Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Archives

New UN High Level Political Forum to Focus on Sustainable Development through Head of State Meetings

Published on July 24, 2013

What is the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF)?

The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) agreed to establish the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), a new UN body to replace the Commission on Sustainable Development. In June 2013, Member States concluded several months of political negotiations to define the “Format and Organizational Aspects of the high-level political forum.”  This new body is expected to play a central role in framing the UN’s Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The new high-level political forum, consistent with its intergovernmental universal character, will:

  • Provide political leadership, guidance and recommendations for sustainable development;
  • Follow up on implementation of all UN activities related to sustainable development, including the SDGs;
  • Enhance the integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental);
  • Have a focused, dynamic and action-oriented agenda, ensuring the appropriate consideration of new and emerging sustainable development challenges

When will the HLPF meet?

The date for its first meeting is September 24, 2013 during the opening of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly.  The first meeting will be an inaugural event and substantive sessions will be scheduled later in the year.  The HLPF will conveneannually at the ministerial level under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and it will, every four years, bring together heads of State and Government, under the auspices of the UN General Assembly, to provide political momentum for sustainable development.

How to participate and the role of business:

USCIB, working with the ICC and other business groups, has represented U.S. business in UN sustainability meetings since 1992. The creation of the HLPF offers USCIB an opportunity to provide U.S. business views on economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability, and to offer practical private sector experiences relating to the enabling conditions needed for investment, innovation and job creation.

The HLPF will be open to all “Major Groups” and “other stakeholders,” e.g. education and academic entities, volunteer groups, etc., who will be able to:

  • Attend all official meetings of the forum;
  • Have access to all official information and documents;
  • Intervene in official meetings, submit documents and present written and oral contributions, to make recommendations, and to organize side-events and roundtables

Business and industry organizations have submitted recommendations for a dedicated and recognized business channel to the HLPF.

Staff contacts: Norine Kennedy and Adam Greene

Business Weighs in on Job Creation at G20 Labor Ministerial

Published on July 23, 2013

On July 18, representatives of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD and the International Organization of Employers (IOE) met with G20 labor ministers in Moscow, emphasizing the need for open and competitive markets to stimulate growth and job creation through policies that enable private enterprise.

In a joint statement, BIAC and IOE focused on the importance of a qualified and mobile workforce, good governance, and reliable policies for companies to invest and generate employment.

USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg, who is an IOE regional vice president and chairs BIAC’s labor and employment committee, joined the business delegation, which was led by B20 Chair Alexander Shokhin, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

The business statement urged governments to commit to policies conducive to private sector-led growth and job creation, improve policy consistency between governments and increase business confidence to invest. It also said that properly implementing comprehensive and ambitious national structural reforms would promote job creation and economic development. The business groups also voiced support for implementing non-distortive taxation at levels that encourage enterprise and investment, reducing high non-wage labor costs and investing in human capital to enable labor market flexibility, and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, especially youth entrepreneurship.

Looking at specific measures to spur employment, especially youth employment, BIAC and IOE stressed the importance of enhancing employability through quality education, training, workplace learning and incentives for all to work. Business also supports the IOE/BIAC Global Apprenticeships Alliance, a global company network aimed at broadening the scope and number of apprenticeships in order to address youth employability, as well as joint initiatives with labor to cultivate youth employment.

Opening the gathering, Maxim Topilin, Russia’s minister of labor and social protection, expressed appreciation for the participation of the social partners in the G20. “These consultations are very useful and allow us to see a different perspective on the issues that we address,” he said. “The social partners’ ideas and recommendations based on their expertise facilitate the G20 decision-making process with respect to such key issues as employment, labor relations development and social protection.”

More on USCIB’s Labor & Employment Committee

USCIBs Greene to Chair New Human Rights Working Group

Published on July 19, 2013

In June, the International Organization of Employers (IOE) announced the creation of several policy working groups to reinforce member ownership of the policies adopted by the organization and to create useful and timely output drawing on the wider expertise of the IOE’s worldwide employer network.

Among these is a new CSR and Business and Human Rights Policy Working Group, which will be chaired by Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor and corporate responsibility. Greene’s appointment underscores the active leadership role he and a broad array of USCIB members are playing in this area.

The working group will meet in Geneva on September 26 and December 2. Please contact us if you would like more information.

More on USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee

One Year After Rio+20 UN Moves Ahead on New Sustainable Development Goals

Published on June 21, 2013

4526_image001With this month marking the first anniversary of the 2012 World Summit on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20, the United Nations is moving into high gear to frame new global economic, social and environmental goals – and a high-level political body to administer them.

