TUAC was founded in 1948 as a trade union advisory committee for the European Recovery Programme - the Marshall Plan. When the OECD was created TUAC continued its work of representing organised labour's views to the new organisation. Through regular consultations with various OECD committees, the OECD secretariat and member governments, TUAC coordinates and represents the views of the trade union movement and ensures that global markets are balanced by an effective social dimension. It is also responsible for coordinating the trade union input to the annual G8 economic summits and employment conferences.

TUAC's affiliates consist of over 59 national trade union centers in the 34 OECD industrialized countries which together represent some 61 million workers.

TUAC works closely with other international trade union organisations and Global Union Federations as well as with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to ensure effective trade union input to OECD sectoral work.

TUAC and the OECD Guidelines

TUAC is part of the institutional set-up of the OECD Guidelines together with the National Contact Points (NCPs), the Investment Committee, OECD Watch and BIAC. As official advisory committee TUAC takes part in consultations with the OECD Investment Committee and gives its advice regarding implementation and effectiveness of the OECD Guidelines. If there is a dispute about the applicability of the Guidelines, TUAC may ask the Investment Committee to consider an amendment to the text or a clarification of a particular clause. Through training seminars and its User’s Guide to the Guidelines TUAC assists its affiliates in using the OECD Guidelines complaint mechanism.

TUAC portal for the OECD Guidelines and trade unions case database

Key TUAC Documents

TUAC Submission to the Annual Meeting of National Contact Points

TUAC Project Description on Developing the Use of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by European Works Councils

TUAC Report on Raising Awareness of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Corporate Social Responsibility Issues in Developing Countries

TUAC Working Paper on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises for the Annual Meeting of National Contact Points