News Stories Archives

At OECD Event, Business Encourages Girls to Dream Big

Published on April 16, 2019
L-R: Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB), Anna Blue (Girl Up), Rebecca Campbell (Disney), Irena Sodin (Slovenian mission to the OECD), Monika Queisser (OECD). Click on the image to view a video recap.

On April 9, at OECD headquarters in Paris, Business at OECD (BIAC) organized a conversation with The Walt Disney Company and leading advocates for diversity in the workplace on the importance of gender inclusion within the creative sector.

Rebecca Campbell, president of Disney’s Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, presented on the company’s efforts to re-imagine gender narratives through its storytelling and “Dream Big, Princess” initiative. Since 2017, Disney has collaborated on this initiative with Girl Up, the United Nations Foundation’s program to support leadership development of adolescent girls around the globe. Campbell said that some 40 percent of the directors of its upcoming film releases were women, and it was committed to bringing that number to parity with men − despite an industry-wide average of less than 5 percent for top-grossing films over the past ten years.

A panel discussion, moderated by USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg, highlighted progress, challenges and opportunities for stakeholders to harness creativity and innovation for the advancement of gender inclusion. Panelists included Anna Blue, co-executive director of Girl Up; Disney’s Campbell; Irena Sodin, Slovenia’s ambassador to the OECD; and Monika Queisser, senior counselor at the OECD’s Employment, Labor and Social Affairs Directorate.

The event featured robust Q&A from an audience that included daughters of many OECD employees. Other speakers included BIAC Secretary General Russel Mills; Andrew Haviland, charge d’affaires at the U.S. Mission to the OECD; and Virginie Delalande, a coach and speaker and the first deaf person to become a practicing lawyer in France.

Following the discussion, participants enjoyed a cocktail reception and tour of Disney’s Dream Big, Princess exhibition, featuring inspirational photography and video content of real-life women and girls across the globe dreaming big.

Click here to view a short video recap of the event.

USCIB Helps Promote New Center for Human Rights and Sport

Published on April 10, 2019
USCIB President and CEO Peter M Robinson

USCIB teamed up with the Institute for Human Rights and Business on April 9 to organize a full-day workshop to highlight the recently launched Center for Human Rights and Sport. The event raised awareness to U.S. companies of the role of the new center, the connection between sports and human rights, and ways companies can engage.

Over fifty participants contributed to the dialogue over the course of the day, as well as representatives from the U.S. Department of State, former Olympic athletes, and other stakeholders.

“Business has a key interests on the issue of sports and human rights,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson in his opening remarks. “Through sponsorship, through the building of infrastructure, through the production of equipment and by providing services, just to name a few, business is linked to the world of sports and sport events. As part of its responsibility under the UN Guiding Principles, business needs and wants to identify and mitigate possible adverse human rights impact. However, the challenges that companies face in the area of sports and human rights often are systemic issues to which systemic responses are required.”

USCIB members from Nike, Hilton and Bechtel served as panelists during sector-specific sessions on leveraging relationships and partnerships across supply chains to ensure accountability and compliance with human rights and labor standards.

In addition to partnerships, Bechtel’s Global Head of Sustainability and Vice Chair of USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Committee Tam Nguyen noted the benefits of using data analytics, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to create predictions about forced labor and human rights violations and provided an example of an application of these new technologies in the construction sector.

The Center’s first CEO Mary Harvey outlined main takeaways in her wrap-up remarks, which included the challenge in re-examining what leverage means for companies, the power and potential of accountability and collective action, and appropriate and effective mechanisms for grievance and remedy in sport.

USCIB will continue to follow this topic closely. At the next USCIB-IOE-Coca-Cola Conference scheduled for September 12-13 in Atlanta, there will be a panel dedicated to this crucial topic. At the end of the year, USCIB will participate in the ILO’s Global Dialogue Forum on Sports and Decent Work.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the Center for Sport and Human Rights brings together a diverse set of stakeholders to work towards a world of sport that fully respects human rights by sharing knowledge, building capacity, and strengthening the accountability of all actors through collective action and promotion of the Sporting Chance Principles. In fulfilling this mandate, the Center is committed to being independent, principles-based, inclusive, diverse, collaborative, accessible and trusted.