“Rio+20 may have been criticized as more sound than substance, but its outcomes are now taking shape, and look to be influential for both governments and the private sector,” according to Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and environment.

”USCIB has followed the first steps to put Rio+20 deliverables into motion throughout the UN system,” Kennedy said. “We are assessing the opportunities and risks for business, and mapping a strategy to provide constructive input to the discussions from the start.”

At the Rio+20 Summit, governments agreed to develop Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the purpose of addressing poverty eradication, environmental protection, and sustainable consumption and production. The SDGs will likely drive and set the tone for international policy on these issues over the next decade. They will also shape the expectations that stakeholders and investors have for business on these issues. Initial SDG discussions in the UN have already raised business issues, such as mandatory integrated sustainability reporting, and the importance of good governance and enabling frameworks for investment, enterprise creation and job growth.

Speaking at a recent U.N. meeting of governments on the SDGs, Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for  labor affairs, corporate responsibility and governance,underscored the necessity for conditions that support job creation by the private sector, and economic growth. “Employment and inclusive growth cannot and will not happen in the absence of a conducive environment for economic growth at the national level,” he said. “Global goals are useful, but we must recognize that all the key drivers for development take place within a national context and must be implemented through national institutions.” (Click here to read the full statement.)

The SDGs will be a central element of the UN-wide Post-2015 Development Agenda, which will build on and go beyond the UN Millennium Development Goals (Click here to read a recent column from USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson on this process.). While it is not clear how the SDGs will relate to the MDGs, we expect that they will differ in at least three key aspects:

  • they will apply to all UN member countries, rather than just to developing countries;
  • they will cover a broader range of economic, social, environmental and governance issues; and
  • they may also include targets addressed to business and other stakeholder groups.

USCIB will be tracking these complex – and often confusing – discussions to their conclusion over the next year and has established a cross-cutting Working Group on the SDGs to develop USCIB positions and represent business views in the UN negotiations.

Staff contacts: Norine Kennedy and Adam Greene

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World Bank President Upholds Doing Business Report

Published on June 13, 2013

As we reported last month, governments and interest groups that are highly critical of the World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” report and ranking launched a broad attack on the program under the guise of a review. In response, USCIB joined with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and International Organization of Employers
(IOE) to urge the Bank to maintain the integrity and rigor of the report. These efforts appear to have paid off.

Last week, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim issued a statement in response to an independent review panel’s assessment of the Doing Business report, essentially upholding the report’s methodology and ranking while committing the Bank to work toward its improvement going forward.

Kim’s statement read in part:

“The World Bank Group’s work on business climate development, including the Doing Business report, is core to our mission of ending poverty, and in fact we expect it to grow. Our client countries are demanding it, because there is broad consensus about the need for jobs to eliminate poverty and boost growth. We are committed to this work.

“It is indisputable that Doing Business has been an important catalyst in driving reforms around the world. The Panel has made valuable suggestions for how to enhance the report, which merit consideration. Going forward, I will be pushing World Bank Group staff to focus their efforts on improving all aspects of Doing Business, including its data, methodology, and rankings. I am committed to the Doing Business report, and rankings have been part of its success.”

USCIB will continue to monitor the evolution of the Doing Business report, which we regard as a uniquely valuable catalyst for market-oriented reform, private investment, economic growth and job creation around the world.

Staff contacts: Shaun Donnelly and Adam Greene

New York Times: How the World Bank Makes Doing Business Easier

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On Bangladesh Global Employers Call for Focus on Tripartite Process

Published on May 24, 2013
Rescue workers at the collapsed Rana Plaza building site in Bangladesh
Rescue workers at the collapsed Rana Plaza building site in Bangladesh

Employers around the world have closely followed developments surrounding the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,000 people.

The International Organization of Employers (IOE), part of USCIB’s global; network, issued a statement reiterating its deep regret and sadness, and expressing solidarity with the victims and their families. “Efforts must now be intensified to ensure that these kinds of tragedies are not repeated,” the IOE said.

The problems culminating in the Rana Plaza collapse affect more than one sector of Bangladesh’s economy, not just the garment sector, the IOE noted. “Fire safety, and issues of health and safety generally, are applicable across sectors and across business size, whether it produces for export or for domestic consumption.”

The IOE voiced support for the action plan the International Labor Organization created as the result of a high-ILO level mission to Bangladesh, following broad tripartite consultation with the Bangladesh Employers’ Federation, workers representatives and the Bangladesh government.

