News Stories Archives

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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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

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Business Calls for Fresh G20 Commitment on Jobs Especially for the Young

Published on September 27, 2011

Employment

Working through two of USCIB’s affiliates – the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) – global business called on the G20 to make a fresh commitment to maintaining and creating jobs, following forecasts of renewed economic uncertainty and slow global growth.

At this week’s G20 labor ministerial in Paris, IOE Executive Vice President Daniel Funes de Rioja of Argentina stressed the need for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, underpinned by measures that will restore business confidence to take risks, invest and generate job opportunities.

American business representatives at the ministerial included BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter, principal with Deloitte LLP and a member of USCIB’s board, and USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg, who serves as a regional vice president of the IOE and chairs BIAC’s Employment, Labor and Social Affairs Committee.

Advocating concrete measures to address the worsening global jobs outlook, employers recommended improving the quality of business regulation, and a closer focus on labor markets, in the context of reduced government capacity for direct stimulatory expenditure.

Mr. Funes de Rioja particularly highlighted the need for youth employment, employability, skills and education to be recognized as top priorities for the G20, along with economic and financial reforms.  Read more on the IOE website.

BIAC called for strong action by G20 governments to avoid the devastating effects a “double-dip” global recession would have on employment.

“Without decisive action, we risk prolonging record levels of long-term unemployment and having millions more young people enter adulthood without the prospect of meaningful work,” stated Mr. Heeter. “This would be tragic for the individuals involved, their families and our societies.”

BIAC urged governments to prioritize action to restore investor and consumer confidence by delivering clear and pragmatic national, regional and global strategies for growth and job creation. “The way out of the crisis will come from the private sector growth. Governments must focus on creating a better business environment to restore investor confidence,” Mr. Heeter said.  Read more on BIAC’s website.

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USCIB’s Ronnie Goldberg Reelected to ILO Governing Body

Published on June 21, 2011
At the International Labor Conference, L-R: John Kloosterman (Littler Mendelson), Kristin Lipke (U.S. Department of Labor), USCIB’s Ronnie Goldberg and John Oswalt (Procter and Gamble).
At the International Labor Conference, L-R: John Kloosterman (Littler Mendelson), Kristin Lipke (U.S. Department of Labor), USCIB’s Ronnie Goldberg and John Oswalt (Procter and Gamble).

USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg was re-elected to the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in a vote  conducted in Geneva last week . The Governing Body is the executive council of the ILO and meets three times annually in Geneva. It takes decisions on policy and establishes the program and budget of the 183 member states of the ILO.

The ILO is a tripartite United Nations agency where representatives of government, business and labor work jointly to promote greater respect for labor rights around the world.  USCIB represents the interests of American business in the ILO through its role as the U.S. affiliate of the International Organization of Employers (IOE).  Ms. Goldberg also serves as the IOE’s regional vice chair for North America.

In a related development, Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor and corporate responsibility, was recently named by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to the National Advisory Committee for the Labor Provisions of U.S. Trade Agreements, which provides advice on the implementation of labor chapters of U.S. free trade agreements as well as the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation.

The ILO Governing Body election took place during the annual International Labor Conference, at which a new international labor standard aimed at improving conditions for domestic workers was adopted. The U.S. employers’ delegation to this year’s ILO conference was headed by Edward E. Potter, director of global workplace rights with The Coca-Cola Company and chair of USCIB’s Labor and Employment Policy Committee.  In addition to Ms. Goldberg and Mr. Greene, the delegation included John Kloosterman (Littler Mendelson), Kent McVay (Coca-Cola), John Oswalt (Procter and Gamble) and Kevin Sullivan (IBM).