USCIB Briefs Members on New Business and Society Initiatives 

Published on April 9, 2019
L-R: Tom Woods (Wilton Park Foundation) and Mike Michener (USCIB)

USCIB held a special briefing on April 8 in Washington, DC with leading members, USCIB staff and the U.S. Department of State focusing on how USCIB is responding to challenges in the multilateral system around business and society.

Over thirty participants attended the briefing, hosted by USCIB member Beveridge and Diamond, including Director of the Office of Economic and Development Affairs from the U.S. Department of State Margy Bond, President of Woods International and Chairman of the Wilton Park USA Foundation Tom Woods and USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. USCIB members in attendance included representatives from AT&T, Bayer, Cargill, Chevron, DHL Express, KPMG, McDonald’s and PepsiCo, among others.

Bond, who gave a keynote address, noted that USCIB members have been a driving force for constructive business engagement at the United Nations and emphasized that the U.S. government is focused on enhancing private sector involvement at and partnerships with the UN, which will not only help achieve global goals but also help promote growth and create jobs in the United States.

However, as business is expected to step up and provide the investment, innovation and capacity to scale solutions that can solve the world’s largest problems, USCIB members find themselves increasingly in the cross-hairs as anti-business sentiment continues to find traction among policymakers, NGOs and UN entities around the world.

“Our overriding concern is to promote trust and partnership between governments, international organizations and the private sector,” said Robinson. “All too often in recent years, we have seen the public and private sectors set against each other in international forums. We need to move beyond this, so that we can, together, tackle important global challenges like climate change, public health and nutrition, human rights and many others.”

With regards to trust, another value add to this meeting was an overview of the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer by Edelman Intelligence Managing Director  Kari Butcher. Butcher gave insight into the findings of this year’s report and how business can use the data in the report to move forward on solving today’s societal challenges.

Participants had the opportunity to discuss and learn about three new initiatives launched by the USCIB Foundation to respond to these challenges, as well as opportunities for greater engagement through USCIB. These new initiatives are designed to strengthen the pivotal role business plays in furtherance of the 2030 Agenda with regards to nutrition-related SDGs, inclusive engagement of business in key UN forums, and the private sector’s role as a trusted partner in meeting the challenges facing society.

Norine Kennedy, who leads USCIB’s international strategic engagement and USCIB’s All in Campaign emphasized that, “the private sector brings value to the United Nations system. Its success is our success.”

The initiatives that were presented to members include:

  • Together for Nutrition Principles– a joint project between The USCIB Foundation, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and the Wilton Park Foundation defining a set of principles for public-private sector engagement to advance the nutrition-related SDGs.
  • All In Campaign– an initiative bringing policymakers and global businesses together in key UN cities to begin a global conversation on opportunities for inclusive engagement with businesses from all industry sectors as essential to meeting the SDG goals and other 2015 outcomes.
  • Business in Society: A Crisis of Trust – a USCIB Foundation project that aims to better understand and influence attitudes and behaviors among policymakers through data, analysis and education to demonstrate that business can be profitable and still be trusted partners in meeting societal challenges.

Moving forward, all of the above will be highlighted in USCIB’s 2nd Annual Geneva Week May 6-10, the first All In Campaign Roundtable scheduled to take place in Geneva during Geneva Week, a planned event on the impact of business SDG partnerships on the margins of the High Level Political Forum in July in New York, as well as additional planned All In Campaign roundtables in cities around the world.  USCIB encourages members to participate and welcomes feedback.

At ILO, USCIB Advocates for Inclusive Workplace Protections

Published on March 22, 2019

USCIB Vice President, Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs, Gabriella Rigg Herzog took part in informal consultations on March 14-15 at the International Labor Organization (ILO) on the proposed standard on violence and harassment in the workplace. Held in Geneva, the meeting was part of ongoing negotiations that may result in a new, legally binding labor standard on this important workplace issue.

