Industrialized Countries

TUAC Submission to the OECD, April 2009

TUAC submission to the OECD ahead of consultations with the OECD Steering Group on Corporate Governance on 20 April 2009.

Worldwide Guide to Trade Unions and Works Councils 2009 Edition

A review of worker participation mechanisms across the world publichs by Law firm Baker & McKenzie LLP (full text is 336 page-long]

The Quest for Shareholder Value: Stock Repurchases in the US Economy, by William Lazonick, University of Massachusetts Lowell, December 2008

ABSTRACT During the 1980s and 1990s the argument that “maximizing shareholder value” results in superior economic performance came to dominate the corporate governance debates. In this paper, I outline the rationale for the shareholder-value perspective, and show that, rooted in agency theory, it lacks a theory of innovative enterprise. Hence it cannot be used to analyze the conditions under which the stock market supports or undermines the process of value-creation. To go beyond agency theory and its shareholder-value perspective, I present a framework for analyzing the functions of the stock market in the business corporation and the influence of these functions on the social conditions of innovative enterprise. I then use this framework to explain why in the United States since the 1990s there has been a widespread trend in corporate stock repurchases, including a sharp acceleration in buybacks since 2003. Focusing on a list of the largest corporate repurchasers in the United States, I raise questions concerning the relation between stock buybacks and value-creating investments in the US economy as a whole. I conclude with a discussion of why companies do stock repurchases, and in particular whether they can be justified as a contribution to innovative enterprise. I argue that the ultimate justification for stock repurchases is the ideology of “maximizing shareholder value” – an ideology that works to the direct benefit of corporate executives who make corporate resource allocation decisions and who derive high levels of remuneration from munificent stock option awards.

Corporate Governance in Sweden - An International Trade Union Perspective (2008)

This report is the outcome of a descriptive exercise of the Swedish corporate governance system in an international trade union perspective. This exercise has consisted in screening the Swedish system through the conceptual framework identified in a 2005 Global Unions discussion paper on corporate governance: “Workers’ Voice in Corporate Governance – A trade Union Perspective” . The 2005 Global Unions report outlines two parallel strategies to promote workers’ interests in corporate governance: (i) workers as employees of the companies and (ii) workers as shareholders of companies via their pension funds' and/or other long term saving schemes' holdings. The 2005 Global Unions discussion paper shows the complementarities between the two approaches to achieve effective corporate governance and in particular to ensure accountability of the board of directors. In practice however, most OECD jurisdictions lean toward one or the other and few can pretend to encompass both approaches. Sweden does.

TUAC Submission to the OECD, April 2008

TUAC calls for evidence-based end-user approach to rule OECD future work on corporate governance As part of consultations with the Chair of the OECD Steering Group on Corporate Governance on 15 April 2008, the TUAC called for a substantial revision of the proposed programme of work 2009/2010 with a view to adopt an "evidence-based end-user approach".

The OECD Principles of Corporate Governance - An Evaluation of the 2004 Review by the TUAC Secretariat (October 2004)

 

EC Recommendation Executive Remuneration (July 2004)

 

Transcripts of Transatlantic Corporate Governance Dialogue Conference, Brussels June 2004, organised by the ECGI and the ALI

 

Recommendation on the Role of (independent) Non-Executive or Supervisory Directors (May 2004)

 

Statement by TUAC on the revised OECD Principles of Corporate Governance 2004: "Continuing Action on Corporate Governance Reform needed", 27 April 2004 (English)

 

Statement by TUAC on the revised OECD Principles of Corporate Governance 2004: "Continuing Action on Corporate Governance Reform needed", 27 April 2004 (French)

 

The 2004 revised OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, 22 April 2004 (English / marked-up of the original 1999 Version

 

The 2004 revised OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, 22 April 2004 (French / marked-up of the original 1999 Version

 

"Unions call for international action to restors public faith in corporate governance: Governments must meet their responsibilities, 12 March 2004" (English)

 

"Unions call for international action to restors public faith in corporate governance: Governments must meet their responsibilities, 12 March 2004" (French)

 

Joint Advocacy Letter of five Confederations to the French Government regarding the Review of the Principles, 3 March 2004 (French)

 

The Labour Movement Response to the OECD public Consultation on the proposed revised Principles (January - February 2004): All Trade Union Comments

 

The Labour Movement Response to the OECD public Consultation on the proposed revised Principles (January - February 2004): ICFTU

 

Survey on Corporate Governance, OECD (January 2004)

 

Report on a Meeting of Trade Union Experts held under the OECD Labour/Management Programme (June 2003)

 

North American Trade Unions: "The Crisis of Confidence in American Business: Corporate Accountability or Business As Usual", Ron Blackwell and Bill Patterson, AFL-CIO (2003)

 

European Trade Unions: The ETUC Response to the EC Communication on Corporate Governance (November 2003)

 

"Union Participation in strategic Decisions of Corporations", Eileen Appelbaum, Rutgers University, & Larry W. Hunter, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2003)

 

Synthesis of the Responses to the Communication (November 2003)

 

The TUAC initial Statement on the Review Process (October 2003)

 

The EC Communication: Modernising Company Law and enhancing Corporate Governance in the European Union - A Plan to move Forward (May 2003)

 

"What Caused Enron?: A Capsule Social and Economic History of the 1990's" John Coffee, January 2003

 

Corporate Governance Systems and the Nature of Industrial Restructuring, 2002

 

Law Experts on a modern regulatory Framework for Company Law in Europe ("Winter report") (November 2002)

 

The Involvement of Employees and Collective Bargaining in Company Restructuring, 2001

 

"Corporate Governance and Employment: Is Prosperity sustainable in the United States?" William Lazonick and Mary O'Sullivan (1997)