Exclusif Réglementaire Corporate due diligence (part 2/2): no longer applying just to large French corporations Initiatives from the public authorities and other stakeholders Since the start of 2023, corporate due diligence is no longer the preserve of the French statute books with German legislation now entering into force and discussions over the adoption of an EU Directive set for before the end of the year. While corporate vigilance plans are often incomplete and due diligence is slow to become effective, an growing number of stakeholders are nonetheless taking the issue on board. Indeed the topic is now becoming both an area for inter-corporate co-operation as well as a topic for intra-company social dialogue. Below, we provide some feedback from major names including Engie, Vinci, and Carrefour.
Transnational company agreements: older workers the great forgotten of negotiations Transnational industrial relations At a time when most Western countries are seeking to increase the legal retirement age – to reduce pension scheme deficits or, in some cases, to address skill shortages – mind RH has taken a closer look at the transnational company agreements signed by multinational firms with a view to fostering the employment of older workers within their foreign subsidiaries. Seven agreements have been picked out, most of them European, which focus on the employability and job retention of ageing employees.
Exclusif Teleperformance: global agreement committing to trade union freedom eventually signed after years of conflict Transnational industrial relations On 01 December 2022 French digital business solutions group Teleperformance succumbed and signed a global agreement on social responsibility. The text, which mind RH has obtained, commits Teleperformance both to guaranteeing freedom of association wherever it is poorly guaranteed by law and to complying with due diligence obligations; two issues over which the company has been facing litigation.
Global Framework Agreement: Carrefour commits to fighting sexual orientation and gender-based discrimination Transnational industrial relations The global union federation UNI Global Union, and French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation Carrefour have announced a second renewal of their global framework agreement on the promotion of social dialogue and diversity.…
Orpea: CGT and CFDT unions demand cancellation of global agreement on ethical employment and union rights Transnational industrial relations The CGT and CFDT, respectively the second and third largest representative unions at Orpea in France, are asking UNI global union to reverse the global agreement signed in April with the nursing home giant. Contacted by Planet Labor, the global union federation stands its ground. The International Trade Union Confederation and the European Trade Union Confederation, which received a copy of the letter sent on 4 May, have still not chosen their side.
Orpea: global agreement on “ethical employment and trade union rights” is ill received Transnational industrial relations French nursing home group Orpea has penned a three-year global framework agreement with UNI Global Union, for a partnership covering ethical employment, social dialogue, collective bargaining and trade union rights. The agreement comes as the group, which employs 70,000 people across 23 countries, faces various complaints of discrimination against union members as well as investigations into its working conditions in France. It has been panned by various trade union federations as a "pseudo agreement".
Solvay: new global framework agreement signed that pre-empts corporate due diligence requirements Transnational industrial relations Belgian chemical group Solvay, which employs more than 23,000 employees worldwide, has renewed the global framework agreement (GFA) between itself and Industriall Global Union, the global union federation. Penned on 31 March 2022, the text – valid for a period of four years – anticipates legislative advances on companies' due diligence obligations and should allow for social dialogue to be developed at the group's sites in the United States, where union representation depends on a majority vote of the employees.
Engie enters into a new Global Framework Agreement on Fundamental Rights and ENGIE’s Social Responsibility Transnational industrial relations On 20 January 2022 the French multinational utility company, which operates in 70 countries, signed a global framework agreement (GFA) with three global union federations IndustriALL, BWI, and PSI. The agreement, which runs for a period of four years, commits the group to a global social protection programme, Engie Care, to prioritise sustainable employment, and to the creation of a ‘World Forum’, a joint dialogue body which will be responsible for monitoring the duty of vigilance. This text reinforces the company's commitment to international social dialogue after a first GFA was concluded in 2010.
Spain: El Corte Inglés department store and the trade unions commit to ensuring compliance with international labor standards throughout the value chain Corporate practices On 14 July, Spain's leading department store chain, El Corte Inglés signed an agreement with the CCOO and UGT trade unions, which establishes the framework for their collaboration in the application of international labor standards and the compliance of their suppliers in third party countries. The agreement guarantees information exchange and joint effort in the field, in order to ensure dignified work that is consistent with ILO standards, and to also seek solutions, establish training plans and resolve disputes.
TK Elevator: signs a global framework agreement Transnational industrial relations On 25 November 2020 the TK Elevator group (TKE group) together with IndustriALL Global union, the German works council, the European Works Council and the German trade union federation IG Metall signed a global framework agreement. TKE group (50,000+ employees worldwide) is the result of a spin-off by the German multi-industrial group Thyssenkrupp in early 2020. In 2015, former owner Thyssenkrupp signed a GFA on labor standards (c.f. article No. 8969) with IG Metall, and this TKE agreement has taken that up and adapted it to include several innovations especially as regards how complaints are treated.
