H&M and Union Network International (UNI) sign groundbreaking agreement
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, with about 950 stores in 18 countries and 40,000 employees, and Union Network International, UNI, a global trade union with 15 million members in 900 affiliated unions in 140 countries, will today sign an agreement to secure and promote fundamental worker’s rights at all H&M workplaces worldwide.
At a ceremony today at the headquarters of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, H&M’s CEO Rolf Eriksen, the General Secretary of UNI, Philip Jennings and Jan Furstenborg, Head of UNI Commerce will sign an agreement in the presence of Kari Tapiola and Göran Hultin, Executive Directors of ILO.
The purpose of the agreement is to make clear H&M’s corporate policy on human rights, freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, as well as bans on child labour, forced labour and all kinds of discrimination at H&M’s workplaces.
H&M’s policy encompasses the support and respect for the UN Global Compact, for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
H&M and UNI take joint responsibility for the observance of the agreement.
“This agreement is very positive for H&M. At H&M we support and respect the principles in the agreement we are signing with UNI,” says Rolf Eriksen, CEO of H&M.
“Business is increasingly becoming global. Together, unions and employers can put into practice the conventions signed by governments at the International Labour Organisation and ensure global labour standards”, said Philip Jennings, UNI General Secretary.
“Today’s agreement is groundbreaking. The fact that a large Nordic retail chain in this way declares itself loyal to fundamental labour norms and to social dialogue has great significance for the struggle against unjust working conditions all over the world”, says Jan Furstenborg, Head of UNI Commerce.