The aim of the informal consultation was to identify potential areas of consensus, particularly with regard to the definition of violence and harassment, the persons covered under the standard, the scope of the “world of work” and the inclusion of a list of groups disproportionately affected by violence and harassment.

“While the discussions were informal, the group agreed to review the possible text revisions discussed and reflect upon them in the lead up to the final round of negotiations this June at the ILO’s 2019 International Labor Conference (ILC),” said Herzog.

According to Herzog, given that 2019 marks the centenary anniversary of the ILO’s founding, the stakes will be especially high for the ILO and its tripartite constituents—government, employers and workers—to try to find agreement on a text this June.

Reflecting on the negotiations to date, Herzog also noted, “We have an historic opportunity to combat violence and harassment in workplaces around the world via these deliberations. USCIB will continue to actively participate in the negotiations and work with other global employers to advocate for a meaningful, clear and inclusive text that advances workplace protections for everyone – including workers, public employers, private employers and LGBTI persons.

IOE Secretary General Shares Global Priorities With USCIB

Published on March 6, 2019
L-R: Gabriella Rigg Herzog (USCIB), Peter Robinson (USCIB), Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB), Roberto Suarez Santos (IOE)

On March 1, Roberto Suarez Santos, secretary general of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), visited USCIB’s New York headquarters to discuss the group’s global priorities and evolution as it gets ready to mark its centennial next year.

The IOE, based in Geneva, is part of USCIB’s global network and serves as the voice of the private sector on employment, labor and social affairs in the International Labor Organization (ILO), as well as a number of other multilateral bodies.

Suarez Santos met with USCIB staff and members (with help from a video link to our Washington, DC office), led by USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson, who serves on the IOE management board and as an IOE regional vice president for North America. The IOE secretary general outlined the organization’s recent growth, now up to 30 staff members, and its engagement beyond its traditional ILO role, especially in the area of sustainability, business and human rights, and broader responsible business conduct policy and practice.

Suarez Santos also noted the IOE’s longstanding complaints against the government of Venezuela due to its harassment of the Venezuelan employers federation Fedecamaras, which has resulted in the creation of an ILO commission of inquiry – the ILO’s highest level investigative procedure. USCIB and its fellow IOE members remain concerned about the situation for employers in Venezuela and will follow this ILO procedure closely.

New Video Highlights USCIB’s Value Add

Published on January 15, 2019

USCIB has launched a new video highlighting the organization’s policy expertise, close working relationship with decision makers and links to key international business organizations. The video features many of USCIB’s policy experts including USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson, USCIB Vice President for Product Policy and Innovation Mike Michener, USCIB Senior Director for Trade and Financial Services Eva Hampl, USCIB Vice President for Strategic International Engagement, Energy and Environment Norine Kennedy and USCIB Vice President for Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Gabriella Rigg Herzog. (See video below.)

The video was presented at USCIB’s 2018 International Leadership Award Gala, which honored Unilever CEO Paul Polman.

Unilever’s Polman Exhorts Industry to Redouble Action on Sustainability

Published on December 13, 2018
Unilever CEO Paul Polman
Companies need to spur new partnerships to get to the “tipping point” on sustainability, said the 2018 recipient of USCIB’s International Leadership Award.
Hundreds of attendees gathered at the Delegates Dining Room at the United Nations for the annual USCIB award gala.

Business leaders must increase their commitment to sustainability, partnering with governments, international organizations and NGOs, if humanity is to avoid serious crises resulting from environment degradation and persistent poverty, according to Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever and the 2018 recipient of USCIB’s International Leadership Award. Polman was honored at a gala dinner last night at the Delegates Dining Room at the United Nations in New York.

“We need to create broader partnerships to get to the tipping point” of tackling climate change and other global challenges, according to Polman. “It doesn’t take much to move the global agenda. It just takes a few people. It takes the right leaders, leaders with a high awareness of what is going on, but also a high ability to engage. Leaders with a certain sense of humanity and humility, purpose-driven, longer-term, willing to work in partnerships. Not necessarily the skills that we’ve all been taught.”

