Unions: Due Diligence Competence Centre established

Trade unions establish Due Diligence Competence Centre to leverage new human rights laws, aiming to protect workers' rights and strengthen social dialogue globally

The Key Points: Trade unions have established a Due Diligence Competence Centre aimed at leveraging new human rights laws to protect workers' rights. This initiative focuses on building union capacity and advocating for effective implementation of these laws.

Why This Matters: Employers should be aware that unions are increasingly using legal frameworks to enhance their bargaining power, which may lead to more frequent engagements and demands for accountability from companies. The Competence Centre will have three focus areas:

• Building union capacity to use due diligence laws effectively
• Supporting specific cases of workers’ rights impacts
• Advocating for effective implementation of human rights due diligence laws with companies and policy makers.

What Might Happen Next: As unions gain traction through legal avenues, employers may face heightened scrutiny and pressure to engage in meaningful dialogue regarding workers' rights and working conditions.

Our Commentary: Once again unions, in the absence of any real membership that would give them industrial leverage, are now also looking to the law to progress their agenda. If you can’t strike, litigate. 

However, their new “lawfare” strategy may be blown off-course by moves within the EU to put due diligence laws on ice for some years because of complaints that they place an undue reporting obligation on companies, with the actual value of such reports being problematic. Announcements by union coalitions that they plan to use such laws to “hold companies to account” will further weaken support for them among centre-right law makers, who are now the dominate force in European politics. 

Going after US companies through the courts, whether over human rights, data issues (GDPR), or AI or social media concerns are also likely to increase tensions with the Trump administration in the US.  It will make no difference to the US administration whether such actions are initiated by civil society actors or by government bodies, such as data authorities. Like it or not, there are new geo-political realities that now need to be considered. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

UNIGlobal statement). 

In quotes. These unions say that:

 “human rights due diligence laws in Germany, France and the EU introduce legally binding obligations for large companies to ensure respect for human rights, including workers fundamental rights, throughout their global operations and supply chains.” 

They further claim that, for unions in Asia Pacific, where many global supply chains are based,

…this represents a significant opportunity to strengthen social dialogue with multinational companies. The laws require companies to engage with stakeholders such as trade unions at both global and local levels, potentially fostering more systematic and meaningful social dialogue on workers’ rights issues.