NEWLETTERS

SPHRE Newsletter of the Society for the Promotion of Human Rights in
Employment
Volume 2 Number 1
August 1999

IT MUST HAVE BEEN BECAUSE OF SPHRE, RIGHT?

Since Sphre was founded in the fall of 1997 there have been some dramatic
international developments on the human rights in employment front. In
1998, the International Labour Organization adopted its Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Shortly thereafter Juan Somavia
took over as Director General and announced that he would consolidate the
ILO's 39 major programs into four broad policy areas, one of which is the
promotion and realization in practice of the fundamental principles and
rights embodied in the 1998 Declaration.

Also during 1999, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN, brokered a
"global compact on shared values and principles" with two of the world's
major international business organizations - the International Chamber of
Commerce and the International Employer's Association. The pact commits
those organizations and their members to "promote human rights, improve
labour conditions and protect the environment."

We can't claim a causal relationship between these events and Sphre's
founding but we can note that it was only after Sphre set off on its
mission that they occurred.

NEW AND IMPROVED WEB SITE

Thanks to a donation by Ken Mericle SPHRE now has a much improved web
site. Ken's son David has put together a very professional page. Since he
took it over in the Winter of 1999 the site has attracted nearly 700
visitors. Available at http://www.mericleinc.com/Sphre is information on
the organization's mission and strategy, a membership application form,
back copies of the newsletters, information on the campaign against
Ontario's Prevention of Unionism Act, and working papers on collective
bargaining as a human right by Roy Adams and on the application of
international standards to the US by Jim Gross. Other papers are being
solicited and will appear from time to time.

Remember also that Sphre has an email discussion group. In recent months
it has been relatively quiet. The discussion group is not monitored or
censured and anyone can post an observation or start a discussion. To
subscribe send the following note:

subscribe HRE-L yourfirstname yourlastname
to
Listproc@listserv.mcmaster.ca

SUPPORT

We are most grateful to Louise Walsh, who works out of the AFL-CIO
European Bureau for her generous contribution of $US350.

Although membership is open to anyone who shares Sphre's philosophy and
goals regardless of financial situation an annual contribution to the
organization is requested of all who can afford it. A dues invoice will
soon be in the mail. At this point Sphre is entirely dependent financially
on your contribution.

SPHRE EVENTS

The Sphre initiated session on Freedom of Association and the Right to
Organize and Bargain Collectively at last winter's annual meeting of the
Industrial Relations Research Association was a major success. The room
was packed to hear Janice Bellace speak on recent developments at the ILO,
Jim Gross on US labour law in international perspective, Roy Adams on the
implications of collective bargaining as a human right, and Edward Potter
on the employer association role in the passage of the ILO's Declaration
on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

In June, the International Employment Relations Association made human
rights one of the key themes of its annual meeting in Christchurch, New
Zealand and invited Sphre chair Roy Adams to give one of the keynote
addresses. A Sphre organizational meeting was also held in conjunction
with the IERA congress. Those who attended pledged to set up a dedicated
Australia/New Zealand chapter. Subsequent to that meeting Rupert Tipples
of Lincoln University agreed to take on the role of convenor of the
chapter downunder.

NEW ILO CONVENTION ON CHILD LABOUR

At its annual labour conference in June 1999 the ILO unanimously adopted a
new convention "banning the worst forms of child labour and exploitation
in the world, a scourge which affects millions of boys and girls,
particularly in Africa and Asia." The objective is "to rapidly eliminate
the use of under-18s in forced labour, including the forced recruitment of
children for use in armed conflict, the sale and trafficking of children,
debt bondage, prostitution, drug trafficking, pornography and hazardous
work." This new convention "which seeks to deal urgently with the most
intolerable forms of exploitation" will supplement a more basic convention
passed in 1973 whose long term goal is the elimination of all forms of
labour for children under 15 years of age.


CORPORATE CODE DEVELOPMENTS

During the 1990s there has been a major international push from NGOs,
governments and some unions to have corporations establish codes of
conduct in which the organization pledges to operate in accord with core
labour and environmental standards. Here are some recent important
developments in that realm.