L-R: USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw, ICC Secretary General John Denton, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed, USCIB President & CEO Peter Robinson

USCIB’s annual award dinner attracted hundreds of top business executives, policy makers and members of the diplomatic community to the UN headquarters on a crisp, starry night, with speakers extolling the importance of a strong business role in confronting global challenges. UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed applauded the private sector’s participation in realizing the ambitious 2030 Development Agenda, and she, like Polman, encouraged companies to do more.

As global leaders confront new, populist challenges on trade, USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw, CEO emeritus of S&P Global, said that governments and international organizations also must do more to ensure the 2030 goals are met. “Without expanded cross-border trade, smart regulation and support for innovation, there is not a chance in the world that we can hit the mark of the UN’s 2030 Agenda,” he stated.

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson took the opportunity of the 2018 award gala to note the 70th anniversary of the landmark Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which he called “a fundamental recognition of our shared humanity and the equality of every person in the eyes of God and in the eyes of their fellow men and women.” He told gala attendees that “USCIB members stand united in support of human rights, and we pledge to do all we can in the ongoing struggle to defend human dignity.”

Robinson also introduced a new USCIB video highlighting the organization’s policy expertise, close working relationship with decision makers and links to key international business organizations. (See video link below.)

But the evening belonged to Polman, who recently announced plans to retire from the helm of Unilever following a long career with the company. “There’s no reason for 840 million people to go to bed hungry every night, not even knowing if they [will] wake up the next day. There’s no reason for us to waste 30 to 40 percent of the food that we produce. There’s no reason to value a dead tree more than a tree that’s alive, taking the lungs out of the world.”

John Denton, secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce, which Polman chairs, praised the Unilever CEO’s generosity, grace and openness as a person.

The Unilever chief used his experience transforming his company’s social and environmental footprint as an indication of what could be done if corporate leaders put their minds to it. “Unilever’s model is indeed decoupling our growth from environmental impact, but also to maximize our overall social impact. At a time when trust is low, we think the only way to regain that is with transparency. Transparency builds trust, which is the basis for prosperity.”

He continued: “By having that simple focus, you will soon discover that you’re better off as well, We are getting two million people [applying for jobs at Unilever] every year, in fact the third-most on LinkedIn, after Google and Apple.”

Established in 1980, USCIB’s International Leadership Award is presented annually to a leading CEO, international figure or institution, recognizing outstanding contributions to global trade, finance and investment, and to improving the global competitive framework in which American business operates. Recent recipients have included Ajay Banga of Mastercard and Randall Stephenson of AT&T. More on the annual event is available at www.uscibgala.com and photos from the event are here.

USCIB Champions Business Partnership in Migration Policy

Published on December 11, 2018
Well-managed, migration is a vehicle for fulfilling personal aspirations, for balancing labor supply and demand, for sparking innovation, and for transferring and spreading skills.
Unduly closing borders to migrants is detrimental to business needs at all skills levels. Thus, the overarching goal of the private sector is a regulatory environment in which labor migration policies support business development to create job opportunities and economic prosperity.

 

The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and UN Global Compact on Migration (GCM) Summit were held back-to-back in Marrakech, Morocco December 5-11. USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg represented USCIB and the International Organization of Employers (IOE) as part of the Business Mechanism to the GFMD at both meetings.

The GFMD Business Mechanism was the primary vehicle through which the private sector contributed expertise and advised governments on aspects of labor migration policy pertaining to select provisions of the GCM, specifically those dealing with flexible pathways for regular migration, responsible recruitment and skills mobility and development.

IOE President Erol Kiresepi was also active during the Summit, presenting Business Mechanism views and commitments during the Opening Session of the Summit.

Goldberg participated in two side events: one as panelist on the Implementation of the GCM and another as moderator at a USCIB co-sponsored event Partnering with the Private Sector: The GCM and Business.

The Partnering with the Private Sector side-event took place on December 8, co-organized by IOE and PMI, and highlighted the crucial role the private sector plays in ensuring safe and orderly migration. As such, side-event participants advocated for a transparent legal framework to support business environments conducive to economic growth and development.

