International Framework Agreements v. European Framework Agreements
"Unlike collective agreements, which settle key issues such as wages and working time, transnational company agreements address ‘soft' issues. Transnational agreements concluded by the management and global union federations (GUFs) – often referred to as ‘International Framework Agreements' – deal primarily with the implementation of ILO core labour standards (e.g. Voss et al. 2008), whereas agreements concluded between the MNC management and EWCs and/or ETUFs (also labelled ‘
European Framework Agreements') deal mainly with issues such as corporate social responsibility, transnational guidelines for the company's personnel & HRM policies, restructuring and health and safety (e.g. Telljohann et al. 2009). EWCs are the predominant actors in the negotiation of transnational company agreements and by March 2011 71 such agreements had been signed by EWCs (ETUI 2011). […]
In some cases the distinction between ‘European' and ‘International' Framework Agreements is blurred because agreements are signed by both GUFs and EWCs."
(Glassner, V. and P. Pochet,
Why trade unions seek to coordinate wages and collective bargaining in the Eurozone: past developments and future prospects ,
European Trade Union Institute, 2011, visited 09-06-2011)