Pr

1
Corporate Social Responsibility
2
Layout of the presentation

• CSR what are we talking about?
• The challenges of CSR workers representatives
• CSR, public authorities, workers
  representatives an experience still in its
  embryonic stages
• CSR and experts

3
CSR what are we talking about?

• 1. A reality that has come from elsewhere
• The Unites States in the 1950s
• An ethical and philanthropic approach, stemming
  from a religious background, chiefly adopted by
  large firms and multinational corporations
• In a context dominated by
• The historical weakness of social rights in the
  United States
• The voluntary practices of businesses
• A minimisation of the role of trade unions
• An attempt to regulate a very unfair
   shareholder  capitalism

4

• 2. A rather different European definition
• A notion that comes to Europe later (end of the
  90s)
• Based on a different set of common values
• Solidarity
• Common good, collective interest
• Anticipate rather than repair
• The Commission of the European Union takes CSR
  among its concerns
• Green paper June 2001 and a wide-ranging
  consultation
• Communication in July 2002
• Multiple stakeholder Forum (2003-2004)

5

• The EU definition of CSR
• to be socially responsible means not only fully
  meeting all applicable legal obligations, but
  going beyond that to invest more in human
  capital, in the environment and relations with
  the stakeholders
• This supposes the willing inclusion by
  businesses of social and environmental concerns
  in the commercial activities and their relations
  with their stakeholders

6

• 3.  But there is a link between CSR and
  Sustainable Development (SD)
• development that makes it possible to meet the
  needs of the present generation without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet theirs, in particular for the most
  deprived people
• Therefore SD concerns the whole of humanity at a
  global level
• I must include three dimensions

7
The three dimensions
8

• The differences between SD and CSR
• CSR concerns a business, a group of businesses, a
  network or a sector of activity
• CSR may be considered to be a contribution by
  business to sustainable development
• Thanks to policies that seek to reduce
  externalities, the impact of businesses on their
  social and natural environment
• However, these notions currently imply some
  significant ambiguities e.g. sustainable
  enterprise sustainable strategy,

9

• 4. The driving force behind the deployment of
  CSR the increasing exposure of multinational
  corporations
• Increasing power and social responsibility
• The transformation of economic power, beyond a
  certain threshold, into social power
• even as traditional public regulation levers
  are weakening les régulations (there is a vacuum
  to be filled)
• The internationalisation and increasing vigour of
  challenges to mainstream practice
• A lowering of the threshold of risk acceptability
  by civil society in a globalised world
• The non-accountability of businesses and the
  media coverage of scandals

10

• The ransom of power
• Increasing risks for businesses
• A local problem immediately becomes a global one
• The corporate image a key element in a
  businesss strategy
• The need to take on public responsibilities
  illiteracy, schools, health,
• The question of the legitimacy of corporate
  action
• Private enterprise and the offer of public
  services for the common good water,
  electricity,

11

• The response of the multinationals
• Steer the process of deploying CSR
• Transforming a constraint into an asset
  (competitive advantage)
• CSR an instrument of legitimisation
• The two pillars of CSR policies in business
• The primacy of intentional proactive measures
• CSR as a simple extension of the logic of
  financial investment (risk management)

12

• A varying level of commitment to CSR on the part
  of businesses the main factors
• The more or less international nature of the
  group
• e.g. in the references to human rights
• The nature of its activity and risks
• The impact of the companys history and corporate
  culture
• An opportunity to revisit all of the companys
  activity with the colours of CSR

13

• Therefore
• A current tendency to naturalise CSR, the
  vision of multinationals appearing as the only
  legitimate one
•  Whereas CSR by definition involves and implies
  different, even diverging, interests
• The development of soft law - a kind of
  privatisation of law - through the
  multiplication of voluntary commitments, against
  a backdrop of weakened public regulations
• CSR is a groundswell movement and not a fashion
• It is creating a system with the current context
  of deregulation and the domination of the
  Anglo-American view of governance

14
The challenges and stakes of CSR for workers
representatives

• The risk of being offside
• The trend towards voluntary actions tends to
  undermine the contractual dimension of social
  relations
• They encroach upon the traditional sphere of
  social relations they address themselves
  directly to the employees
• Hence the risk of a reduced place for workers
  representatives
• CSR, as an extended policy of risk management,
  safeguards the predominance of the
  shareholder/stakeholder
• A CSR policy that focuses on other players from
  civil society can contribute to the
  marginalisation of workers representatives

15

• Opportunities offered by current corporate
  policies
• As a general rule, CSR can be an important lever
  for opening up a business to legitimacies other
  than those of managers and shareholders
• CSR is a source of challenges to Management by
  workers representatives
• Concerning voluntary one-sided commitments by
  corporate management
• By pointing out malfunctions
• By transforming these unilateral decisions into
  contractual agreements
• Concerning the CSR and SD communications made by
  management
• By including them in the debate
• By getting involved in the process (consultation?)

