A fresh report entitled “Can Transnational Corporations Legally Apply Conditions to Companies That Supply Contract and Agency Labour?” is now available on the ICEM web-site. The report, written as part of ICEM’s ongoing campaign on Contract and Agency Labour, is a research effort that originated from the question whether or not a multinational company can impose social standards on its suppliers.

The first of the three sections of the document deals with the international legal framework, examining existing language in labour law, commercial, trade and contract law. Issues dealt with include ILO Convention 181 on Private Employment Agencies and the ILO Recommendation 198, on the Employment Relationship. Other topics include the link between labour standards and global and regional trade agreements, and between contract law and labour standards.

The second section deals with corporate codes of conduct. The third section looks at national legal frameworks, both in labour and commercial law. Prominently focused in this last section is the question: what criteria determine the real employment relationship between a company and a worker, regardless of the contractual terms between them?

Different countries are looked at in this respect, with examples, citing case law, from Canada, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, the Philippines, UK, France, and US. The full report can be found here.