IOE Archives

IOE Welcomes Global Business & Disability Network Charter

Published on November 6, 2015

disability_sign_low_resSeveral major international companies came together at the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva on October 28 to further formalize their commitment to promoting and including persons with disabilities throughout their operations.

All members of the Global Business & Disability Network, Accor, Adecco, AXA, Carrefour, Casino, Dow, L’Oréal, Michelin, Orange, Sodexo and Standard Bank were among the first signatories to the new ILO Global Business & Disability Charter and several more companies have expressed their intention to join them.

The network was created in 2010 by the ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ACT/EMP) and the ILO Disability Team, with the goal of conducting international, regional and national level meetings and initiatives to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in businesses and to disseminate best practices. It has produced a tool for companies to self-assess their performance in a number of disability-related areas.

The Charter signed last week covers key areas such as non-discrimination, providing equal treatment and opportunities, job retention, accessibility and confidentiality. It also focuses on the importance of giving proper attention to all types of disabilities.

As a next step, the Charter will be provided to national employers’ federations and national business and disability networks as a channel for promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities in their own workforces and within member companies, large and small.

International Organization of Employers (IOE) Secretary General, Linda Kromjong, said, “Employers know from experience that inclusive and diverse workforces create a win-win situation for businesses and employees. Companies are encouraged to assess if signing this Charter will complement their overall strategy. The 11 companies signing today have already made this assessment.”

IOE Vice President for North America and USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg is a member of the Global Business & Disability Network’s steering committee.

11 Companies to Promote Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in the Workplace

Published on October 29, 2015

disability_sign_low_resEleven major international companies have become the first signatories of the “ILO Global Business & Disability Network Charter” in a ceremony held at ILO headquarters in Geneva. The Charter expresses their commitment to promoting and including persons with disabilities throughout their operations worldwide.

It covers a wide range of areas, from protecting staff with disabilities from any kind of discrimination to making the company premises and communication to staff progressively accessible to all employees with disabilities.

The signing companies are: Accenture, AccorHotels, Adecco Group, AXA Group, Carrefour Group, Dow Chemical, Groupe Casino, L’Oréal, Orange, the Standard Bank Group and Michelin.

“The lack of equal employment opportunities for persons with disabilities often means lives of poverty and social exclusion,” said ILO Director General Guy Ryder. “By honoring the commitments of this Charter, the private sector will be showing real leadership in making it possible for people with disabilities to have productive work and to live in dignity.”

Ryder continued: “The first signatories to sign the Charter will help us spread a simple but essential message: employing persons with disability is not just a good moral cause, it is also good for business. This new Charter can also make a substantial contribution to realizing many goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .”

Speaking on behalf of the signatories, the Network steering committee chairperson, Wendy Orr, said: “We are proud to be among the first companies to sign the Business Charter on Disability. This is one step further in demonstrating our commitment for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labour market. We believe and have experienced how an inclusive and diverse workforce provides opportunities for employers, employees and society overall.”

Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB’s senior counsel, also sits on the Network steering committee.

All signatories are members of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network , which brings businesses together to promote disability inclusion by highlighting the business advantages of employing people with disabilities. It also facilitates the exchange of knowledge and good practices between companies, company networks and the ILO.

Created in 2010, the Network acts as a facilitator and responds to requests from members to develop tools, share knowledge, and facilitate business-to-business meetings and dialogues around disability issues. It combines the interests of the ILO employer constituents and of multinational enterprises.

Its steering committee is composed of representatives from eight multinational enterprises, a global organization representing people with disabilities and two employers’ organizations.

The Network has produced a self-assessment tool which allows companies to assess how well they are doing in a number of areas regarding disabilities.

The Charter will be provided to national employers’ federations and national business and disability networks as a way of promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities among their member companies, including small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).

The Network also benefits from the invaluable insight of people with disabilities themselves, thanks to a partnership with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) , a network of global and regional organizations representing people with disabilities.

ICC Tunisia Honorary Chairman Receives Nobel Peace Prize 2015

Published on October 12, 2015
Wided Bouchamaoui
Wided Bouchamaoui

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE) congratulated Wided Bouchamaoui, honorary chairman of ICC Tunisia and president of IOE member Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), for receiving the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.

UTICA along with the Tunisian Human Rights League, the Tunisian Order of Lawyers and the Tunisian General Labor Union compose the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet which has been awarded today in Oslo. UTICA submitted the application to the Nobel Prize selection committee on behalf of the four organizations.

The quartet has made a decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011. The four organizations exercised their role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority.

In its official announcement, the Nobel committee said: “The quartet paved the way for a peaceful dialogue between the citizens, the political parties and the authorities and helped to find consensus-based solutions to a wide range of challenges across political and religious divides.”

