Business In Society Archives

Preparing Students for 21stCentury Jobs

Published on February 27, 2012
Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB’s executive vice president for policy, makes a point at the February roundtable.
Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB’s executive vice president for policy, makes a point at the February roundtable.

What preparation do students need to make the most of emerging opportunities in the global economy? Although a lot of research has taken place on this question, there has been no visible consensus on what education systems should do to respond to the challenge.

That’s why The United States Council Foundation and The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation in February hosted a distinguished group of leading economists, technologists, educators and business representatives to candidly explore the impact of technology on automation and outsourcing, and corresponding education priorities for human capital development.

The goal of this groundbreaking initiative is to present a clearer picture of employability trends by synthesizing the various conversations taking place around this issue, and to offer cogent recommendations on how education systems could adapt. Participants included Andreas Schleicher, special advisor on education policy to OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría, who is responsible for the development and analysis of cross-border benchmarks on the performance of education systems.

A white paper has been commissioned to reflect the roundtable discussion intended for distribution to government agencies, academia and business – in the U.S. and globally – to influence the policy debate around these issues. For more information on this project, contact Abby Shapiro, senior vice president for business development (ashapiro@uscib.org).

Staff contact: Abby Shapiro

Forum Examines How to Purge Supply Chains of Human Trafficking

Published on February 21, 2012
L-R: Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB), Christine Bader (Kennan Institute), David Arkless (ManpowerGroup), Letty Ashworth (Delta Airlines), Dirk Vande Beek (Travelport)
L-R: Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB), Christine Bader (Kennan Institute), David Arkless (ManpowerGroup), Letty Ashworth (Delta Airlines), Dirk Vande Beek (Travelport)

An estimated 27 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking, which can take many forms – affecting men, women and children – and is making its presence felt in global supply chains.  To help companies understand the scope of the problem and take appropriate steps to address it, USCIB joined with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Organization of Employers, part of our global network, to organize a February 14 forum, “Engaging Business: Addressing Human Trafficking in Labor Sourcing,” at the Atlanta headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company.

Common forms of human trafficking include bonded labor, debt bondage, fraud, coercion, and other forms of modern slavery. Often it involves migration of legal workers – within a country and across borders – who have been misled by recruiters into assuming coercive debt and loss of their travel papers.  This forum focused on trafficking in the workplace, mainly via labor sourcing.

Human trafficking is increasing being targeted in policy and regulatory efforts.  In 2000, the United Nations adopted the Palermo Protocol to the UN Organized Crime Convention, and the United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.  Three-quarters of the world’s nations have ratified the treaty, and two-thirds have passed laws against trafficking.  Since the beginning of this year, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 requires California manufacturers and retailers with over $100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts to disclose their efforts to eliminate slavery and human trafficking from their direct supply chains.

Kevin Bales, president of the NGO Free the Slaves
Kevin Bales, president of the NGO Free the Slaves

The prohibition of human trafficking is a human right that requires immediate due diligence of supply chains by business, and mitigating action where it exists.  The one-day program focused on potential business impacts, national and international legal trends, networks, strategies and best practices for eliminating human trafficking in labor sourcing.  Attendees gained a better understanding of the various forms of human trafficking in labor sourcing, the scope of legal and stakeholder expectations, and how to identify and address instances of human trafficking in labor sourcing.

Also at the forum, USCIB member ManpowerGroup and the NGO Verite launched a new guide to help companies prevent trafficking in their labor sourcing, “An Ethical Framework for Cross-Border Labor Recruitment,” a detailed framework for combating human trafficking and forced labor.

“Today’s environment requires businesses to be global and talent to be mobile, therefore ManpowerGroup has made it a priority to be at the forefront of ensuring that global recruitment markets operate transparently and ethically,” said David Arkless, ManpowerGroup’s president of global corporate and government affairs.  “Leading firms already commit to high ethical standards, but too many other operators exploit workers through recruitment debt, fraudulent contract substitution, and other forms of abuse.  And even well-intentioned businesses face reputational risk from unwittingly becoming entangled with unethical partners.”

Click here for more information on the ManpowerGroup-Verite initiative.

It was clear from the presentations and discussion at the forum that this is a highly complex issue, but that there are steps that companies can and should take to minimize the risk of trafficking in activities linked to their operations.

Staff contact: Adam Greene

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USCIB’s Greene Named to State Department Advisory Body

Published on February 16, 2012
Adam Greene
Adam Greene

Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor and corporate responsibility, has been named to a State Department advisory body on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.  Joining Greene on the panel is Clifford Henry, associate director of corporate sustainable development with Procter & Gamble and chair of USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee.

Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Jose W. Fernandez announced the new multi-stakeholder advisory panel in January.  The OECD Guidelines are voluntary recommendations from governments to multinational enterprises on responsible conduct in such areas as human rights, labor, environment, and corruption. They are the only multilateral, comprehensive code of conduct, endorsed by 43 national governments.

The new panel will advise the U.S. National Contact Point, a State Department official who leads the United States work under the Guidelines. For more information, please visit www.state.gov/usncp.

Through our affiliation with BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, USCIB members provided extensive input to the recent revision of the OECD Guidelines.

Staff contact: Adam Greene

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Hague Conference Will Develop PrivateSector Input to Rio+20 Conference

Published on February 10, 2012

4249_image001In preparation for June’s Rio+20 conference, the government of The Netherlands, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and ICC’s Business Action for Sustainable Development
are organizing a meeting on “Realizing Green Growth: Business & Industry Consultation with Government and Civil Society for Rio+20,” April 11-12 in The Hague.

The conference will discuss perspectives on critical business issues for Rio+20 and business’s role in realizing green growth.  Organizers aim to increase awareness and potential action in international public-private collaboration on green growth topics, and develop constructive global private-sector input to the Rio+20 conference.

The meeting will address four key points:

  • transparency, accountability, and reporting
  • best practices in major industries and economic sectors
  • innovative financing models and public/private cooperation
  • supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, including through global supply chains.

While the agenda is still being finalized, the conference coordinators plan to feature a high-level CEO panel and several breakout sessions on key issues being discussed for Rio+20 such as: green economy, innovative financing, institutional frameworks, food, water, energy, transparency and reporting. .  Between 350 and 500 participants will be invited, with a balance between public and private participation, including several at the CEO level and head of state level. In addition, representatives from the eight UN Major Groups will be also invited to attend and participate.

In addition to the Hague conference, USCIB members are actively involved in the Green Economies Dialogue initiative, which was launched last year to provide a forum for discussion of green growth topics among multiple stakeholders.  Dialogue sessions have been held in Washington and Paris, and two additional sessions are planned for April in Tokyo and Brasilia.  USCIB members are invited to contact Kira Yevtukhova
(kyevtukhova@uscib.org) for additional information.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

More on the Green Economies Dialogue initiative

BIAC Announces Joint Workshop on Women’s Economic Empowerment

Published on January 30, 2012

On February 2, BIAC (the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, part of USCIB’s global network), along with AmCham France and the OECD, will hold a joint workshop on “The Business Case for Women’s Economic Empowerment” at the OECD conference center in Paris.

Organized as a one-day invitation-only event, the joint workshop aims to provide a business perspective and best practice experience to the OECD Gender Initiative, a multi-disciplinary program to help governments promote gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship.

The workshop topics will focus on three main objectives of the meeting including highlighting the business case for women’s economic empowerment through presentation of company case studies and talent management best practices, identifying key public policy issues needed to enable employer best practices and advance women’s economic empowerment, and identifying areas for OECD work to further elaborate on key issues and questions raised by the workshop.

The workshop will facilitate exchanges between senior experts from business, government, academia, international organizations and other stakeholders to provide proactive input to the 2012 OECD Ministerial and Forum to be held in May. USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg will attend, and BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter will address gender diversity in the workplace from an article published in the 2012 OECD Yearbook, entitled “Gender Dividend: An Urgent Economic Imperative.”

Staff Contact: Ronnie Goldberg

More on USCIB’s Labor & Employment Policy Committee

Business Looks Forward to Rio+20 Earth Summit

Published on January 23, 2012

4226_image002

With less than six months to go, this June’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro is still a largely unknown quantity for the business community.  The June 20-22 event has been dubbed “Rio+20,” since it comes two decades years after the UN’s seminal 1992 Earth Summit in the same city.

As negotiated in numerous preparatory sessions, the agenda for Rio+20 is broad but vague, encompassing “the green economy,” “institutional frameworks” and “emerging issues.”  These remain largely empty outlines – although there are a wealth of proposals from governments and NGOs.

In anticipation of last-minute and intense preparation between now and the summit, USCIB intends to focus on the main business issues on the table, and is working to engage its members in shaping preparations for the event and influencing its expected outcomes, mainly through dialogue with the Obama administration, UN officials and other international policymakers.

Working through the United States Council Foundation, USCIB members and others in the policy community are developing business perspectives and academic input on green economy policy input via the Green Economies Dialogue project (www.green-dialogue.org).  We will be holding Dialogue meetings in Brasilia and Tokyo in the coming months, following successful meetings in Washington and Paris last fall.   USCIB is also interfacing directly with the U.S. State Department and the Obama administration on an array of issues expected to be front-and-center in Rio.

