Labour/Management Programme (LMP) Final Reports, 2001

Introduction:

Formal relations between the OECD and representatives of trade unions and of business and industry in Member countries are conducted through two organisations officially recognised by the OECD Council. These are the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC). In addition to various forms of policy discussion throughout the year, arrangements provide for meetings at the technical level, which do not engage the responsibility of the organisations. Such meetings are held either in the form of ad hoc discussions with the Secretariat, or under the Labour/Management Programme for which a series of meetings devoted to specific themes is established at the beginning of each year.

After meetings held under the Programme, a rapporteur draws up a report of the discussion on his own responsibility, for distribution to the social partners and to the relevant OECD Committees. The opinions expressed in such reports are those of the rapporteur, except where they are specifically attributed to individual participants, and do not necessarily reflect the views of other participants or of the OECD.

• 12 December 2001, Meeting of Trade Union Experts on Recent and Future National and International Governance Initiatives on the Global Financial Market Architecture: The events surrounding the fallout from the Asian financial market crisis, along with subsequent bouts of instability since then have provoked a public debate around the type of governance architecture required to effectively encompass the increasingly global financial markets. Some reforms have been introduced, most notably to enhance transparency and disclosure, and to increase national level monitoring by the International Financial Institutions. However, these reforms have drawn criticism, including by trade unions, as being insufficient to meet the challenges posed by the financial markets. Influential policy makers themselves have joined the debate. For example, a number of continental European leaders have called for a full debate around the merits or otherwise of introducing a variant of the Tobin Tax. Similarly, a recent report from the emerging markets eminent persons group - co-chaired by a former Korean finance minister, and the former president of the central bank of Chile proposed 33 recommendations for reform. These included the introduction of temporary restrictions on capital inflows to stop 'hot money' from destabilising countries, along with a proposal to explore an international version of the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures to allow the orderly restructuring of sovereign debt.

• 19 October 2001, Meeting of Trade Union Experts on Harmful Tax Practices and Other Tax Issues: This LMP meeting is intended to bring together trade unionists and other experts to discuss key priorities in the OECD work on taxation policy. It will, among other things, take stock of the current position of the OECD project on harmful tax practices and tax havens. It will also consider the potential linkage of this work to related issues which are of importance to the trade union movement, such as offshore financial centres and money laundering and "flags of convenience" in international shipping. Other issues of importance to trade unions which will be discussed at this seminar are the erosion of tax bases and the distribution of tax burdens on labour and capital as well as environmental taxes in connection with workplace changes.

• 12 October 2001, Joint Meeting of Management and Trade Union Experts on Climate Change and Employment: Review the progress of the current OECD programme of work on employment and climate change and discuss the priorities, terms of references, methodologies and assumptions for an eventual research programme on the employment implications of climate change policies in OECD countries and beyond. The meeting will also obtain feedback from and discuss future roles for the OECD, ILO, EU, relevant researchers and institutions (government or otherwise) related to such a research programme.

• 26 April 2001, Meeting of Management Experts on Trade and Environment: To address key issues for both BIAC and the OECD in the area of trade and environment, i.e. the link between trade and sustainable development, issues related to trade and precaution, trade measures and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), and to give guidance for future work on trade and environment for both BIAC and the OECD.

• 23 February 2001, Joint Meeting of Management and Trade Union Experts on Firms, Workers and the Changing Workplace: Considerations for the Old and the New Economy:The purpose of the meeting would be a) to encourage dialogue among business and trade unions on new facts about economic growth and, more generally, about the opportunities and challenges raised by the so-called New Economy, notably as regards the role of information and communications technology (ICT) and innovation, b) to discuss the changes and challenges in the area of labour and employment brought about by the New Economy and c) to stimulate dialogue on the policies and institutions that can help increase the benefits of the process while reducing any possible social costs. In addition, the meeting would offer an opportunity to hear the views of business and labour on ongoing OECD work on the growth mandate. The draft paper which the Secretariat is preparing on this topic as a contribution to the Growth Project, expected to be completed by the end of the year 2000, would be made available to participants and revised subsequently in the light of the discussions.