“Clear and well-implemented migration policies are an integral part of a regulatory framework conducive to economic growth and development,” said Goldberg. “Well-managed, migration is a vehicle for fulfilling personal aspirations, for balancing labor supply and demand, for sparking innovation, and for transferring and spreading skills. It also can provide  protection against unethical recruitment that could result in human trafficking and forced labor,” she added.  “Unduly closing borders to migrants is detrimental to business needs at all skills levels. Thus, the overarching goal of the private sector is a regulatory environment in which labor migration policies support business development to create job opportunities and economic prosperity.”

USCIB Member Marriott Wins Coveted Integrity Award

Published on October 30, 2018

 

USCIB member company Marriott International won the 2018 Corporate Leadership Award from the Coalition for Integrity, a leading U.S. anti-bribery, anti-corruption organization.  Marriott was awarded the prestigious Corporate Leadership award at the Coalition’s annual awards dinner held in Washington, DC on October 29.

Marriott International’s Chief Compliance Officer William Dempster accepted the award for Marriott and delivered brief remarks.  Marriott was singled out for its efforts to foster a culture of accountability and anti-corruption compliance.  The Ethisphere Institute has recognized the company for 11 years as one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies.”

For the fifth time in the eight years the Coalition has been presenting its Corporate Leadership award, a USCIB member company was honored. Marriott joins a distinguished list of other USCIB member companies including General Electric, Coco-Cola,  PepsiCo, and Bechtel which have also received the coveted award.

USCIB Vice President Shaun Donnelly, a member of the Coalition for Integrity’s Policy Advisory Board, and USCIB Senior Director for Trade, Investment and Financial Services Eva Hampl represented USCIB at the awards dinner.  Donnelly and Hampl lead USCIB’s anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy work, including with the U.S. Government and with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)  in Paris and other international partners.

“USCIB is delighted to one of our leading member companies win the Coalition’s Corporate Leadership Award again this year,” commented Donnelly.  Marriott is a great example of principled, proactive leadership in combating bribery and corruption.  We are proud of the work Marriott and other member companies are doing every day in this important policy area.”

Business Unites in Opposition to Draft Human Rights Treaty Targeting Companies

Published on October 16, 2018
Gabriella Rigg Herzog (USCIB)
Proposed treaty would fundamentally shift the burden of policing and enforcing global human rights from governments onto multinational companies.
Treaty is championed by Ecuador and several other governments, alongside a number of activist groups.

 

This week in Geneva, at the fourth session of a UN working group charged with reviewing standards for companies with respect to human rights, the global business community has united in opposition to a proposed “zero draft” of a treaty on business and human rights.

The proposed treaty, championed by Ecuador and several other governments, alongside a number of activist groups, would fundamentally shift the burden of policing and enforcing global human rights from governments onto multinational companies, according to Gabriella Rigg Herzog, USCIB’s vice president for corporate responsibility and labor affairs, who is attending the Geneva meeting.

“Some in the room have referred to the zero draft as a ‘last line of defense’ approach,” Herzog told delegates in a statement on behalf of USCIB and the International Organization of Employers (IOE). “But we believe the true first line of defense is strong domestic rule of law, good governance, and the state duty to protect human rights. This is where our collective efforts should focus and is the global approach we all are working to achieve under the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

A joint statement by the IOE, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Business at OECD and Business Europe conveys the groups’ strong concerns on the proposed treaty. These include:

  • The zero draft includes requirements that are unclear and not aligned with recognized “soft-law” instruments such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
  • It establishes a different set of requirements for transnational business activities versus other enterprises and organizations.
  • And the draft would open the door to civil and criminal suits in a wide range of jurisdictions, which could lead to “forum shopping.”

“We do not believe that these texts make a helpful contribution to the field of business and human rights and we believe that they risk undermining important progress made in this sphere under the UN Guiding Principles,” stated Viviane Schiave, senior policy executive with ICC. “Furthermore, the process followed by the [UN working group] to date does not give business confidence that this initiative will provide credible and workable solution to such complex human rights issues.”