Business In Society Archives

Over 100 Business Representatives Lobby Senate on NAFTA

Published on April 17, 2018

Following previous successful NAFTA Senate Lobby Days, USCIB once again participated last week, joining more than 100 representatives from the agriculture and business community to talk about private sector concerns and perspectives regarding the ongoing negotiations to modernize NAFTA. The Senate Lobby Day, as in the past, was coordinated as a larger Coalition effort by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“The purpose of this day was to increase support in light of the high-level talks among the NAFTA countries currently taking place in DC,” noted Eva Hampl, USCIB director for investment, trade and financial services. “There is concern in the business community about the Administration’s alleged push to conclude an agreement on an accelerated timeline.”

Hampl led one of the groups that went up to the Hill last week, where she met with several Republican and Democratic Senate offices throughout the day.

“While the various offices are certainly focused on NAFTA, they do not appear to have a definite action plan on what to do in the event of the potential negative scenarios that may take place, such as withdrawal from NAFTA 1.0 or an inadequate NAFTA 2.0.,” said Hampl.  “Also, while the Committee appears to get briefings from the Administration when they request it, the remainder of the Senators are not being briefed in a way that should be expected under TPA, given that the agreement is allegedly near conclusion.”

USCIB Supports US Candidate for Leadership Position at ITU

Published on April 9, 2018
Eric Loeb (AT&T), chair of USCIB’s ICT Policy Committee and Doreen Bogdan-Martin

USCIB and the U.S. International Telecommunication Union Association (USITUA) jointly organized a special roundtable discussion on April 5 in Washington, DC to hear a brief of Doreen Bogdan-Martin’s candidacy for director of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT).

The Roundtable attracted nearly 40 participants from both trade associations, as well as from the U.S. Government and the Washington, DC diplomatic community.

The U.S. Government will formally deposit Bogdan-Martin’s candidature prior to the ITU Plenipotentiary (PP-18), which will take place in Dubai in October. Senior U.S. Government officials have already indicated that one of Washington’s leading goals at the PP-18 is to secure Bogdan-Martin’s election to this post, highlighting her track record with the ITU, including being the chief architect of the Global Symposium of Regulators, coordinating the UN Broadband Commission, and recently launching ITU’s new gender empowerment initiative, EQUALS.

“Doreen’s candidacy is significant because she is the only female candidate for this position,” said Barbara Wanner who leads USCIB’s work on ICT policy. “Importantly, she brings 20 years of experience at the ITU, include 14 years in the Telecommunication Development Bureau, most recently as the Chief of ITU Strategic Planning and Membership. USCIB members strongly support Doreen’s candidacy, knowing that she will pursue the development agenda in a manner that thoughtfully considers all stakeholders’ views.”

During the course of the roundtable last week, Bogdan-Martin noted that the two most significant obstacles to connecting the remaining 3.9 billion people in the world who are still offline are the still-high costs for services and devices, as well as the lack of relevant content to stimulate demand for access and online services. “I envisage the BDT redoubling its efforts on digital inclusion, which is at the core of the 2030 Agenda,” noted Bodgan-Martin. “Together we will make the ITU-D a thriving, forward-looking community of Members served by a BDT known for quality, relevance, and practical solutions.”

Election of the director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) will take place at the ITU Plenipotentiary in Dubai later this year (October 29-November 16, 2018).

ILO Launches Inquiry Into Rights Violations in Venezuela

Published on April 4, 2018

For only the 13th time in its history, the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Governing Body agreed to appoint a Commission of Inquiry for Venezuela to examine allegations of the Venezuelan government’s non-compliance with a number of legally-binding ILO Conventions. Specifically, allegations were made of attacks, harassment, aggression and a campaign to discredit the employers’ organization – FEDECAMARAS – its leaders and affiliates.

“This action is especially notable because it is a rare instance of ILO action supporting an employer organization’s right to freedom of association,” said Ed Potter who serves as the USCIB’s ILO Governing Body member. It is the only other time, again after a decade old fight, that an Employer freedom of association case was approved for a Commission of Inquiry by the GB.

At its 332nd meeting earlier this month, the ILO Governing Body agreed, by consensus, to approve the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry for Venezuela. The allegations against the Government of Venezuela state a lack of consultation with FEDECAMARAS on laws that affect the labor and economic interests of the employers, and the adoption of numerous increases to the minimum wage without consultation with employer and worker representatives. The Governing Body has discussed this complaint six times since it was presented by 33 employer delegates at the International Labor Conference in June 2015.

