The agreement came as part of a major campaign led by the Alliance for Justice at G4S which included unions from Malawi to India to Sweden.  Earlier in December, G4S workers in Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo settled a complaint about the company that had been filed with the OECD National Contact Point in the UK in 2006.  That complaint alleged that G4S violated the OECD Guidelines for Multinationals in those four countries.  The settlement includes a number of commitments, but partly calls on the company and the unions to clearly communicate to workers their rights including days off, overtime pay, annual leave and retirement and medical leave so that they can better ensure that their rights are protected.

Here in the US, SEIU has been very active in the international campaign for justice for G4S workers.  They also signed an agreement with G4S/Wackenhut to cover 38,000 US workers.

The G4S campaign is very exciting because it will lead to improvements in the lives of thousands of workers all over the world and will hopefully influence other companies in the security industry to improve working conditions as well.  It also shows the power that workers have when they join in solidarity on an international level.  When we look at massive multinational corporations like G4S, it is important that workers in many countries join together on a campaign to ensure that standards are raised for all workers so that the company is not able to continue shifting jobs to the places with the worst labor regulations, the lowest wages and the most union repression.  This kind of strategy is going to be more and more important in light of the current global financial crisis because raising the standards for workers everywhere is the only way to avoid a race to the bottom and create long-term sustainable growth and economic justice.  So, congratulations to SEIU and all the G4S workers around the world!