Company
H&M Hennes & Mauritz GBC AB
Date of signature
26 August 2024 (renewal, first agreement signed in 2015)
Signatories
H&M Group CEO, IndustriALL Global Union : General Secretary, Swedish union IF Metall General Secretary
Key objectives
“H&M Group confirms its commitment to and respect for human and trade union rights in the workplace, including the right to organize and to negotiate collective agreements. H&M Group will use its leverage to ensure that its direct suppliers and their subcontractors respect human and trade union rights in the workplace. By this GFA, H&M Group recognizes IndustriALL as its legitimate partner for discussions regarding human and trade union rights in the workplace. H&M Group will interact with IndustriALL affiliated trade unions and use its best efforts to facilitate an improvement in such rights and conditions among its direct suppliers and their subcontractors.
The Parties agree to work together to implement well-functioning industrial relations and more effective application of the International Labor Standards in Annex 1 in line with H&M Group's Sustainability Commitment at H&M Group's direct suppliers' own operations and their subcontractors.
The following section sets out the standards that H&M Group's direct suppliers and their subcontractors producing merchandise/ready made goods for H&M Group's retail operations are required to meet and which are in scope of this Agreement.”
Duration
This Agreement may be renewed, revised, or discontinued, following a review of its impact and effectiveness by both Parties.
Implementation and dissemination
“For implementation of the agreement and to strengthen dispute resolution and access to remedy the parties have agreed on a specific structure”. This structure is detailed in the agreement (National Monitoring Committees, Global Steering Committee, Joint Industrial Relations Development Committee)
“The activities connected to the implementation of the agreement include: 1) reactive collaboration to ensure access to remedy for any rights violations brought forward in H&M's direct suppliers, and 2) proactive collaboration to create tools, resources and competencies that enable decent work and respect for human rights in H&M Group's direct suppliers. “
“The Parties will agree on a strategic plan and commit to an annual joint budget of 100,000 USD to implement this plan. This joint budget can provide: training and capacity building, the development of tools and resources to support GFA implementation, and global meeting costs for, as appropriate, the NMCs, H&M Group direct suppliers, their sub-contractors, and their workers. “
The agreement also describes the role of H&M in communications and capacity building of suppliers and subcontractors and the role of IndustriALL and IF Metall in communications and capacity building of trade unions.
Review and monitoring
This Agreement may be renewed, revised, or discontinued, following a review of its impact and effectiveness by both Parties
Dispute settlement and sanctions
“The "Procedural Guidelines for Case Handling/Dispute resolution" (Annex 3) shall be used to ensure that rights violations are remedied.
If an issue covered by this Agreement arises in an in-scope supplier and/or their subcontractor which cannot be settled satisfactorily through one of the methods at factory-level, the NMC (National Monitoring Committee) may intervene to facilitate a resolution and issue a recommendation for remedy. If the NMC considers it necessary, the NMC can request support and guidance from the GSC(Global Steering Committee).If the GSC cannot come to a final decision, it may submit the dispute to the JIRDC ( Joint Industrial Relations Development Committee).
Every effort will be made to find common agreement but where this is not possible, the Parties will, in appropriate circumstances, seek the expert advice of the ILO through the company-union dialogue facilitation, an operational tool of the MNE Declaration or an agreed third party for mediation and dispute settlement. The Parties shall agree to abide by the final recommendations of the ILO or other third party.
H&M Group shall ensure that the supplier implements the resolution within a specified period. If the supplier fails to resolve the issue within that timeframe, H&M Group will act according to its minimum requirements routines, including a responsible exit from a factory or supplier if necessary. IndustriALL Global Union and IF Metall commit to using their best effort to ensure that affiliated trade unions abide by any agreements reached.
Related texts
2015 Global Framework Agreement between H&M, IndustriALL Global Union and Industrifacket Metall on compliance and implementation of international Labour Standards at the suppliers
Main topic
Fundamental labour rights in the supply chain