“In taking the decision to set up the Commission of Inquiry, the Governing Body expressed deep concern about the lack of any progress with respect to its previous decisions and recommendations regarding the complaint,” noted Potter. “In particular, it referred to the failure to establish a tripartite roundtable, bringing together government, employer, worker as well as ILO representatives to resolve all pending issues. The Governing Body also expressed its regret that it had not been able to carry out the high-level mission it had recommended at its November 2017 Session, due to objections raised by the Government about the agenda of the mission.”

The Commission of Inquiry is made up of three independent members and is tasked with carrying out a full investigation of the complaint, ascertaining all the facts of the case, and making recommendations to address the problems raised in the complaint. A Commission of Inquiry is the ILO’s highest-level investigative procedure. It is generally set up when a member State is alleged to have committed persistent and serious violations of ratified International Labor Conventions, which are binding international treaties, and has repeatedly refused to address them.

 

Robinson: Governments Must Join With Companies to Foster Skilled Migration

Published on March 30, 2018
USCIB CEO Peter Robinson at the March 26 international dialogue on migration at UN headquarters

Global skills mobility is integral to business and economic growth, with labor migration having contributed an estimated four percent to global economic output in recent years. That was one of the key messages delivered by USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson at a March 26 international dialogue on migration held at UN headquarters in New York.

Robinson represented both USCIB members and the International Organization of Employers, which alongside the World Economic Forum spearheads private-sector input to the inter-governmental Global Forum on Migration and Development via a recognized “Business Mechanism.” He said companies know the value of skills mobility in their workplaces: fully 74 percent of corporate respondents in a recent survey by the Council for Global Migration reported that access to global skills is critical to attaining their business objectives.

By 2020, there is expected to be a worldwide shortfall of 38-40 million skilled workers, Robinson observed, and national migration systems need to adjust to address this need. Benefits of skilled migration accrue to both the countries receiving and sending migrants, he said. Many advanced economies are facing the labor impact of aging populations and falling birth rates, and must look abroad to fill worker shortages at all skill levels. And many countries rely on remittances from their citizens working abroad as well as the skills of returning migrants.

Companies operating at the global level are increasingly sensitive to potential abuses of migrant workers in their supply chains and are taking steps to address these, according to Robinson, who currently co-chairs the B20 Employment and Education Task Force. They are participating in an array of initiatives aimed at fostering fair and ethical recruitment, and are lending their expertise to helping national authorities better process immigrants and match employment opportunities with available workers.

Robinson underlined the commitment of business to this subject area and to the UN’s Global Compact on Migration. He urged governments and other stakeholders to partner with employers at the global and national levels to address the need for expanded skilled migration.

USCIB Delegation Contributes to Extending a Global Pact on Chemicals

Published on March 20, 2018
Mike Michener (USCIB) and Sophia Danenberg (Boeing)

A global framework for chemicals that was to end in 2020 will be extended and include the sound management of associated industrial waste, government officials from around the world agreed at a summit in Stockholm which ended Thursday, March 15. The meeting, hosted by the Swedish government and attended by representatives of UN member states, NGOs and business and industry, aimed to draw up a global strategy for managing waste and chemicals based on agreed international standards.  Mike Michener, USCIB vice president for product policy and innovation, Sophia Danenberg of Boeing, chair of the USCIB International Product Policy Working Group, and Frank Mastrocco of Pfizer represented U.S. downstream users of chemicals as part of the private sector delegation.

Global cooperation in chemicals is currently governed by the UN-backed global initiative, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), but this only extends to 2020.  Sweden wants SAICM to be replaced with a global deal, similar to the Paris Agreement for climate.  The meeting decided that existing principles of SAICM should be retained beyond 2020, including risk reduction and illegal international traffic.

“This was the first meeting, so nothing is decided,” stated Michener. “The countries that participated all agreed they want to work jointly on extending an international agreement on the management of chemicals and waste, and that a global deal approved at the highest levels is necessary. Now the SAICM co-chairs will begin work on a zero draft of a new agreement, to be approved by member states sometime before 2020.”

 

USCIB Pushes for Women’s Empowerment at ILO Event

Published on March 19, 2018

 

The International Labor Organization (ILO) organized a panel discussion during the UN Commission on the Status of Women on March 16, featuring remarks from Ambassadors of Rwanda and Canada, Valentine Rugwabiza and Louise Blais, respectively. USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg joined the panel titled, “Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work for Rural Women.”

