TUAC and ICFTU response to MAI negotiations in the OECD Sample Clauses

TUAC and ICFTU response to MAI negotiations in the OECD. In response to the MAI negotiations, TUAC (together with the ICFTU), established general criteria for dealing with the subject of investment in multilateral agreements, emphasising the need to incorporate the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, by: • Making explicit reference to them in the Preamble. • Appending the OECD Guidelines in full. • The inclusion of a specific article regarding the fact that investors from non-OECD member countries should automatically adopt the Guidelines. • Establishing National Contact Points to enforce the Guidelines, which should be a legally binding element of the Agreement for all Parties without exception. TUAC also recommended the inclusion of a binding clause in the MAI, subject to dispute settlement, to ensure that governments do not try to attract investors by suppressing national labour standards or by violating internationally recognised core labour standards. This clause would also include environmental standards9. Later, in response to the new “Framework” initiative, the trade union movement reiterated its concern, given the imbalanced and excessive emphasis on investors’ rights, and the lack of guarantees, especially for non-members of the OECD, that pro-FDI policies will not affect the citizens’ social and labour rights. In addition, the chapter on human resources continued to insist that labour market institutions, especially trade unions and collective bargaining, are an obstacle to improving the investment climate, productivity and job creation, as asserted by the World Bank in its report entitled “Doing Business”10