a unique system for committees made up of the parties on the labour market on national as well as international level’ IndustriALL Global Union and H&M, the world’s leading garments retailers, have signed a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with the Swedish trade union IF Metall to protect the interests of 1.6m garment workers globally. According to the sector people, H&M is the leading garments retailer that source RMG products from Bangladesh. The agreement marks a new level of commitment to fundamental rights of workers across H&M’s supply chain, which covers 1.6m garment workers employed at around 1,900 factories run by the manufacturers. The deal includes setting up national monitoring committees, initially planned for countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Turkey to safeguard its implementation and to facilitate a dialogue between the parties on the labour market. The collaboration also aims to promote a well-functioning dialogue between employers and employees in order to solve conflicts peacefully, and primarily at the factory level where they arise. “This agreement opens an exciting new chapter in the relationship between IndustriALL Global Union and H&M. It cements the path towards a sustainable garment industry with unionized workforce, constructive labour-management relations, living wages through industry level collective agreements, and safe workplaces,” said IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina in a statement on Tuesday. Well-functioning industrial relations including collective bargaining are keys to achieving fair living wages and improved working conditions in our supply chain, H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson. “We believe that the collaboration with IndustriALL and IF Metall will contribute to our already ongoing work within this field as well as help to create stable sourcing markets,” said Persson. “The agreement creates a unique system for committees made up of the parties on the labour market on national as well as international level,” said IF Metall president Anders Ferbe. Implementing the agreement, primarily through communication and training of trade unions and their member, suppliers and employer association will be the most important task, he added. According to the GFA, the parties will jointly promote signing of collective agreements both at factory, company and industrial level between relevant social partners. Workers have the right to refuse unsafe work as part of their health and safety rights while the parties will provide training for both management and union representatives on employers’ responsibilities, workers’ rights and obligations, industrial relations, collective bargaining agreements and peaceful conflict resolution. H&M will actively use all its possible leverage to ensure that its direct suppliers respect human and trade union rights in the workplace.
