Corporate social responsibility (hereafter CSR) is a topical issue. In this report Katrin Vitols provides an overview, based on desktop research, of the CSR involvement of trade unions and works councils. The report includes interesting insights and information on the often problematic interaction between workers’ representatives and management-led CSR initiatives. A whole range of attitudes and positions (from ‘being actively involved’ to ‘kept outside’) are referred to in the first section.
The author is relatively easy on the position of the European Commission, in contrast to other authors who have criticised the Commission’s inertia since competence shifted from DG Employment to DG Industry. In the latest Commission documents the workers’ side is completely excluded from participation.
The third section provides the reader with an overview of current CSR standards. This section can be read as an introduction to the broad spectrum of (international) norms and guidelines.
After a section dedicated to the German situation, the author deals with specific issues related to the trade unions (at national level: section 5; at European level: section 11), the impact of International Framework Agreements (section 6), the position of employers’ organisations (section 7) and boards (section 9), and the role that works councils can play (at national level: section 8; at international level: section 10).
In the final section, the author reveals that an important item has been neglected so far: assessment of the practical implementation of CSR standards and provisions. Workers’ rights are not served by PR or paper tigers; it is obvious that the added value as experienced in the daily work situation is the litmus test for many workers’ representatives.
Nevertheless, for German readers the report is an interesting introduction to the CSR literature.
Further reading:
Vitols, Katrin (2011) Nachhaltigkeit - Unternehmensverantwortung - Mitbestimmung. Ein Literaturbericht zur Debatte über CSR.
Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Vol. 127. Berlin: edition sigma, ISBN: 978-3-8360-8727-8.
Link: http://www.boeckler.de/show_product_hbs.html?productfile=HBS-004942.xml