The European trades unions and industry are at loggerheads over RSE, the social responsibility of enterprises. The European Trades-Union Federation (CES) has publicly expressed the “fear lest the negotiations on RSE be broken off”. It complains in particular of “unbalanced and unilateral” management that exclusively considers the opinion of businesses in the context of a debate that “risks being conducted without the organizations that represent workers”, and asks the European Commission to intervene to “fix at the European level the guidelines for confrontation”. The “requirements” expressed by the CES include the commitment requested of firms to publish an annual report on social and environmental management and the formulation of codes of conduct and/or standard procedures, in concertation with the trade unions and NGOs, relating to the formal controls established by the European Commission on respect for the norms and practices regarding the social responsibility of enterprises. l www.etuc.org lnone and