16

• What is the role of workers representatives in
  CSR processes?
• One stakeholder among many others (trivialised if
  not marginalised), or a structuring stakeholder
  in the CSR processes?
• A company cannot have responsibility externally
  without being responsible internally
• Trade union organisations are multistakeholders
• This is a decisive and difficult challenge,
  considering clearly stated will of the
  representatives of European employers
  associations to dissociate CSR and social
  dialogue
• A role to play in the construction in Europe of a
  new social compromise regarding the role of
  business in society?

17
CSR, public authorities, employee
representatives some experiments still at an
embryo stage

• 1. Implementation of new regulations
• National the example of the French law on new
  economic regulations (article 116) - May 2001
• The management report of listed companies
  (potentially 950 companies) must include
  information about the way the company intends
  to take into account the social and environmental
  consequences of its activities
• This is a legal obligation starting with the
  publication of the financial statements for 2002
• A decree fixed the list of information required,
  both social and environmental

18

• This law is more relies more on incentive than on
  coercion
• No legal sanctions are envisaged
• Much latitude is left to businesses as to the
  practical steps for compliance
• The law triggers a process (progress plan) that
  aims to gradually introduce a concept of
  performance that includes economic, social and
  environmental concerns
• The question of the integration of national
  provisions in a context that is fundamentally
  international
• Other countries (Norway, Denmark and the
  Netherlands have introduced a legal obligation
  for environmental reporting

19

• International
• No European regulation in sight
• However the European commission appears to be
  seeking to introduce a European standard for CSR,
  with a strong incentive to move toward the GRI
  (Global Reporting Initiative)
• Our reservations with regard to this initiative
• The risk of closing the debates (reporting) vs
  experimentation and openness to all stakeholders
  a formal approach vs a substantive approach
• The risks it poses for the defence of a European
  business and social model the GRI is strongly
  influenced by the Anglo-American culture

20

• 2. The development of agreements around CSR
• International Framework Agreements (IFA)
• Signed in general between the international Trade
  Union Federations and the multinationals
• In certain cases, there has been an involvement
  of European Works Councils (EWC)
• Example of Skanska, where the group in charge of
  monitoring the follow-up of the agreement
  consists of the HR manager and the bureau/select
  office of the EWC
• The majority of IFAs are to do with the respect
  of ILO agreements
• Over thirty agreements signed as of May 2004
• 5 trade union federations involved ICEM, FETBB,
  FIOM, UITA, UNI

21

• Agreements signed by the IFBWW (May 2004)
• IKEA
• Sweden 75,000 employees
• Faber-Castell
• Germany 5,500 employees
• Hochtief
• Germany 34,000 employees
• Skanska
• Sweden 80,000 employees
• Ballast Nedam
• Holland 7,000 employees

22

• These agreements stake out some general
  principles
• Their implementation and and practical outworking
  is decisive
• If not there they run the risk of becoming mere
  window dressing for the one sided commitments
  made by the multinationals
• Multiplication of agreements signed with
  multinationals and their European Works Councils
• General Motors, Accor, Carrefour, Danone,
  Renault, EDF,
• Predominance of social rights
• Presence in most of these agreements of
  provisions for a socially responsible management
  of restructuring operations

23

• Lessons learned from the involvement of European
  Works Councils in CSR
• The question of the legitimacy of the body
• A body still in development,
• Favoured by the Management of multinational firms
  over national bodies
• On transverse issues that may be treated
  homogeneously between countries safety,
  training,

24

• A legitimacy that is nevertheless conditioned by
• The existence of a culture of social dialogue
  within the company
• A body that needs to be more than a forum for
  communication by the management
• Operating resources for the EWCs that are in
  line with the functions they are called to fulfil
• The need to identify the complex articulation
  required, with regard both to the trade union
  organisations and to the different levels of
  involvement (national / European / international)

25

• A complex process
• A long-haul process investment and rotation of
  the mandates
• Non linear advances, trial and error
• Permanent mobilisation required by the
  implementation of the agreements
• The requirement for increased professionalism on
  the part of the workers representatives

26
Shareholders
Local population
Public authorities
COMMON ISSUES
Follow-up Control Evaluation
MANAGEMENT EWC
Nature
Different priorities, approaches
Maturing process
IMPLEMENTATION
Role of other stakeholders
The role of management
Modalities
Role of the EWC
Trade Union organisations
NGOs

27
CSR and the role of experts work in progress

• General usefulness
• Reduce the asymmetry between corporate management
  teams and workers representatives
• Cooperation based on contracts
• Various possible approaches
• Expert technical support for the steps undertaken
  by EWCs regarding CSR
• Diagnoses on issues in which the EWC is involved
• Supporting expert advice
• Consultant role
• Training
• Audits expert appraisals being developed
• E.g. social audit