Social dialogue

Social dialogue is the basis of sustainable development and requires that people are allowed to organise in a trade union. With the support of members, trade unions need to have the power and freedom to negotiate freely with employers on topics such as better working conditions, a living wage, sustainable employment, and establishing a social-security safety net. The better the social dialogue, the greater the chance of achieving these goals.

Strategic ambitions

Mondiaal FNV ensures that workers have a stronger position during negotiations, by offering trade unions the right capacity for negotiations and dialogue;
When trade unions are still in their early stages, Mondiaal FNV will ensure that their projects focus on basic training and providing information, and, if needed, on protection.

Benefits of social dialogue

Social dialogue leads to better living conditions

In addition to better working conditions, social dialogue contributes to:

Conflict prevention and improved social harmony;
Increased awareness among citizens democracy facilitation, in which citizens participate on the basis of accountability, transparency, and insight;
Gender equality and non-discrimination;
Higher productivity and fewer work-related accidents;
The formalisation of the informal economy and of ‘inclusive’ economic growth;
Decreased inequality.

How?

International cooperation

As FNV trade union federation we signed the Global Deal together with the Dutch government and over 75 international partners. It involves worldwide cooperation aimed at addressing the challenges and issues involving the global labour market, so that everybody will benefit. This is done by promoting social dialogue in all its forms, an initiative supported by the ILO and the OECD.

Programmes

Mondiaal FNV supports social dialogue in Ghana, Indonesia, South Asia (Nepal, Bangladesh, and India), Myanmar, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and East Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda). In addition, we carry out sectoral (construction, palm oil, flowers, fruit and vegetables, and seeds) and theme-related (immigration, just transition, and fragile states) projects that involve social dialogues.

Background information

The International Labour Organization (ILO) of the United Nations defines social dialogue as follows: ‘to include all types of negotiation, consultation or simply exchange of information between, or among, representatives of governments, employers and workers, on issues of common interest relating to economic and social policy.’ In essence, this means arriving jointly at solutions and making agreements, ranging from a collective labour agreement (CLA) to national employment agreements, and from health and safety in the workplace to a pension agreement.

Example project: A social dialogue best practice

How successful social dialogue emerged from a conflict in an agricultural export company with over 16,000 employees in Peru.