Bouchamaoui is also a winner of the 2015 Business for Peace Award, an annual prize given to outstanding business people who have been able to achieve business success while acting in an ethically responsible way.

USCIB Unveils “Business for 2030” Portal at Global Employers’ Summit in Bahrain

Published on October 8, 2015
Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB) unveils the Business for 2030 website at the Global Employers’ Summit in Bahrain.

The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) joined forces with its member the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) to organize the first Global Employers’ Summit in Bahrain from October 6 to 7 under the auspices of Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. At the summit, IOE leaders signed the Bahrain Deceleration, underscoring the business’s commitment to the United Nations 2030 Development Agenda.

Organized around seven panel sessions, high-level speakers led the interactive debates on several topics including the free movement of workers, trade and jobs, global youth unemployment, and business and human rights. Also high on the agenda was an exploration of how business can contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recently adopted by the UN General Assembly.

USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg attended the summit and unveiled USCIB’s Business for 2030 website, designed to showcase the private sector’s contributions to the UN SDGs. Part informative resource, part catalogue of business engagement, Business for 2030 features over 120 examples from 30 companies in over 100 countries of how businesses are helping to achieve 70 of the 169 SDG targets.

The Summit concluded with the signing of the Bahrain Declaration by BCCI Chairman Khalid Abdulrahman Almoaymed, and IOE President Daniel Funes de Rioja, reflecting the concrete commitment of the global employer community towards:

  • Fostering job creation
  • Creating labor market opportunities for young people and women
  • Ensuring employment is safe and occurs in the formal economy
  • Making labor migration a win-win situation
  • Strengthening implementation of international commitments

The declaration acknowledges the role business plays in contributing to the concerted global effort towards achieving shared progress and prosperity.  It further reinforces business support for the SDGs, and represents a clear expression of readiness to cooperate at national and international levels to reach the global development targets.  It goes on to mark a renewed commitment to engage with trade unions and all other stakeholders to contribute to more and better jobs, growth and prosperity, and provides reaffirmation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as a means to guide businesses as they seek to respect human rights throughout their operations.

In addition to contributions as speakers and moderators at the Summit, delegates from the International Organisation of Employers, including Goldberg, met in private session with Prince Salman to discuss the key role of business in the economic and social development of Bahrain.

See the summit’s declaration, summit and photos.

ILO Symposium: Global Supply Chains Good for Gender Equality

Published on September 17, 2015

Two machinists working on machineThe International Organization of Employers participated in the International Labor Organization Symposium on Trade and Employment on September 2, which explored the impact of international trade on employment in developing countries. The session on trade and workers’ skills was particularly useful in supporting the Employer position that global supply chains produce better employment outcomes and contribute to gender equality.

Key takeaways for advocacy:

  • MNEs play an important role in closing the gender gap through cultural convergence; there is significant evidence from China that foreign firms transfer their corporate culture of employing women to their subsidiaries and that this effect ripples out to local firms
  • Gender prejudices contribute to macroeconomic imbalances in many developing countries
  • Firms that perpetrate prejudice against women have smaller profits and lower aggregate productivity
  • Exporters pay 31 percent higher wages than non-exporting counterparts and are on average 130 percent larger in terms of employee levels
  • Contrary to the belief that preferential trade agreements are more advantageous to MNEs, in fact, only a small percentage of large MNEs benefit from such trade liberalisation

B20 Conference: USCIB’s Global Network Tackles Employment Challenges

Published on September 8, 2015

Ankara_TurkeyThe International Organization of Employers (IOE), the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD, and USCIB member Deloitte have joined forces to take stock of labor market policies impacting employment opportunities for young people across the G20 and beyond.

The IOE hosted an event in Ankara, Turkey on September 2 to highlight joint work with BIAC and Deloitte on cataloging and assessing youth employment policies. Turkey currently holds the presidency of the G20. The B20 Conference is being held in Ankara, Turkey from September 3 to 5, 2015. Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB’s senior counsel, attended the conference.

Initial findings of the joint report identify four main challenges to hiring and retaining younger workers.  Nearly 30 IOE member federations contributed their diverse country experiences of youth unemployment-related issues, which include lack of appropriate training in job readiness and skills; a shortage of job opportunities and entrepreneurial companies; high costs of hiring, coupled with diminishing subsidies for employers and the expectations of young people themselves.

While feedback suggests that different policies need to be developed according to national circumstances, employer organizations called for holistic and coherent policy approaches within and between countries.

