The ILO’s Bureau of Workers’ Activities, ACTRAV, has recently published a new guide on how workers can use international labour standards to promote corporate social responsibility.

ACTRAV, an arm of the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO), works to ensure that the rights of workers are upheld and advanced, and is the link between the ILO and the world-wide trade union movement.

The guide, entitled The ILO’s MNE Declaration: What’s in it for Workers, was written in response to concerns about corporate activity before and during the global financial crisis, and incorporates the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration on Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration), an authoritative document on corporate social responsibility (CSR).  The MNE Declaration, based on principles derived from international labour standards, is the only international CSR instrument that has been endorsed by governments, employers’ organisations and trade unions.

Written by the Australian Institute of Employment Rights’ Executive Director, Lisa Heap, the guide is designed to assist trade unions and their members to understand the MNE Declaration and to help them to understand how they can be involved in promoting corporate social responsibility.

The booklet includes a handy audit tool that can be used to assess whether an enterprise is meeting the standards contained in the MNE Declaration.

Click here to download the guide.

Read an interview with ILO ACTRAV Deputy Director Anna Biondi

  1. Executive Member, AIER
  2. Sean Scalmer is Professor of Australian History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at Melbourne University. Sean studied political economy and political science at the University of Sydney, before undertaking a PhD on intellectuals and class in the Australian labour movement. He worked as a research fellow in the Department of Politics, Macquarie University (1998-2004), then as a Lecturer in Sociology (2004-2006) at the same University. He joined the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne in 2007. Sean’s major interests are in the histories of social movements, class, and democracy. orders for food delivery platform workers. [Bio from Sean Scalmer’s Melbourne University webpage]