Other outcomes of this year’s conference included guidance on labor inspection and a decision to negotiate an ILO recommendation on social security.  Heads of state and government addressing the delegates included German ChancellorAngela Merkel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Staff contact: Adam Greene

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ILO website

Global Business Welcomes UN Special Representatives Human Rights Report

Published on June 10, 2011

The three main pillars of USCIB’s global business network – the International Organization of Employers, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD – have joined together in welcoming the final report of Professor John Ruggie, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative on business and human rights.  On May 30, after six years of study and consultation, Professor Ruggie released his final report, entitled “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework.”

In their joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council, the IOE, ICC and BIAC thanked Professor Ruggie for “his dedication and tireless effort over the past six years to develop open communication and consensus among all stakeholders, which has been a significant part of his contribution to the way in which these issues are addressed.”

They continued “Our organizations have actively engaged with [Professor Ruggie] throughout his mandate by participating directly in numerous consultations, submitting joint comments or statements on various reports produced by the mandate, and engaging in ongoing communication with [him] and his team during the entire mandate.”

The groups endorsed the report’s “Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework, which clearly distinguishes the roles of national governments and third parties, including business enterprises, in upholding human rights.

The joint statement said: “Business is committed to meeting its responsibility to respect human rights and we fully expect that states and other stakeholders will do the same within their respective duties and responsibilities. Our organizations also remain committed to working with the UN Human Rights Council and other stakeholders during the implementation phase to advance the framework and the Guiding Principles in a way that creates a sense of ownership of the issues among our members, which we see as a key success factor in dissemination and adoption of the Principles.

Staff contact: Adam Greene

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ICC Secretary General Joins UN Global Compact Board

Published on March 1, 2011

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Jean-Guy Carrier, secretary general of USCIB’s affiliate the International Chamber of Commerce to the board of the UN Global Compact, an initiative encouraging companies to align their operations with 10 principles including human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. Mr. Carrier will contribute a world business perspective on the Compact’s work.

The Global Compact represents more than 8,700 corporate participants and other stakeholders from at least 130 countries and is the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. It is the UN’s highest-ranking advisory body involving business and civil society, which also provides participants with resources for advancing sustainable business models and markets. The 23 board members who provide strategic and policy advice for the Global Compact also oversee implementation of the initiative’s integrity measures.

Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

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Whither the Alien Tort Statute

Published on November 12, 2010

4020_image001USCIB Senior Advisor Timothy Deal participated in a panel discussion on November 10 organized by the DC Bar Association in Washington on “Whither the Alien Tort Statute?”

The ATS, adopted in 1789, gives federal courts civil jurisdiction over non-U.S. citizens for acts in violation of “the law of nations” or a U.S. treaty, such as piracy or attacks on ambassadors.  Since 1980, a number of suits brought by foreign plaintiffs against foreign governments and multinational corporations have stretched the interpretation of the statute and the meaning of “the law of nations” to include human rights abuses and anti-union violence, among other things.

The meeting followed a recent ruling by a U.S. Second Circuit panel in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum that the ATS gives U.S. courts jurisdictions over alleged violations of international law by individuals, but not by corporations.  Joining Mr. Deal on the panel were: John Bellinger, a partner at Arnold & Porter and the former State Department legal advisor; Terry Collingsworth, a partner at Conrad & Scherer; and Professor Ralph Steinhardt of the George Washington University Law Center.  Professor Edward Swaine, also from the GWU Law Center, moderated the discussion.

In his prepared remarks, Mr. Deal outlined continued U.S. business community concerns over the proliferation of ATS lawsuits, which principally target U.S. multinationals.  According to Mr. Deal, a major problem with the legislation is that global companies often “find themselves entangled in litigation brought by non-U.S. plaintiffs alleging wrongs committed outside the U.S., not by companies, but by the plaintiffs’ own government or agents of those governments, over which they have no control.”  He noted that ATS suits increase the risk, uncertainty, and cost of overseas operations and investments.  They can also “expose American companies to costly and protracted smear campaigns.”

