Trade unions and the corporate social responsibility agenda: comparing CSR-approaches to employment and work related issues in the UK and Denmark
Paper af Mikkel Mailand & Colin Lindsay
Environmental issues and fundamental rights rather than employment and work are the most widely discussed issues in CSR-debates, but CSR has nevertheless entered discussions on employment relations and employment policies in EU-member states.
Trade unions are important CSR-stakeholders, but they have in general had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the overall idea that companies have social responsibilities 'beyond the firm's gate' is welcomed. Furthermore, it has been acknowledged by some trade unions that a partnership approach to CSR-initiatives might open up new opportunities for legitimising and strengthening trade unionism. On the other hand, many trade unions have fear that voluntary CSR-arrangements could replace, rather than add to, right-based regulation obtained through legislation or collective agreements.
By focusing on three employment and work related issues (employability, health at work and equal opportunities) in two countries (Denmark and the UK) the aims of this paper are, firstly, to describe to what extent these are covered by CSR-instruments (such as codes-of-conduct, company agreements, partnerships, etc.) and to what extent they are regulated by other in-struments (legislation, collective agreements, etc.) - or not regulated at all. Secondly, the pa-per aims to describe trade union approaches to CSR in these three areas: Do trade unions act proactively on CSR, do they just accept it or are they counteracting/resisting CSR-initiatives? Thirdly, the paper seeks to explain similarities the variation between the countries regarding the CSR-agendas and the approaches to CSR adopted by trade unions. The UK has a pre-dominantly 'pluralist' or a 'liberal' labour market model and Denmark a 'corporatist' or partnership-based model.
Paper for the ACREW/KCL Conference: Social responsive, socially responsible approaches to employment and work, Prato, July 1-4, 2006.