“Understanding the drivers behind policy successes around the world and decisively acting on that information in future policy making is the best way to inject more dynamism into the labor market, strengthen links between education and employment, and remove barriers to hiring young people,” said IOE President Daniel Funes de Rioja, “The IOE and its partners, thanks to the expertise and experiences within our global network of 155 members around the world, are well placed to input future policy development in the G20 and beyond.”

Also at the B20 Conference, Funes presented five key recommendations on September 4 to the Joint Consultation of G20 Labor and Finance Ministers. The consultation provided a rare opportunity to discuss employment issues with fiscal policy makers.

Funes presented five key measures for creating jobs by stimulating private sector-led growth:

  1. pursue sound macro-economic policies such as price stability and fiscal prudence
  2. develop infrastructure strategies at the country level linked to G20 growth aspirations
  3. encourage open and competitive markets, and resistance to protectionism in all its forms
  4. put in place labor market policies that promote flexible work arrangements
  5. support small businesses by improving access to financing for small- and medium-sized businesses

Rioja pointed out the dearth of skills in the labor market. If education and training were better matched with the needs of employers, it would allow existing job vacancies to be filled. He will also highlight the general lack of jobs in many countries and draw attention to the barriers to business in creating employment, such as unfavorable regulatory frameworks.

 

USCIB’s Global Network Weighs In: B20 Employment Recommendations

Published on August 10, 2015

g20As the Turkish presidency moves to its final, decisive phase as this year’s G20 host country, the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD have contributed extensively to B20 work on labor and employment.

On September 4-5, the G20 labor ministers will meet in Ankara, and on 15 and 16 November the G20 Leaders’ Summit will take place in Antalya. It is crucial the business recommendations are reflected in the outcome documents of these events. Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB’s senior counsel, will attend the labor ministerial in September.

The B20 Employment Task Force, co-chaired by IOE President Daniel Funes de Rioja, proposes three main recommendations:

    1. Advance a business-friendly environment to create employment opportunities
    2. Increase participation of youth and women in the labor force by making labor markets more dynamic and inclusive
    3. Develop and finance programs aimed at reducing skills mismatches in an era of rapid technological change and innovation

Read the complete B20 Employment Recommendations.

While USCIB’s global network has already engaged in extensive advocacy work at G20 level, the recommendations also need to be reinforced vis-à-vis national governments well ahead of the G20 Labor Ministerial and Leaders’ Summit. Business leaders are urged to contact their governments and advocate for the uptake of these recommendations

As part of the B20/L20 (trade unions) work stream, the IOE will also sign a joint statement entitled “Jobs, Growth and Decent Work” during the Ankara B20 Conference calling on G20 governments to:

  • Determinedly tackle youth unemployment
  • Pursue macro-economic policies that promote employment
  • Make a reality of the 2014 Brisbane target of reducing by 25% the gender gap in employment by 2025
  • Promote transition to formality and implement the Recommendation on informality adopted by the 2015 ILC

Read the full B20/L20 Statement.

The B20/L20 fully endorse the IOE/BIAC/TISK–ITUC/TUAC projects on promoting in national seminars the joint understanding of quality apprenticeships to foster implementation, and on strengthening occupational safety and health (OSH) through supporting better implementation of standards through capacity building of the social partners on prevention, the creation of modern OSH frameworks and of a best practice data base.

The B20/L20 argue that business and labor must play a key role in the shaping of economic and social policy, committing themselves to realizing a project on a joint understanding of the effects of technological change on employment and skills. A Roundtable is being organised by B20/L20 in Ankara on September 5 on this topic. Representatives of ILO, OECD, the Chinese G20 presidency and the social partners will make key contributions to this high-level event.

Launch of the Global Employers’ Summit 2015 Website

Published on July 27, 2015

BahrainThe first Global Employers’ Summit of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) will take place at the invitation of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) on October 6-7, 2015 in Bahrain. 

The Global Employers’ Summit website is now online. Participants are encouraged to register on the website as soon as possible.

Jointly organised by the IOE and BCCI, this prestigious event will be held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Summit will bring together high-level participants from multinational companies, international organisations, employers’ organisations and institutions, to explore key areas of interest for business including labor mobility across borders, business and human rights, promoting inclusion and diversity, and more.

The event will culminate with the signing of the Bahrain Declaration.

IOE, IOM, Partner Companies Take Part in Expert Meeting on Ethical Recruitment

Published on July 24, 2015

Two machinists working on machine

The International Organization of Employers (IOE) is deepening its engagement with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the interface between employment and migration. As part of this, USCIB Senior Counsel (and IOE Regional Vice President for North America) Ronnie Goldberg and IOE Senior Adviser Frederick Muia attended a recent expert meeting on ethical recruitment.

