Background - demand two

Tehdas Kiinassa 2. Nokia adopt an ethical code based on multi-stakeholder participation and external auditing through its supply chain, cooperate with the international free trade union movement and begin negotiations for a global framework agreement.

In traditional auditing, many problems are left unnoted as the visits are short and only scratch the surface. The biggest problem is that the workers in a factory do not play a central role in this type of auditing. Only the most obvious violations are exposed during visits to the factories. Often the paperwork that is shown to the auditors is forged, with many factories having as many as three sets of records. For example, the amount of actual overtime or the real level of pay is rarely revealed during the audit. Sometimes the workers are told beforehand by the management of the factory how they should answer the auditors questions.

External independent auditing that is based on multi-stakeholder participation involves the company working together with NGOs and (where allowed) trade unions. The workers have a central role in this type of auditing. An important addition to this type of auditing would be to train the workers about their rights.

Study by Cilas (Centro de Investigación Laboral y Asesoria Sindical) concentrated on the working conditions at a Nokia-owned mobile phone factory in Reynosa, Mexico. According to the study, published in 2008, a third of the workers interviewed were not aware of ethical guidelines existing and only one in ten knew what they were. There was also no free trade union present at the factory.

Global framework agreements signed between multinationals and trade unions test the depth of a company's social responsibility. The agreements define a minimum level of rights for the workers of the company all around the world, including taking into account all of International Labour Standards. Multinationals often already have their own CSR guidelines and the global framework agreement compliments this.