The IOE “calls on donor governments to provide the ILO with the resources necessary to implement the plan of action and in doing so to respond to the needs of constituents in Bangladesh that they have themselves identified.”

According to Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor and corporate responsibility, lasting change can only come from within the country, with the national government working directly with the social partners in Bangladesh.  “That is why we fully support the ILO-lead National Action Plan and will support a Better Work program in Bangladesh after the government makes the necessary labor law reforms,” he said.

A joint initiative of the ILO and the World Bank, with strong support from the IOE and USCIB, the Better Work program brings together governments, employers, workers and global companies to address working conditions in supplier factories. The program assesses compliance with international labor standards and national labor laws, posts reports online and provides targeted remedial training to improve compliance with labor standards.

Staff contact: Adam Greene

More on USCIB’s Labor & Employment Committee

USCIB Rallies Support for World Bank Doing Business Reports

Published on May 8, 2013

4529_image002USCIB and its global partners, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and International Organization of Employers (IOE), are spearheading business advocacy to maintain the integrity and rigor of the World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” report and ranking.

In a response to criticism from China and other countries, the new president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, appointed an independent panel of outside experts to review the Doing Business reports, which many in the business community view as a useful measuring tool for understanding the comparative attractiveness of a country’s business and investment climate.

The Doing Business reports currently provide objective measures and rankings of business regulations for local firms in 185 economies and selected cities around the world. In addition, the reports can serve an important policy function by providing leverage for economic reforms in nations where excessive regulation and hidden costs impede the process of starting and running a business.

China in particular has criticized what it says are the report’s “unfair” rankings. As reported in the Financial Times, China ranked 91st out of 185 economies in the most recent Doing Business report, with especially low scores for its construction bureaucracy and tax system.

The panel review is being conducted amid opposition to the report series from a coalition of NGOs, academics, labor unions, and large borrower countries. Using an open consultation process, the expert panel is soliciting comments and will use them as inputs into the decision-making process for the reports. In response, USCIB is leading an effort within the business community to emphasize the value of the reports as an unbiased and reliable source of information on investment, economic development, job creation, and market conditions in countries around the world.

Hearing for stakeholders

On April 18, ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier delivered comments directly to the independent panel, underscoring the important contribution of the reports to stakeholders spanning business and government entities. USCIB was represented at the hearing by Shaun Donnelly, vice president for investment and financial services, who afterward participated in a Q&A session with panel members. For its part, the IOE submitted comments to the panel and mobilized its worldwide networks of national employers’ bodies to do the same.

The following day, USCIB led a group of business and think-tank representatives in an open discussion session with the panel. According to Donnelly, USCIB is “speaking up aggressively on the value of a rigorous annual Doing Business Report, focused on real-world metrics of direct relevance to local and international business as they make investment and hiring decisions.”

Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor and corporate responsibility, was critical of the World Bank’s process in setting up the independent panel, noting that the panel had no business representatives even though its original terms of reference called for this. He called the consultation process “haphazard and not well communicated.”

Greene submitted a response to four questions solicited for the review process, covering topics such as the value, relevance, impartiality, effectiveness, and decision-making impact of the reports, as well as how they could be improved. His responses underscored that “the value of the report is that it speaks to the relationship between economic development, regulation, and report creation, and suggests ways to reduce the informal economy, where workers have no protections.”

He also noted that the Doing Business project addresses precisely the types of issues that the private sector believes must be included in the UN’s post-2015 development agenda, i.e., fostering a conducive environment for private enterprise and growth that can raise living standards and provide the resources to tackle urgent societal problems. “The fact that a number of countries are seeking to undermine that process indicates that some states aren’t very interested in taking serious steps to foster good governance or economic growth.”

The panel’s final report is expected within the next two weeks.

Staff contacts: Shaun Donnelly and Adam Greene

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Business Hails Supreme Court Ruling on Alien Tort Statute

Published on April 17, 2013

4486_image001New York, N.Y., April 17, 2013 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which champions the interests of U.S. global companies, hailed today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court largely insulating companies from lawsuits under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), an 18th-century law used in recent years by activists to lodge numerous suits alleging corporate complicity in human rights abuses overseas.

“After many years of sounding the alarm against abuse of the ATS, we are extremely gratified that the court has handed down such a clear and well reasoned ruling,” stated USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson. “The justices have essentially shut the door to further use of the Alien Tort Statute to target companies based on alleged activity without any clear connection to the United States.”

