Shaping global rules to advance workers’ rights everywhere
We are a leader in the push to turn the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights into a reality for working people, especially the fundamental rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
We are advocates for strengthening the OECD Guidelines for Multinationals, and we have successfully brought cases relating to due diligence, the right to organize and workplace safety.
We are a powerful voice supporting mandatory human rights due diligence laws, already in effect in some countries and under consideration elsewhere. The global agreements we negotiate with employers embed due diligence practices with a meaningful role for unions throughout their operations—even where there are little-to-no legal protections for workers in place.
We are also working to make these global rules enforceable and binding. As part of its leadership role in the Bangladesh Accord, UNI enforced the agreement through arbitration, resulting in millions of dollars in settlements put towards factory improvements. Our success inspired UNI, along with IndustriALL, to develop a new arbitration system, Rules for International Labour Arbitration and Conciliation, to adjudicate labour cases beyond the Accord.
And finally, we work with investors to address the human rights practices among the companies they own. Whether union busting by Amazon, investments in companies tied to the Myanmar military, or setting new expectations for nursing home operators, UNI engages with investors about fulfilling their responsibilities to workers everywhere.
To ensure that agreements, laws and guidelines referencing human rights due diligence are respected in the workplace, UNI is working with other trade union partners at the national and global level to establish a new Human Rights Due Diligence Centre for trade unions.
The Centre will build trade unions’ capacity to participate in due diligence, from ensuring companies’ risk assessments are robust through to using grievance mechanisms to secure remedy. The Centre aims to launch in 2025 and will provide capacity building, thought leadership and strategic initiatives to promote human rights due diligence which effectively ensures business respect workers’ rights.
Read UNI's trade union guide on human rights due diligence. It explains how activists can use legislative requirements to assess the due diligence of their companies.
Learn more about the forthcoming Human Rights Due Diligence Centre for trade unions.
Read UNI and ver.di's guide for unions to engage with companies for robust risk assessment under the law.
