Read the initial statement, published 20 May 2021: English
Read the final statement, published 3 February 2022: English
On 18 May 2020, four trade unions, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT-IUF), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the União Geral dos Trabalhadores (UGT), submitted a specific instance to the Dutch NCP alleging that McDonald’s Corporation, a company active in the food sector, APG Asset Management and Norges Bank, two companies active in the financial sector, did not observe the General Policies (Chapter II), Human Rights (Chapter IV), and Employment and Industrial Relations (Chapter V) provisions of the Guidelines. The notification regards alleged gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the global operations of McDonald's Corporation and related due diligence by two institutional investors of McDonald’s: APG Asset Management and Norges Bank (NBIM).
Although the case was initially submitted to the Dutch NCP, with a request to coordinate with the Norwegian NCP, the Dutch NCP also coordinated with the US NCP, given that McDonald’s Corporation is headquartered in the United States. The Dutch, US and Norwegian NCPs agreed to split the case into three separate specific instances, but with close coordination. The US NCP would handle the specific instance concerning McDonald's Corporation, the Norwegian NCP the specific instance related to NBIM and the Dutch NCP the specific instance regarding APG.
On 20 May 2021, the Dutch NCP accepted the case involving APG Asset Management for further examination and has offered its good offices. Both sides accepted the offer of mediation. On 13 October 2021, the parties reached agreement. The good offices were considered to be concluded on 15 December 2021 when both parties agreed on the final text of the agreement.
On 3 February 2022, the NCP published a final statement concluding the case with agreement. The NCP concluded that the dialogue led to a better understanding of the issues raised, and an increased awareness of the seriousness of GBVH occurring within companies. The parties agreed that an increase in meaningful stakeholder engagement was necessary, particularly relating to the development of corporate policies and training programs. APG proposed to work with the notifying parties on developing a common understanding of what “applying a gender-based lens” means from an investment perspective. APG encouraged the trade unions to share information on GBVH with them directly, and beyond the current NCP process. The parties declared that they would continue to address the need for safe working conditions, including implementation of effective and publicly available policies on GBVH.
The NCP recommends the parties continue their cooperation in the future and highlighted relevent documents such as the OECD Guidelines Chapter V and the ILO Declarations and Conventions, specifically ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 206 on elimination of violence and harassment in the work place.
The NCP will follow-up on the agreement in 2023, one year after publication of the final statement.