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UNI-Europa Commerce and
EuroCommerce launch European dialogue on corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility is the newest priority subject for the European social dialogue for commerce. At a session in Brussels on 23 May, trade unionists and employers exchanged views on what the approach should be when dealing with this issue. While UNI-Europa Commerce underlined that any voluntary initiatives or codes should be a complement to legislation, the employers indicated that they could also be alternatives to formal regulations.
Actually, the differences between the social partners were not particularly big. There is an established understanding between EuroCommerce and UNI-Europa Commerce that the future of retail and wholesale trade should build on high quality services produced by a competent staff working under good conditions. For both partners, it is important that serious retailers and wholesalers - be they small or large - are sufficiently protected against social dumping. Rules are needed to protect commerce against Wal-Mart Speaking for UNI-Europa Commerce, Jan Furstenborg raised Wal-Mart as an example of a large company, which builds its competitiveness on social dumping. To protect workers, but also competing traders, communities and consumers, legislation is needed as the Arkansas based giant has shown that it will otherwise ruthlessly use its enormous resources to take market shares, undercutting collective agreement levels, pressing suppliers and forcing competitors out of business through price wars. Wal-Mart's further expansion in Europe would be dangerous for the future of the whole industry, he said. UNI-Europa Commerce representatives also raised freedom of association problems in the Brussels discussions. Violations of workers' trade union rights are still commonplace both in the European Union member states and in other countries. Also in companies, which have engaged themselves for socially responsible behaviour, this can be a problem. The top management of large multinationals is often too reluctant to intervene when country managers break the rules, the union representatives said. Multinationals play with yellow 'unions' in Spain The curious situation in Spain was raised by Jan Furstenborg, who said that it is incomprehensible that companies such as Metro and Carrefour are still allowed to openly discriminate against the country's commerce trade unions while keeping up their own yellow employees associations, which descend from the vertical 'trade unions' of the Franco dictatorship. In mid-June, the two UNI Commerce affiliates FECOHT-CCOO and FETCHTJ-UGT will arrange a manifestation in Madrid, demonstrating their resolve to fight against these anachronistic structures. UNI Commerce is engaged in discussions with the Carrefour and Metro managements on how to correct this situation before the workplace elections in Spain later this year. Alexander Leiner from the Czech Republic, president of UNI Commerce affiliate OSPO, told the meeting about the situation in his country. Whereas the social dialogue is well established in most parts of commerce, including such multinationals as Metro, Carrefour, Tesco and Ahold, others have not yet adapted to the Czech way of handling labour relations. He cited Rewe - Billa as a particularly bad example, a company which refuses to negotiate in good faith and which grossly violates the rights of its workers. Alex Rüdig of UNI Commerce supported his view and said that the German-Austrian company is well known as a poor employer all through the region. The European social dialogue on corporate social responsibility will continue. A larger conference is foreseen for the first half of 2003, to review the situation in European commerce and to look at good practices in small and large companies. The meeting is also expected to set the direction for the continued work of the social partners on this subject.
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