Other efforts to organize business input to the Rio+20 process include Business Action for Sustainable Development 2012 (BASD2012) – a joint effort between the International Chamber of Commerce, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the UN Global Compact and several other business organizations – as well as the UN Global Compact in its own right.

USCIB provided business input for the so-called “zero draft” being discussed at UN meetings in New York this week, both directly and in a joint submission with several other business groups to Robert Hormats, under-secretary of state for economic, energy, and agriculture affairs, which seeks to raise the business community’s official role in the summit.  Mr. Hormats will meet with USCIB’s Environment Committee on March 14 in Washington, D.C.

Registration for the Rio+20 summit is now open, and USCIB is working to secure accreditation for member executives wishing to attend.  Please contact Kira Yevtukhova (kyevtukhova@uscib.org) for details.

In addition, the government of the Netherlands and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs are collaborating with BASD2012 to convene a two-day event in preparation for Rio+20. The event, “Realizing Green Growth: Business & Industry Consultation with Government and Civil Society for Rio+20,” will be held in Amsterdam during the week of April 10 (specific dates to be confirmed). The meeting will provide a forum to discuss Rio+20 issues, including the role of business in green growth.  Please contact Ms. Yevtukhova for more information.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

Global Business Takes Part in G20 Employment Session

Published on December 20, 2011

As host duties for the G20 transitioned from France to Mexico, Mexico City was the site on December 15 of the first meeting of the G20 Employment Task Force, with youth unemployment as its principal focus.  The IOE and BIAC were invited by the Mexican government to organize the participation of the business delegation, which was led by USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg, who serves as the IOE’s regional vice president for North America and chairs BIAC’s Employment, Labor and Social Affairs Committee.   An IOE-BIAC paper prepared for the meeting focused on enhancing youth employability, creating inclusive labor markets for young people, and ways to foster youth entrepreneurship.

Staff contact: Ronnie Goldberg

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Business Looking to Move Forward at UN Climate Conference, Even as Governments Wrestle With Developing Country Obligations

Published on December 1, 2011

4205_image002USCIB and its partner business groups are actively pushing for progress at the UN climate conference now underway in Durban, South Africa.  But governments are hamstrung by precedent-setting decisions taken two decades ago.

A number of USCIB member company representatives, as well as Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president of environment and energy, are attending the conference.  They are in Durban as part of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) delegation. ICC has long served  as the business focal point in the climate negotiations.

Other groups are in Durban as well, working to ensure business engagement in support of meaningful action to address climate change.  Increasingly prominent in this regard is the Major Economies Business Forum on Energy Security and Climate Change (BizMEF), which consists of major business groups from G20 countries.

BizMEF has just released a series of important papers, with general perspectives on the Durban negotiations, and examining business engagement, the role of technology, establishing a green climate fund, the use of carbon offsets, and competitiveness issues.

Yesterday, Ms. Kennedy published an insightful column on the website GreenBiz that notes the varying expectations of business and the governments represented in Durban, and describes the genesis and work of BizMEF.  She writes that even as business presses for meaningful progress on global measures to address climate change, government delegates are laboring under the burden of precedent-setting decisions, made some two decades ago, to bifurcate climate obligations between developed and developing countries.

“Some countries that were developing countries then, such as China and India, are now growing rapidly and are major economic forces in their own right,” writes Ms. Kennedy.  “If current trends continue in the fastest growing developing country economies, reductions made in developed countries will be cancelled out and overtaken by emissions in the BRICs in coming years.”

The United States and countries including Australia, Canada, Russia and Japan have strongly encouraged a new framework obliging all major economies, whether developed or developing, to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But, Ms. Kennedy wrote, “as evidenced in the entrenched positions being expressed here, this is prevented by the precedents that do not allow updating to reflect today’s realities.”

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

Benefits of Self-Regulation in Marketing Put Forward at Chile Conference

Published on November 2, 2011
At the workshop in Santiago, Chile (L-R): Chris Martin (USCIB), Sebastian Goldsack Trebilcock (DMA Chile), Alvaro Díaz (AMF Variable Printing); DMA Chile President Rodrigo Edwards (Edwards Associates), Juan Pablo (Viva!), Martín Baeza (COPESA).
At the workshop in Santiago, Chile (L-R): Chris Martin (USCIB), Sebastian Goldsack Trebilcock (DMA Chile), Alvaro Díaz (AMF Variable Printing); DMA Chile President Rodrigo Edwards (Edwards Associates), Juan Pablo (Viva!), Martín Baeza (COPESA).

