EDF: Global Framework Agreement on the EDF Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility

On 29 May, at the headquarters of the ILO in Geneva, the management of the EDF group and the IndustriAll Global Union and Public Services International (PSI) international trade union federations signed a new global agreement on corporate social responsibility.
The agreement is the result of a collaborative negotiation process begun in June 2017 and involving 11 national trade union federations. This agreement replaces a previous agreement on social and environmental responsibility signed in 2005 and renewed in 2009. “It is designed to guarantee the development of a shared set of standards for the Group’s 160,000 employees whilst consolidating international social dialogue” announces the EDP in its press release. In addition to the protection of fundamental social rights, the text includes commitments on fiscal transparency, protection for whistle blowers, combating corruption and fraud, combating violence and harassment in the workplace, due diligence when it comes to subcontractors and suppliers, equality between women and men, and combating discrimination related to sexual orientation. As far as we know, this is the first agreement to include the principle of a “just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all”, in accordance with the ILO’s guidelines.
In the agreement, the group undertakes to provide adequate training for its employees, endeavouring to protect their rights, interests and to develop their skills in cooperation with workers’ representatives.” One of the most comprehensive agreements in this area, it will serve as a benchmark for new global framework agreement negotiations in the years to come.