Speaking on behalf of Employers in the International Organization of Employers (IOE), Goldberg pointed out that many of the challenges women generally face are amplified for rural women.  “Infrastructure development, girls education, skills, entrepreneurship, rule of law, effective property rights and access to credit are vital elements in any policy to create jobs and improve the lives of working women in rural areas,” stressed Goldberg.

Goldberg also emphasized that “rural” does not necessarily mean “agriculture.”  “A focus on development in such areas as food processing, transport, and tourism has the potential to empower more women into work,” she added.

BIAC Hosts Gender and Skills Seminar, Launches New Report

Published on March 13, 2018

Business at OECD (BIAC) hosted a breakfast seminar on gender equality and skills as part of the OECD’s March on Gender Initiative on March 9 in Paris. The seminar was chaired by Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB senior counsel, and marked the official launch of the BIAC report “Preparing All our Minds for Work: Girls, women and learning over a lifetime” (2018), produced by BIAC and USCIB with support from Deloitte and Dell. This is the third in a series of BIAC reports that highlight business efforts towards the global advancement of women and girls in the economy.

The focus of the seminar was on corporate efforts to address unconscious bias impacting gender equality at work and featured a summary of the 2018 BIAC report and a presentation by Dell on their implementation of the MARC (Men Advocating Real Change) initiative. MARC aims to identify where unconscious bias exists and aims to promote a more collaborative and inclusive leadership style. As the first IT company to participate in MARC, Dell discussed their experience and impacts.

“Empowering women in the workplace has positive consequences for the lives and careers of both women and men —as well as for the companies that employ them,” said Goldberg. “There has been progress, but it is painfully slow. Initiatives such as MARC are making an important contribution to the cause of gender equality, which more and more companies are recognizing as a key bottom line issue.”

Gabriella Rigg Herzog who leads USCIB work on corporate responsibility and labor affairs added, “Empowering women to participate meaningfully in the global economy is good for families, communities, business and society. We applaud BIAC and the OECD for their leadership in bringing attention to practical tools and best practice examples to reduce gender discrimination and support women in the world of work.”

 

Colombians in Washington Lobby on OECD Accession

Published on March 12, 2018

Last week, USCIB was actively involved in various meetings with the Colombian government, business community and civil society on the issue of Colombia’s accession process to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). USCIB Director for Investment, Trade and Financial Services Eva Hampl, who coordinates U.S. business input on OECD accession issues attended a number of these meetings, along with USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs Rob Mulligan.

“With only two outstanding OECD Committees left to approve the accession, Colombia has ramped up lobbying efforts to the U.S. business community and government,” said Hampl. The outstanding committees are the Committee for Employment, Labor and Social Affairs (ELSA) and the Trade Committee. These committees are scheduled to deliberate in March and April, respectively.

In anticipation of the upcoming meeting of the Trade Committee, Colombia’s Minister of Trade Maria Lorena Gutierrez met with USCIB to discuss outstanding issues on pharmaceuticals, distilled spirits and truck scrapping, as outlined in the Business at OECD (BIAC) Pre-Accession Recommendations. Also part of the delegation was Colombia’s Minister of Finance and Public Credit Mauricio Cardenas Santamaria, who advocated strongly for Colombia to accede prior to the end of Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos term this summer.

USCIB also had a meeting with ANDI, the National Business Association of Colombia, to discuss outstanding issues for business. Bruce Mac Master, president of ANDI led a delegation of Colombian CEOs in this meeting with the U.S. business community, in an effort to make progress on issues like trucking and pharmaceuticals.

Hampl also addressed these critical issues to U.S. business with Colombian civil society in an interview on Colombian radio last week. The main concerns raised during that conversation were on the timing of the accession process given the expiring term of President Santos, and substantive issues on pharmaceuticals, including patents.

“The U.S. business community remains firm on the outstanding issues,” said Hampl. “The OECD is a group of like-minded countries when it comes to believing in open trade and investment and innovation. It is important for any new members to share those views. The Colombian market is important to U.S. industry and we value the U.S. relationship with Colombia, so we look forward to Colombia making the necessary regulatory changes to allow the accession process move forward.”

