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IndustriALL and Solvay renew their global framework agreement for five years

3 February, 2017IndustriALL Global Union and Solvay have renewed their global framework agreement (GFA) for five years, reinforcing and adding commitments that provide the same basic labour and social rights to all Solvay employees at operations worldwide.

The signatories will continue their two joint missions per year to assess Solvay’s safety policies and the agreement’s implementation in a country and a site chosen with IndustriALL. Solvay Global Forum of eight Solvay union representatives from major countries, will from now on be in charge of monitoring the fulfillment of the agreement.

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL General Secretary said:

This agreement is a benchmark in terms of social dialogue in the chemical industry. We have established a strong culture and constructive labour relations worldwide over the last 12 years. The renewal brings a Global Forum, which will be an important platform for dialogue between union/employee representatives and management.

With the agreement, Solvay reaffirms its respect for the International Labor Organization’s social standards and the principles of the United Nations Global Compact. It now also includes its commitment to the OECD’s guidelines for multinational enterprises. Solvay expects its suppliers and subcontractors to apply these same principles.

The GFA has been updated to add new social projects, such as the protection of mental safety at work and societal actions and reinforces Solvay’s commitments to health & safety at work, anti-discrimination, diversity as well as environmental protection.

For Solvay, the five year renewal is testimony of the relationship of trust we’ve successfully developed with IndustriALL for more than a decade now. We advocate an open, challenging and constructive dialogue with our employees and their representatives. This dialogue is part of our sustainability commitments and a contributor to our overall performance

said Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Solvay.

Valter Sanches and Jean-Pierre Clamadieu signed the renewal of their five-year accord at Solvay’s headquarters. Also present were Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, Albert Kruft, coordinator of Solvay Global Forum, and Carol Landry, International VP of United Steelworkers.