working relations
Building European dialogues
What's NewS Issue 8 Aug/Sept 1999 "J
Exchanging opinions
Shifting responsibilities
Early this month (September) saw the first working meeting of a newly-
constituted body with a European scope. It is aimed at enhancing
dialogue between employees and the Rabobank Group management on
all issues pertaining to corporate decision-making. The new body, which
provisionally still carries the name of the interim Special Negotiating
Body (or SNB) which was set up to create it, is the tangible fruit of an
extensive effort involving representatives of both the workforce and
management, lts formation opens a fresh chapter in European-wide
labour management relations within the Rabobank group.
Fine line
Consensus building
Network approach
Engaging in dialogue with special interest
groups, such as Greenpeace and Amnesty
International, reduces the vulnerability of
the bank by explaining our position on
ethically sensitive issues encountered in
business before the press gets involved.
Additionally, these external groups can be
used proactively as a sounding board for
opinions on what is socially ethical, espe-
cially helpful when evaluating the moral
standards of potential or prospective
clients. But Kukler is quick to point out
that we 'shouldn't be driven by public
opinion. On the contrary, in core sectors
such as F&A where we are the experts,
we can influence and contribute to public
discussion. The sarne might be said for
sustainable development, an area we've
been comntitted to for some time.'
With the dynamic nature of ethics, we
face an ongoing evolution of opinions and
practices within our world and our orga-
nization. In order to help the network
deal with shifting value systents, the EC
plans to create an electronic database of
all cases previously discussed. As Kukler
stresses, 'providing the framework of
deals discussed in the past could form a
manual of how to look at future cases,
thus keeping ethical discussions alive. This
leads to doing healthy and socially-re-
sponsible business.'
I
The SNB is an outgrowth of the
European Union's (EU) 1994
fcpproval of a social charter - an event
®that was greeted with trepidation by
some but was weleomed by Rabobank as
a perfect opportunity to breathe new life
into dialogue amongst our people. It
provides a way of consulting with stake-
holders on key issues, such as new
investment and product initiatives,
strategie reorganizations or afhliations,
thrusts into fresh markets, and so forth.
I.ittle surprise, then, that the results of
Rabobank International's strategie review
figured prominently in the first session.
Two models of labour-management
relations still prevail throughout Europe,
as they have for much of the postwar
period. The first (and more adversarial)
^radition is most pronounced in the Latin
countries of southern Europe - as well as
in the UK. This sharply contrasts with
the second, so-called Rhineland model -
prevalent not only in the Netherlands
and Germany but also in France and
many Scandinavian countries. The EU
directive requires a level of employee
participation in the corporate decision-
making process that falls sontewhere in
between these two extremes.
Brussels' social charter gives contpanies
several options on how to structure
their consultative procedures in
discussion with their employees. Some
contpanies like Royal Dutch Shell, which
are highly networked and where the
scale of foreign operations equals or
exceeds those its original home market,
have opted to create a full-scale Europe-
wide Works Council. Other companies,
like our own, where the non-Dutch EU
operations are more modest in scale,
opted for a so-called Eiuropean
Information and Consultative Procedure,
or ICP, which stresses a more
cooperative and consensus-building
approach with a high level of
information exchange.
Upper row, from left to right: Erik Vermeulen
(Madrid), Ingrid van Woerden (DLL), Judith
Hamilton (London), Cees van Rest (Utrecht),
Ivo van den Nest (Antwerp). Second row:
Monique van Heek (Luxembourg), Jos Dirks
(RN), Renate Kristen (Frankfurt), Hisse Lykiema
(Rabobank Nederland). Front row: Paul
Whooley (Dublin), Yves Morvan (Paris), Eduard
Blommendaal (RN) - for more information on
the SNB, contact your local representative
A fundamental preliminary decision was
taken last year to organize our efforts on
a group-wide level (rather than within RI
alone). Thus, it was decided that the 11-
member SNB would include elected repre
sentatives from other Rabobank Group
units with international operations such
as De Lage Landen. Erom the start, the
designers wished to optimize the group's
size so that it was both representative and
small and manageable enough to effi-
ciently handle important issues. In careful
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