The Impact of Transnational Company Agreements on Social Dialogue and Industrial Relations

Abstract

In the past two decades, cross-border industrial relations have undergone a steady but most interesting evolution. The constant increase of transnational company agreements (TCAs) in a legal ‘no man’s land’ shows the motivation of labour and management relations to tackle the social consequences of globalization, in most cases with a view to anticipating and participating in changes in sectors such as chemicals, metals, services, wood, food, tourism and textiles. TCAs are defined as the outcome of negotiations between individual multinational enterprises (MNEs) and trade unions at global and European levels. The different terminologies used to name TCAs vary, from international framework agreements (IFAs) to global framework agreements (GFAs) to global agreements. A recent terminology stemming from the European Commission differentiates between international and European framework agreements (EFAs). For ease of reading, the terminology used in this chapter is TCAs, including both international and European framework agreements, while specifying when appropriate if IFAs or EFAs are meant in a specific context.