While the panelists debated the pros and cons of ATS litigation from varying points of view, all agreed that the Second Circuit’s decision could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court, given the importance of the issues addressed and differing views among lower courts throughout the nation about the appropriateness of ATS lawsuits against corporations.

To read Mr. Deal’s remarks in full, click here.

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World Bank President Unveils Latest Doing Business Report at USCIB Forum

Published on September 27, 2007

High Praise for World Bank’s Latest “Doing Business” Report

World Bank President Robert Zoellick
World Bank President Robert Zoellick

World Bank President Robert Zoellick unveiled the results of the bank’s latest annual study of business conditions and regulation worldwide at a USCIB forum in New York on September 26.  Business representatives were quick to praise the bank’s efforts to spur private-sector development.

The World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” report, begun five years ago, “has become the central benchmark for business regulatory practices all over the world,” stated Mr. Zoellick.

The report measures the time and the costs involved with setting up, running and closing a business in 178 countries around the world.  Mr. Zoellick said its comparative approach served as a spur to more effective business regulation.

“Governments don’t want to lag in rankings with countries they have to compete with for investment, or for exports,” he stated.  “And the potential for cross-country learning expands enormously.”

According to “Doing Business 2008,” countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union were among the leaders in improving the conditions for business.  Large emerging markets like China and India also made major progress, according to the bank’s “Doing Business 2008” Report.

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm which prepares the report, ranks countries based on ten indicators of business regulation measuring the time and cost it takes to start and run a business, including rules governing trade, taxation and business closure.  Countries at all levels of development can gain by undertaking measurable regulatory reforms, it said.

“The report finds that equity returns are highest in countries that are reforming the most,” stated Michael Klein, the IFC’s vice president for financial and private sector development, who presented the report’s finding in detail.  “Investors are looking for upside potential, and they find it in countries that are reforming, regardless of their starting point.”

Business representatives at the event, hosted by JPMorgan Chase, praised the Doing Business report as a much-needed spur to investment, economic development and job creation.

Abraham Katz, president of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), congratulated the World Bank “for creating a reform movement that has already begun to increase development and improve people’s lives.”   The reports, he said, “identify the areas where reform is needed and, most importantly, provide the incentives for governments to act.”  The IOE, part of USCIB’s global network, issued a statement praising the latest Doing Business report.

Large emerging markets are reforming fast, noted Mr. Klein.  China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Turkey and Vietnam all improved their rankings significantly in the latest report.  Overall, Singapore was ranked as the easiest economy in which to do business, followed by New Zealand, the United States, Hong Kong and Denmark.  Eight of the top 25 countries in the latest ranking came from outside the OECD   The country that dropped the farthest: Venezuela, which went from number 144 to number 172, out of 178 economies surveyed.

“These reports target the root causes of slow growth in many countries, and they have had a measurable impact in promoting specific reform measures at the national level,” stated USCIB Chairman William G. Parrett, senior partner with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

In the area of employment regulation, business representatives at the USCIB event observed that the reports measure regulatory flexibility, and do not call for wholesale deregulation, as some critics have claimed.  The report’s indicators on employment are fully consistent with the International Labor Organization’s fundamental labor principles and rights, they said.

Mr. Katz emphasized the importance of simplicity and stability in national regulations.  “When I talk to business people, they stress the need for one-stop shopping to get the answers to their questions and to get action on their requests, for licenses and other matters that enable them to do business,” he said.  “They stress the importance of stability of regulations. They frequently say they could adapt to almost any regime as long as they know that the rules of the game have a certain permanence. Underlying everything is a legal system in which the right to private property is enshrined.”

Mr. Katz said employers around the world would welcome opportunities to contribute to future Doing Business reports.

Other speakers at the event included Tim Ryan, vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase’s financial institutions group, and Elizabeth Dibble, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for international finance and development, who moderated a discussion with the numerous business and government representatives in attendance.