ICC: New Leadership for World Business Organization

Published on March 12, 2018

International Business HandshakeThe International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has announced the election of a new secretary general and new first vice chair at its March 12 meeting of the ICC World Council in Tokyo. CEO of the leading Australian law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth John W.H. Denton has been elected as the next secretary general of ICC.

Denton is a legal expert and adviser on global policy, international trade and investment and infrastructure. Denton, who was unanimously elected, will succeed outgoing ICC Secretary General John Danilovich. Denton previously served on ICC’s Executive Board and, in 2016, became the first Australian to hold the position of first vice chair of the Paris-based organization.

Commenting on his election, Denton added, “I’m deeply honored to have been elected as secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce. At a time when the dual threat of populism and protectionism still loom large, it’s more vital than ever for business to have a seat at the table in global policy-making. ICC has a unique role to play in ensuring the views and experience of the global private sector are taken into account in key global forums, from the United Nations to the G20. I look forward to working with ICC’s global network in over 100 countries to do just that.”

CEO of Unilever Paul Polman has also been unanimously elected as ICC’s new first vice-chair. Polman will succeed current ICC Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on July 1, 2018, who in turn will take the position of honorary chair. Polman is a globally recognized business leader and a pioneer in the field of corporate sustainability having served as a member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel responsible for formulating the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), launched in 2015, and was subsequently appointed as a UN SDG Advocate responsible for promoting the “Global Goals.”

Commenting on these appointments, USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson said, “USCIB has appreciated the opportunity to work with John Danilovich and Sunil Mittal in recent years and thank them for their service to ICC. We now very much look forward to working closely with John Denton and his team. And of course we welcome the addition of renowned business statesman Paul Polman to ICC’s chairmanship, which will surely elevate the world business organization’s stature on sustainable development and many other topics.”

For more information, please visit ICC’s website.

USCIB Pushes for Equitable, Stable Tax Systems and SDG Implementation at UN

Published on March 5, 2018

Over 500 participants attended the First Global Conference of the Platform for Collaboration on Taxation and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on February 14-16 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The conference was spearheaded by the OECD, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations’ office for Financing for Development (FfD). Participants included governments from over 110 countries as well as representatives across the UN system, multilateral development banks, business and other non-governmental organizations.

This meeting was the latest action pursuant to the FfD Addis Ababa outcomes calling for international cooperation on domestic resource mobilization, in relation to taxation and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).  As such, it aimed to advance global dialogue with relevant stakeholders on how to better design tax policy to achieve the SDGs.

Pascal Saint-Amans of the OECD Tax Policy and Administration Centre was actively involved, reminding the conference in several interventions that the Inclusive Framework on BEPS has been an open and inclusive process, in which dozens of developing country representatives have been involved.

Will Morris, chair of the Business at OECD/OECD Tax Committee stated that the combination of new tax programs, rules and reforms is moving toward enhanced international cooperation and better practice at the local level. He stated that business is rarely the source of obstacles in tax reform; more frequently, disagreements between governments are the source of blockages.

Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment at USAID Karl Fickenscher spoke about the importance of public-private partnership involving the private sector and tax authorities relating to development projects and other SDG areas.

The wide-ranging discussions in main sessions and side events focused on three areas: opportunities to improve international cooperation and advance capacity building on taxation, options to enhance international cooperation for domestic resource mobilization relevant to SDG implementation, and tax policy to motivate SDG-facing choices for environment, health, and energy.

The host organizations confirmed that the Platform will issue “Toolkits” in the coming months for “guidance” purposes.  USCIB expects enhanced coordination between the four organizations which have committed to speak with “one voice” when providing taxation advice to developing economies.

Interventions from developing country representatives highlighted continued concerns that they are excluded from global tax policymaking. In this context, USCIB anticipates further proposals to upgrade the UN’s Tax Committee to an intergovernmental body at the next major UN financing forum in April.

“Fighting perceptions of a ‘race to the bottom’ approach by business – the reality is that business seeks equitable and stable tax systems, and level of taxation is one consideration among many,” said Norine Kennedy, USCIB vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and environment, who attended the meetings. “Successful tax reform depends on trust and confidence of citizens, and on transparency.  Collaboration among governments, labor organizations and employers’ groups can advance that trust both in taxation and overall economic policy.”

USCIB will continue to monitor developments on these issues in the OECD, UN FfD process, and in further Platform activities through USCIB’s Tax Committee and SDG Working Group.