With business facing calls from Chilean legislators for significant new regulation in marketing and advertising, Chile’s Direct Marketing Association invited Chris Martin, USCIB’s manager for marketing and ICT policy, to address an October conference promoting self-regulation as a better alternative.  USCIB’s Marketing & Advertising Committee is focused on promoting strong and effective marketing self-regulation around the world.

In response to some privacy concerns around the potential tracking of consumer information, Chile is considering an across-the-board “opt-in” provision, which would require consumers to opt in to marketing communications on any platform, including mail, telephone, and digital.  While some countries have privacy laws around marketing and advertising, very few have in place or are considering quite as sweeping regulation as that being proposed in Chile.

“It is important for Chilean businesses and policymakers to understand how self-regulation is addressing similar privacy issues in other jurisdictions like the U.S. and Europe,” said Mr. Martin.  “Especially with regard to digital advertising, the U.S. business community has pioneered self-regulation that responds to privacy concerns and USCIB has been a forceful advocate for harmonizing a global self-regulatory approach, one that balances these important privacy issues with the need to ensure that innovative content and services on the Web can continue to be funded through advertising in order to keep them free or low-cost to consumers.”

As the U.S. affiliate to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), USCIB actively promoted new principles and standards around online advertising in the ICC’s recently revised Marketing & Advertising Code.  Available and searchable online at www.codescentre.com, the Code sets the international gold-standard for ethical standards in marketing by providing guidance to global industry and self-regulatory initiatives.

“The problem in Chile, as well as other regions that are considering privacy-focused regulation, is that policymakers often do not understand the impact of the laws they are proposing,” said Sebastián Goldsack Trebilcock, Executive Director, DMA Chile.  “Having USCIB come down and speak in Chile about what business is doing in the U.S. and globally helps us in our local efforts to educate regulators and inform the business community about self-regulatory models being deployed in other markets.”

While it may seem counter-intuitive to put forward self-regulation as an effective means of addressing privacy concerns, it has proved effective in many ways, according to Mr. Martin.  “What would the Internet look like today if strident privacy regulation had been in place at the outset of the Internet?” he asked.  “Would we have all the free content and services we enjoy today, like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, free news sites and any number of these things that we take for granted?  It is worth considering.  I hope the next big idea has just as much opportunity to take hold and change our world.”

Staff contact: Chris Martin

More on USCIB’s Marketing and Advertising Committee

USCIB’s Adam Greene Named to Labor Department Advisory Committee

Published on October 26, 2011
USCIB's Adam Greene
USCIB’s Adam Greene

New York, N.Y., October 26, 2011 – Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor affairs and corporate responsibility, has been named by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to serve on the National Advisory Committee for Labor Provisions of U.S. Free Trade Agreements.  The recently reconstituted advisory committee provides advice to the Secretary of Labor on the implementation of labor rules in existing free trade agreements, and on the labor provisions of FTAs being negotiated.

The committee’s other newly named business representatives all come from USCIB’s membership.  They include Darryl Knudsen of Gap Inc., Ed Potter of The Coca-Cola Company (chair of USCIB’s Labor and Employment Committee) and Anna Walker of Levi Strauss & Co.

“I am delighted that Secretary Solis has selected such solid business representatives for this important advisory committee,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson.  “Effectively navigating the intersection of trade and labor policies is critical if we are to move forward on trade, grow our economy and create quality American jobs.  I congratulate Adam Greene, Ed Potter, Darryl Knudsen and Anna Walker on their appointments and extend USCIB’s full support for their work.”

USCIB is the primary forum for American business in the area of international labor policy and the linkages between trade and labor.  As the American affiliate of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), USCIB plays a direct role in the tripartite International Labor Organization, working alongside government and trade union representatives to develop global labor and workplace standards and programs.  In addition, through its affiliation with the OECD’s Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC), USCIB is actively involved in OECD work in the areas of employment, labor and social affairs, interacting with labor via BIAC’s counterpart organization, the Trade Union Advisory Committee.

Mr. Greene manages U.S. business participation in the development of international labor standards, and advises companies on international and regional trends in labor and employment policy.  He coordinates USCIB involvement in the ILO’s governing and standard setting bodies, and promotes the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.  He is vice chair of the Business Technical Advisory Committee on Labor Affairs to the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor.

Labor representatives on the National Advisory Committee for Labor Provisions of U.S. Free Trade Agreements were drawn from the United Steelworkers, the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO, among others, while “public” representatives come from a number of academic institutions and think tanks.

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and prudent regulation.  Its members include top U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world.  With a unique global network encompassing leading global business organizations, including the IOE and BIAC, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment.  More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, USCIB
+1 212.703.5043, jhuneke@uscib.org

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