The two day meeting, which was also attended by Cindy Sawyer of The Coca-Cola Company and Annemarie Muntz of Randstad Holding NV, two IOE partner companies, discussed the development of the operational protocol of the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS), an international voluntary ethical recruitment framework that will benefit all stakeholders in the labor migration process.

Speaking during the opening session, Goldberg called for a practical operational tool that would recognize, reward and build on the efforts being undertaken by the “good” actors in the recruitment chain and find ways to identify, isolate and hopefully eliminate the bad actors. She noted that companies were taking measures to ensure transparency in their labor supply chain and that all recruitment activities were being performed in accordance with ethical recruitment principles. These efforts are helping companies mitigate the risk of unforeseen links to forced labor, child labor and human trafficking. 

Speaking during the session dedicated to partners of the initiative, Muia underscored the importance of the IOE in enabling member federations and partner companies to have a platform to push for immigration policies that are efficient and transparent so that companies can move skills and talent across borders. Muia also spoke about the need to strengthen government institutions particularly in fragile states. As IRIS was a voluntary initiative it could only compliment government efforts whose role was critical in addressing cases of criminal activity such as human trafficking. 

Muntz, who is also president of the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (CIETT), underscored the role of the recruitment industry in self-regulation. She explained how the CIETT code of conduct helps mobilize member companies and associations to promote ethical recruitment practices both at national and international levels. She highlighted the need to continue efforts to promote the ratification of ILO Convention 181 on private employment agencies as it gave these agencies the necessary recognition to carry out their legitimate activities. 

Sawyer focused on the role of multinational enterprises in taking the lead in ethical recruitment of migrant workers and promotion of good employment practices. She gave the example of The Coca-Cola Company that had issued Supplier Guiding Principles that expressly prohibit the use of all forms of forced labor and trafficking.

Business Weighs in on UN Treaty Process on Business and Human Rights

Published on July 2, 2015
Photo credit: UN, Pierre Albouy
Photo credit: UN, Pierre Albouy

As the United Nations Human Rights Council begins work on a legally binding treaty aimed at regulating transnational enterprises with respect to human rights, USCIB’s global network published a position paper representing the views of international business on the UN treaty process.

Jointly written by the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the paper argues, among other things, that the UN treaty process must not undermine the ongoing implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, that the process must be inclusive of all stakeholders and that the treaty should address all companies, not just multinationals.

As one of the only trade associations with membership in three of the four organizations that drafted the position paper, USCIB was instrumental in working with the IOE to draft the document, and was decisive in the ICC and BIAC decisions to support the final version.

The global business community has expressed concern that the proposed UN treaty process may hinder the implementation of the UN’s Guiding Principles, which were developed over the eight year mandate of former UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights John Ruggie, and have very quickly become the authoritative international framework on the issue. The Guiding Principles’ “protect, respect, remedy” established a framework that reaffirmed states’ obligations under international law to protect human rights, while businesses, regardless of size or ownership structure, are responsible for respecting these rights throughout their operations. The principles also establish that both states and corporations share the task of ensuring access to effective remedies for human rights victims.

“We’ve seen tremendous uptake of the UN Guiding Principles in a very short period of time, but not enough implementation, particularly on the National Action Plans that states have been tasked with creating.  The treaty process will prove most effective if it reinforces the ’protect-respect-remedy’ framework with further international legal weight, creating more pressure on states take to their duty to protect more seriously, which includes supporting and encouraging business enterprises’ efforts to respect human rights.  ,” said USCIB Vice President Ariel Meyerstein. “The treaty also provides an opportunity to strengthen the rule of law and access to remedy through national courts where harms occur. That will ultimately provide redress for more victims more efficiently than other proposed means of ensuring access to remedy, which in effect may only offer hope to victims of the most heinous violations. .”

Last year, the UN Human Rights Council voted in favor of a proposal sponsored by Ecuador and South Africa to negotiate a binding treaty on business and human rights. On July 6, the Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG) on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights, which will develop the treaty, will hold the first of several annual meetings. The position of the United States – which voted against the treaty last year – remains not to participate in the IWG. The IOE will participate in the IWG and will also host a side event to  provide business input.

Other positions by business on the UN Treaty Process include:

  • The treaty should contribute to the effective implementation of UN Guiding Principles by requiring states to draft National Action Plans.
  • The treaty’s scope of must be limited to business and human rights, not other issues such as climate change.
  • The treaty must not shift the responsibility from the entity perpetrating a human rights violation to the enterprise linked in some way to that entity, a principle well-established by both the UN Guiding Principles and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
  • To strengthen national implementation, the treaty should require governments to report back to the UN supervisory machinery about measures taken.

Read the position paper: “UN Treaty Process on Business and Human Rights: Initial Observations by the International Business Community on a Way Forward.”