Fundamental employment rights and social responsibility: ENGIE signs a new global agreement with three international trade union federations
On January 20th, ENGIE renewed its agreement with global union federations BWI, IndustriALL and PSI as well as with representative French trade unions at ENGIE level (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT and FO) on Group social responsibility and fundamental rights. The agreement follows the international social dialogue developed between the Group and the employee representatives over the past decade, already embodied in several agreements and conventions, both at European and global level.
ENGIE wishes to pursue its commitment to international social dialogue with a new, modern global framework agreement that reflects the challenges currently facing the company and its employees, in line with the agreement signed in 2010.
This agreement provides a standard set of guarantees for all ENGIE employees around the world and reflects the importance of social responsibility in the Group, in line with ENGIE’s purpose and commitment to the energy transition.
Signed on January 20th, 2022, this new agreement goes even further, by granting common rights to all ENGIE employees around the world:
- With the ENGIE CARE program, all Group’s employees are given the same level of social protection, with regards to parenthood (with 14 weeks maternity leave and four weeks paternity leave, fully paid), in the event of death or disability (with the payment of a minimum capital of 12 months' wages) and for hospitalization. Each Group’s entity must comply with these minimum standards by the end of 2024 at the latest.
- A common principle in terms of sustainable employment: ENGIE undertakes to prioritize permanent, open-ended and direct jobs;
- A common foundation in terms of diversity: the agreement also reiterates, among others, our goals in terms of gender equality and the fight against all forms of discrimination.
Finally, the international social dialogue mechanisms at ENGIE are backed up by a "world forum", held at least once a year bringing together employee representatives from all the geographic regions where the Group operates, as well as the signatory global union federations and ENGIE management.
Catherine MacGregor, ENGIE Chief Executive Officer, said: "I am delighted with this new global agreement signed with IBB, IndustriALL Global Union and ISP unions specialized in the industrial, energy and public services sectors, the third since the Group was founded. It reaffirms ENGIE's commitment in terms of social responsibility and international social dialogue in line with our ambition of a Just Transition wherever we operate."
Jean-Sébastien Blanc, ENGIE Executive Vice President in charge of Human Resources, said: “This is an ambitious and modern agreement that has just been signed. It enables us to enhance social dialogue, which is an integral part of ENGIE's corporate culture, to strengthen our employees' sense of belonging and to attract new talent. We want to be recognized as a responsible employer in each of the countries where ENGIE operates.”
IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary Atle Høie, said: “At IndustriALL, we are pleased to renew this global framework agreement with ENGIE. As a multinational utility company which operates in the energy sector, it is key that ENGIE commits to sustainable industrial development and a just transition with the global union federations that represent its workers worldwide. Likewise, the commitment to comply with French due diligence law globally is very important. We hope that the world forum, which will meet at least once a year, can effectively move forward to implement the points in the agreement.”
PSI General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli, said:
“I want to congratulate all the negotiators for having reached an agreement under such challenging conditions. This renewed global framework agreement on fundamental rights clearly reflects a consensus on the importance of gender equality, digitalization and a just transition. PSI and its affiliates are committed to the deployment and monitoring of this agreement.”
Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of the Building and Wood Workers' International, BWI, said:
“This is the very first time that worker representatives from around the world, who are members of our global union federations, were part of the negotiations of the global framework agreement with the management of a multinational company. The BWI welcomes this new agreement which goes well beyond the previous one since it includes key issues for the unions such as discrimination and harassment at the workplace, equality, quality of life at work, global warming, fiscal integrity, subcontracting and due diligence. In the coming months, we will continue to work closely together in order to implement the agreement in a constructive manner.”
Source: Engie