In November 1998 at the behest of the Clinton Administration an Apparel
Industry Partnership Agreement came into existence in the US under which
the corporate members agreed to adhere to a Code and to have their
performance under that code monitored by independent, outside
investigators. The agreement produced considerable controversy. Some NGOs
involved in the negotiations refused to sign it as did the unions
involved. Among the key issues were the living wage and the independence
of the monitoring process. Unlike some other codes such as Social
Accountability 8000, the AIP does not require companies to pay a living
wage. Under the AIP companies are able to appoint the monitoring body but
only from a list approved by a joint NGO-Business Fair Labor Association.
Companies may also suggest which factories should be monitored but the FLA
has the final say. A corporation may be expelled for non-performance (and
thus lose certification) but only if there is two-thirds support for that
action on both the labour and employer sides. Among the NGOs that agreed
to participate the idea is to give the initiative a chance; those who
pulled out believe that the scheme is fatally flawed and doomed to
failure.

In January 1999 the European Parliament overwhelmingly approved a
Resolution calling on the
European Commission to develop a model code of conduct for European
companies. The Resolution calls for the creation of a monitoring mechanism
and would create tribunals within the Parliament to which companies would
be invited to defend their conduct abroad. The model code of conduct would
be drawn from ILO core Conventions and the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises; the UN Declaration on Human Rights; the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity and the Rio Declaration; the OECD
Guidelines on Bribery and Corruption; and several other international
agreements.

In 1977 Reverend Leon Sullivan, the first African-American to serve on the
Board of a major American corporation-initiated the Sullivan Principles, a
code of conduct for companies operating in South Africa. Recently, at Rev.
Sullivan's behest, a small group of U.S. and European companies developed
a set of principles entitled the "Global Sullivan Principles" which cover
such things as equal opportunity; freedom of association; safety and
health; and
ethical business dealings. Procter & Gamble, General Motors,
Colgate-Palmolive, Sun Oil, Shell, Rio Tinto and TATA Industries of India
have endorsed them. Each endorsing company will self-monitor and
self-report to Leon Sullivan's organization. It is envisioned that annual
meetings would take place at which endorsing companies would share best
practices and benchmarks. The Principles, which do not insist on
independent monitoring, are available at
http://www.chevron.com/newsvs/pressrel/1999/99-05-20.html#principals.

In May 1999, the Canadian federal government established a task force on
sweatshop abuses. That event was the culmination of more than two years
campaigning by Canadian NGOs. Composed of representatives from labour,
business, NGOs and the government, the task force's job is to develop a
Canadian Base Code of Labour Practice for the apparel, footwear and
related consumer products industries. The working group will also look at
possible mechanisms to guarantee compliance with the code and procedures
for workers and third parties to register complaints when the code is
violated. For more information have a look at
~http://www.web.net/~msn/3task.htm.

CANADIAN TASK FORCE TO REVIEW HUMAN RIGHTS CODE

The Canadian government has also established a task force to review the
content and operation of the Canadian Human Rights Code. Sphre's Canadian
branch is preparing a brief encouraging the inclusion of freedom of
association and the right to organize and bargaining collectively in the
code. At present the Code includes injunctions against discrimination on
the basis of race, creed, colour, sex, age and several other items but it
is silent on organizing and bargaining rights.

MORE ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT FOR CORE LABOUR RIGHTS

One of Sphre's major tactics is to encourage relevant organizations to
consider formally pledging support for core labour rights as human rights.
The International Industrial Relations Association carried a story in its
November 1998 edition reviewing Sphre's campaign and noted that "the IIRA
Executive strongly affirmed its support for these core labour standards"
at "its meeting in Bologna on the occasion of the 11th World Congress."

During the spring of 1999, the Industrial Relations Association of South
Africa also pledged its support for the core rights as did the British
Industrial Relations Association at its annual meeting in June. Thanks go
to Eddie Webster who took the initiative in South Africa and to Mike Terry
and Willie Brown who championed the cause in the United Kingdom.

The issue is currently on the agenda of several other associations.

