DGB Trade Union Confederation Calls for Strengthening OECD Guidelines

The Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) on 22 January issued a call to enhance the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, in order for the Guidelines to become more transparent and more thoroughly implemented. The proposals from the DGB come at the outset of Germany’s G8 Presidency term.

The national labour centre’s plan includes creating an inter-ministerial structure for National Contact Points (NCP) that will provide more efficient and pro-active case work. DGB also proposes to expand transparency among NCP offices through better public dissemination of cases, as well as insisting that the NCP’s annual report to the OECD Investment Committee also includes those cases that the NCP decides not to move forward. The reasons for such decisions must be explained in a public declaration, DGB states.

A third proposal is to have the Guidelines codified in EU legislation, as well as established as the international benchmark for corporate social responsibility. In this, DGB calls on Germany and other countries to provide greater financial commitment to the OECD. This proposal also includes making the complaints procedure easier, and giving only MNCs who pledge, in writing, to comply with the Guidelines access to foreign trade instruments.

“The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises have proven to be the strongest international instrument to date for promoting corporate social responsibility,” states the DGB. “In practice, however, their implementation encounters limits.

“The DGB takes the view that the OECD Guidelines hold the potential to promote corporate social and environmental responsibility worldwide and to make an effective contribution to sustainable development and to the social dimension of globalisation.”