SAK takes a reserved position on the MAI agreement

Finland's SAK trade union confederation has expressed its concern about the progress and effects of the negotiations on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), which have been suspended until October 1998. SAK demands that guarantees on the basic rights of workers as well as a ban on social and environmental dumping should be included.

The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), which is being prepared under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is planned to be a comprehensive multilateral framework for investment, with high levels of liberalisation and investment protection, accompanied by effective dispute settlement procedures. A starting principle of the MAI is that a foreign investor should not be treated less favourably than a national company.

The international trade union movement - through the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD - has tried actively to influence the MAI process actively. The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö, SAK) has been following the negotiations and trying to influence the achievement of an agreement that is good from the labour movement's point of view. SAK sees international investments as an important and growing part of the world economy, which in the best cases can increase job opportunities, speed up adoption of new technology and boost the economic growth rate.

According to SAK, international companies and international capital have too much power at present, and some rules should be imposed in this sphere. It is claimed that at the same time as the power of companies and investors has increased, the negotiating position of national authorities and workers has weakened. In the view of SAK, most countries are competing for foreign capital and the establishment of foreign companies on their territories at any price. The main demands of the Finnish labour movement as prerequisites for accepting the MAI agreement are as follows:

• the agreement should oblige all signatory countries to grant the basic rights laid down by International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions. This means freedom to organise and bargain, and a ban on forced child and slave labour and all kinds of discrimination.

• there should be a ban on any means of attracting foreign investors that neglects the host country's national standards concerning employment conditions, the working environment and the natural environment; and

• the OECD Guidelines for multinational companies, adopted in 1976, should be complied with.

SAK has made it clear to the Finnish negotiators and parliament that it will not support the agreement unless these conditions are met. The powerful criticism levelled by different activist groups at the direction taken in the MAI negotiations has improved the chances of reaching a good final agreement, states SAK.

Progress on the MAI has been stalled for now. At an OECD ministerial meeting on 27-28 April 1998, the member countries decided to postpone further formal negotiations until October 1998, to allow "a period of assessment and further consultation between the negotiating parties and with interested parts of their societies".