Most international business organizations are opposed to any link between
trade and human rights. Indeed the US Council on International Business
readily admits that it supported the ILO's fundamental declaration on
principles and rights at work as a way to deflect pressure for a trade and
labour link. However, there has been a breech of ranks within the
international business association community. Recently the EU Committee of
the American Chamber of Commerce in Europe came out in favour of "a model
code of conduct, independent monitoring, and even for a linkage between
worker rights and trade at the WTO." The committee is under a lot of
pressure from other business groups to retract that stand, however.

ACTIVITIES OF SPHRE MEMBERS

In the summer of 1999 John Godard (with Stephen Wood) gave a talk entitled
"Assessing the British Experiment with Labour Law Reform: A Human Rights
Perspective" at the annual meeting of the Canadian Industrial Relations
Association.

Stuart Schmidt has been actively and successfully promoting HRE in the
US-based Eastern Academy of Management. At its annual meeting, to be held
in the spring of 2000 in Boston, human rights in employment will be the
major theme of the Eastern Academy.

In addition to his talk at the International Employment Relations
Association, Roy Adams also published "Labour Rights are Human Rights" in
WorkingUSA, July/August 1999 as well as several articles on the HRE theme
in his Working in the Global Village column in the Hamilton (Canada)
Spectator.

A longer version of the paper given by Jim Gross at the IRRA annual
meeting will soon appear in Employee Rights & Employment Policy Journal.
Jim is also in the process of organizing a major conference on US labour
policy in international human rights perspective to be held in the fall of
2000 in New York City. For more information contact Jim at "James A.
Gross" <jag28@cornell.edu >

Lance Compa is spending the year with Human Rights Watch in Washington,
DC. While there he will spearhead an HRW project on human rights in
employment in the United States.

SPHRE IN THE NEWS

In addition to the write-up in the IIRA Bulletin, ILO Focus (vol 12, no.
1, Winter/Spring 1999), the periodical published by the ILO's Washington
office also carried a major story on Sphre and its mission.

During his visit to New Zealand Roy Adams appeared on two television shows
where he was interviewed about human rights in employment developments
and Sphre's work in promoting understanding and respect for core HRE

MEETINGS

At the initiative of incoming president Sheldon Friedman, a strong Sphre
supporter, the Industrial Relations Research Association has decided to
make human rights in employment the theme of its annual meeting in January
2001 in New Orleans. A request recently went out inviting proposals for
sessions on the topic of "Ensuring Respect for Human Rights in
Employment." For more information contact Kay Hutchison at
kbhutchi@facstaff.wisc.edu.


Steve Meisel, LaSalle University, is the major organizer of the Eastern
Academy of Management's meeting to be held in Boston in April 2000.
Employment rights will be a key theme addressed at that meeting. For more
infomation contact Steve at <meisel1@erols.com>

RESEARCH

Is there are relationship between corporate financial and social
performance? That was the question that sparked a recent internet debate.
While not conclusive, the general gist was that the available research
does seem to support such a link. Relevant publications include:

Jennifer Griffin and John Mahon (1997), 'The corporate social performance
and corporate financial performance debate. Twenty-five years of
incomparable research', Business and Society, 36(1), March, 5-31

Ronald Roman, Sefa Hayibor and Bradley Agle (1999), 'The relationship
between social and financial performance', Business and Society, 38(1),
March, 109-125.

PUBLICATIONS

In June Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights gave an
excellent talk at WinConference 99 in Interlaken entitled "Giving a Human
Face to the Global Market-the Business Case for Human Rights." It is
available on the internet at
http://www.un.org/partners/business/hchrstat.htm.

Recently published books of interest:

No Sweat, fashion, free trade and the rights of
garment workers, ed. by Andrew Ross, London, Verso, 1997.

Canadian Corporations and Social Responsibility, eds. M. Hibler and R.
Beamish, Ottawa,
North-South Inst, 1998.

The Sex Sector, the economic and social bases of prostitution in Southeast
Asia, ed. Lin Lean
Lim, Ottawa, ILO, 1998.

HELP

The success of SPHRE's programme depends on you. If you are an academic
member please try to include a section in any and all of your courses on
human rights in employment. If you are a union member, please try to get
HRE on the agenda of a meeting this year. If you are a journalist please
consider writing a story about HRE. If you are a member of an organization
that focuses on employment issues please ask that organization to put
support for HRE on the agenda at the annual meeting. If you are none of
the above be creative.