The court unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling dismissing a lawsuit accusing two foreign-based units of Royal Dutch Shell Plc of aiding and abetting human rights abuses in Nigeria, although the justices differed in the details of their reasoning. The majority said the ATS generally should not apply to conduct beyond U.S. borders.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that in the case, Kiobel v. Shell Petroleum, “all of the relevant conduct took place outside the United States.” The justices were unanimous on the outcome in the Shell case, but issued differing opinions explaining their reasoning. Roberts’s opinion cited a “presumption against extraterritoriality,” saying that legal principle limits the reach of the Alien Tort Statute when it comes to conduct overseas. Four justices issued a separate opinion saying they would have reached the same result using different reasoning.

For over a decade, USCIB and other business groups have warned against abuse of the ATS as a vehicle to lodge spurious lawsuits against companies over allegations of conduct that often bore little, if any, connection to the United States. In some cases brought under the ATS, there has been little connection to any corporate activity whatsoever, with companies having operations in a country effectively serving as stand-ins for governments alleged to have committed abuses.

More broadly, business has expressed concern over the extraterritorial application of national laws in general, including in the area of human rights, and has called for clearer international human rights standards and better enforcement of national laws as an alternative. USCIB joined in filing an amicus brief in support of Shell in the Kiobel case.

USCIB Vice Chairman Thomas Niles, a retired U.S. ambassador and former president of USCIB, wrote an influential 2002 op-ed in the Financial Times complaining about abuse of the statute and urging U.S. courts to curtail its use.

“Business and legal experts have argued for years that the ATS should not be interpreted as providing grounds for suits against companies, especially where the alleged actions have no connection to the United States,” Niles said. “We are glad that the Supreme Court took the time to review both the specifics of the Kiobel case as well as the broader issue of extraterritoriality, and needless to say we agree with the justices’ ruling.”

About USCIB:
USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include 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 international business organizations, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org.

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

G20 Employment Task Force Hears Business Perspective on Job Creation

Published on February 22, 2013

Employers and trade unions recently held consultations in Moscow with the G20 Employment Task Force, according to the International Organization of Employers. The session was hosted by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, whose vice president, David Iakobachvili, presented the business perspective along with his fellow co-chair of the B20 Job Creation Task Force, Erol Kiresepi of the Turkish employer federation TISK.

In their comments to the task force, Iakobachvili and Kiresepi called on the G20 to recognize the key job-creating role of the private sector, and to commit to addressing within their respective economies the barriers to business creation and growth. Iakobachvili cited “complicated and rigid labor law” as a major stumbling block to hiring, especially for SMEs. He recommended improving education and training systems to match skill sets with the needs of business.

Kirespi called for countries to share experiences by mapping and measuring instruments that were successful, cost-effective and could be replicated.

USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg is a member of the B20 Job Creation Task Force, which is coordinated by the IOE and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD. The task force will next meet in March in Geneva to advance plans for a private-sector apprenticeship network.

Read more on the IOE’s website.

Staff contact: Ronnie Goldberg

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G20 Employment Task Force Looks at Need for Apprenticeships

Published on October 5, 2012

Two machinists working on machineDeveloping quality internship and apprenticeship opportunities for young people has been a focus of the employment agenda of the G20 under the Mexican presidency. Recommendations by G20 labor and employment ministers in May highlighted the need for the G20 to provide a platform for fostering the sharing best practices in the design and implementation of high-quality internship and apprenticeship programs. Business voiced its full support for such programs to the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, recognizing that implementation will vary from country to country and across business sectors.

At an October 1-2 meeting in Geneva, the G20 Employment Task Force considered key elements of successful apprenticeships, and invited business and other social partners to contribute to the debate. USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg, joined by Brent Wilton, secretary general of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), provided the business perspective, drawing on work pursued jointly with BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD. Both BIAC and the IOE are part of USCIB’s global network.

Goldberg’s presentation focused on how apprenticeships fits in the context of youth employment, why this issue is a critical opportunity for G20 engagement, and the steps the IOE and BIAC are taking to scale up opportunities for both internships and apprenticeships. She stated that apprenticeship program, while “neither a panacea nor a global solution, …are an important vector for creating employment opportunities and raising skills.” Goldberg applauded the G20 initiative as an opportunity “to demonstrate value by driving forward concrete solutions to address a critical economic and social problem.”

The IOE and BIAC are working with their members around the world to compile a truly representative global picture and perspective on this important topic. Please contact us if you would like additional information on this initiative.

Staff contact: Ronnie Goldberg

More on USCIB’s Labor and Employment Policy Committee