IOE press release: Employers worldwide welcome World Bank efforts to support growth and development at the 2008 Doing Business launch (September 26, 2007)

IOE President Katz’s remarks at the forum

World Bank “Doing Business” report website

IOE website

World Employers Applaud Nobel Peace Prize Selection

Published on October 16, 2006
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus

The International Organization of Employers has welcomed the recognition given to Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladesh economist and founder of Grameen Bank who pioneered micro-lending, by the Nobel Prize Committee.

Speaking from Geneva, IOE President Abraham Katz praised the work of the Grameen Bank in enabling innovators and entrepreneurs to have access to finance so as to turn business ideas into reality.

“It is this type of innovation and thinking that is needed, particularly in the developing world, to fill the gaps of commercial lending and thereby allow local people to develop their own means to work out of poverty, or to provide employment opportunities to others,” said Mr. Katz, a retired U.S. diplomat who served as USCIB’s president from 1984 to 1999.

IOE, part of USCIB’s global network, serves as the voice of employers worldwide, in particular at the International Labor Organization, promoting policies that support growth, employment and entrepreneurship.

Mr. Katz also congratulated the Nobel Prize Committee for recognizing the work that Mr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank have done, which he said would encourage others to explore micro-finance solutions both in South Asia and elsewhere.

“The IOE supports efforts by the International Labor Organization and lending institutions to build on this innovation, and through micro-finance encourage local actors to establish and expand business as a core means of working out of poverty” he said.

“The awarding of the prize to the business sector shows a healthy recognition of the contribution of business as a means to drive economic and social development.”

Staff contact: Ariel Meyerstein

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New editor takes over ICC corporate governance website

Published on June 11, 2003

Paris, June 11, 2003 – ICC’s Corporate Governance website moved into top gear today with up-to-the-minute coverage of developments of vital interest to companies across the world.

Stories include moves by the European Commission to set new rules billed as “a model for the rest of the world” as well as a report from New Delhi about controversial new government proposals to strengthen the role of independent directors.

Also on the site is an account of the implications for Australian companies of new disclosure rules introduced by the Australian stock exchange and a report under a London dateline about heightened public interest in boardroom pay – and the repercussions for companies.

With more than 8,000 member companies in over 140 countries, ICC is the largest, most representative private sector association in the world. It is represented in the U.S. by the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), its American national committee based in New York.

From Manila comes a story on efforts by the Asian Development Bank and the OECD to bring about swift improvements in corporate governance across Asia. An OECD White Paper just issued maintains that the most serious corporate governance challenge facing the Asian region is the “exploitation of non-controlling shareholders”.

The ICC Corporate Governance website was introduced a year ago with a mission to assist companies, and especially small and medium-sized enterprises, in achieving the highest standards of corporate governance. At the same time, it seeks to keep abreast of relevant government and private sector initiatives.

Taking over as the site’s editor is Australian writer and broadcaster Colin Chapman, a former Director of Television for the Financial Times. In the last 18 months, Mr Chapman has been course director on financial and political reporting for the Commonwealth Press Union, the British Council, and USIS. He has also acted as a visiting lecturer at the University of Beijing, where among other subjects he lectured on corporate governance.

Julian Kassum, site manager, said: “The site takes a strong ‘how to’ approach and will be especially useful to companies that are overhauling their corporate governance provisions.”

One of the big issues that will shortly be analysed in a full-length feature is whistle-blowing, and safeguards for employees who draw attention to irregularities.

USCIB promotes an open system of global commerce. Its membership includes some 300 leading U.S. companies, professional services firms and associations whose combined annual revenues exceed $3 trillion. As American affiliate of the leading international business and employers organizations, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide and works to facilitate international trade.

Contacts:
Bryce Corbett, ICC Communications
(011-33-6) 20-47-32-52 or bryce.corbett@iccwbo.org

Jonathan Huneke, USCIB Communications
(212) 703-5043 or jhuneke@uscib.org

The ICC Corporate Governance Website

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