ITUC Supports New International Standard on Social Responsibility

Reacting to news that the ISO 26000 has received enough votes to become an official international standard to be issued by the International Organisation for Standardization, ITUC General Secretary Sharon Burrow expressed her satisfaction. “This was the right decision. The ITUC participated in the Working Group that developed the standard as well as on the drafting committee that wrote it. We are satisfied with the text.”

Although the ITUC is not a national standards body and could not vote, it has gone on record as supporting this standard. In commenting on the standard to the ISO, the ITUC stated that ISO 26000 “will contribute to a better understanding of social responsibility through its clarification of important concepts. We are satisfied that this text provides a comprehensive distillation of responsible labour practices that are consistent with the international labour standards of the ILO.”

“We support the emphasis given to authoritative international instruments in this text as well as the recognition that it is not for individual organisations to unilaterally define the interests of society. Only the ILO has the mandate to set international standards that impact upon the world of work,” stated Burrow. “Furthermore, support for ISO 26000 does not mean that we would support further ISO standards relative to workers and their workplaces. Private standards must not become a substitute for public policy established through democratic and representative political processes.”

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