By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, June 19, GNA – Mondiaal FNV, a Dutch Federation of Trade Union, says the Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) process offers trade unions the opportunity to intensify their work in securing workers’ rights.
It said although this might require some changes in mindset and activities, trade unions should cooperate more with other stakeholders like civil society organisations or local communities.
Madam Manon Wolf Kamp, Consultant for Mondiaal FNV, speaking at the opening of a three-day workshop for trade unions and other stakeholders, said the Unions needed to strengthen their national and international connections in order to work effectively with different actors in the value chain.
The workshop was to equip the stakeholders with knowledge and tools to integrate HRDD into their activities ensuring the protection for workers everywhere.
Trade unions play a critical role in ensuring that HRDD is not just a compliance exercise but a tool for systemic change.
HRDD is based on internationally recognised Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) standards, recognised not only by the OECD but also by the UN, and is a universal concept, applicable to all companies with international value chain, and also for companies in production countries.
She said at the same time, the core work of the trade unions should remain the same, as social dialogue always was the key instrument for them.
The Consultant said the HRDD process had six steps which needed to be followed to maximise the full potential.
These are Responsible Business Conduct into policies and management systems, identify and assess adverse impacts, Cease, prevent and mitigate, track, communicate and provide for or cooperate.
Madam Eutropia Ngido, a Local Consultant for Mondiaal FNV in Africa, said trade unions had some roles to play under some of the six steps.
She said under step two, trade unions could support the mapping of the value chain, identify risks in the value chain and participate in the prioritisation process.
She said for step three, trade unions could act as a formal and informal representative of the workforce, train workers, trade local unions, co-develop projects, programmes and initiatives with employees to promote creativity, innovation and technical improvements at the workplace.
On step four, she said trade unions could support companies in monitoring as they were well-connected to the workforce, participate in audit processes, and become a member of a global certification system.
She said trade unions on step five could provide valuable inputs for general reporting requirements of the company or good practices that local and international companies could use in their communication and coordinate the organisation of periodic conferences for employees by conducting social dialogue in accordance with legal regulation, share and summaries lessons learned.
Madam Ngido said for step six, trade unions could support the company in setting up the obligatory grievance mechanism and holding companies accountable for negative impacts on workers.
Mr Ouango Aubert, Policy Advisor – Mondiaal FNV said the HRDD process was to enable companies to abide by the rules in the countries in which they operate.
He said by training the trade unions, they were making sure that these participants were equipped with the tools to secure human rights of workers in different value chains.
He urged the trade unions to organise themselves in a way that would make them effective in their advocacy with companies and the government.
He commended the government of Ghana for the steps in developing the National Plan of Action regarding the HRDD process.
Madam Agnes Agamasu, Representative of Ghana Mines Workers Union, commended the organisers for the training to equip stakeholders on the HRDD.
She said so far as workers and production were concerned HRDD was important because it had to do with putting up the measures to ensure the rights of workers were protected.
GNA
Christian Akorlie