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GRI 402: Labor/Management Relations 2016

EFFECTIVE DATE: 1 JULY 2018

Introduction​

GRI 402: Labor/Management Relations 2016 contains disclosures for organizations to report information about their impacts related to labor/management relations, and how they manage these impacts.

The Standard is structured as follows:

  • Section 1 contains a requirement, which provides information about how the organization manages its impacts related to labor/management relations.
  • Section 2 contains one disclosure, which provides information about the organization’s impacts related to labor/management relations.
  • The Glossary contains defined terms with a specific meaning when used in the GRI Standards. The terms are underlined in the text of the GRI Standards and linked to the definitions.
  • The Bibliography lists authoritative intergovernmental instruments used in developing this Standard.

Background on the topic​

This Standard addresses the topic of labor/management relations. This covers an organization’s consultative practices with employees and their representatives, including its approach to communicating significant operational changes.

An organization’s consultation practices are expected to be aligned with relevant international norms and standards. Collective bargaining can play an important role in an organization’s consultation practices. Collective bargaining refers to all negotiations that take place between one or more employers or employers' organizations, on the one hand, and one or more workers' organizations (e.g., trade unions), on the other, for determining working conditions and terms of employment or for regulating relations between employers and workers.

These concepts are covered in key instruments of the International Labour Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: see Bibliography.

Reporting on collective bargaining is covered in more detail in GRI 407: Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining 2016. In addition, Disclosure 2-30 in GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 requires reporting on the percentage of total employees covered by collective bargaining agreements.

1. Topic management disclosures​

An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report how it manages each of its material topics.

An organization that has determined labor/management relations to be a material topic is required to report how it manages the topic using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 (see clause 1.1 in this section).

This section is therefore designed to supplement – and not replace – Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3.

REQUIREMENTS​

  • 1.1 The reporting organization shall report how it manages labor/management relations using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021.

2. Topic disclosures​

Disclosure 402-1 Minimum notice periods regarding operational changes​

REQUIREMENTS​

The reporting organization shall report the following information:

  • a. Minimum number of weeks’ notice typically provided to employees and their representatives prior to the implementation of significant operational changes that could substantially affect them.
  • b. For organizations with collective bargaining agreements, report whether the notice period and provisions for consultation and negotiation are specified in collective agreements.

GUIDANCE​

Guidance for Disclosure 402-1

  • Minimum notice periods can be found in corporate policies and standard employment contracts.
  • Different policy statements can exist at a regional level.
  • An organization can identify the collective bargaining agreements referred to in Disclosure 2-30 of GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021, and review the notice period clauses within these documents.

Background
Organizations are expected to provide reasonable notice of significant operational changes to employees and their representatives, as well as to appropriate government authorities.

Minimum notice periods are a measure of an organization’s ability to maintain employee satisfaction and motivation while implementing significant changes to operations.

This disclosure provides insight into an organization’s practice of ensuring timely discussion of significant operational changes, and engaging with its employees and their representatives to negotiate and implement these changes, which can have positive or negative implications for workers.

This disclosure also allows an assessment of an organization’s consultation practices in relation to expectations expressed in relevant international norms.

The essence of consultation is that management takes the views of workers into account when making specific decisions. Therefore, it is important that consultation takes place before a decision is made. Meaningful consultation includes the timely provision of all information needed to make an informed decision to workers or their representatives. Genuine consultation involves dialogue; opinion surveys and questionnaires are not considered consultation.

Timely and meaningful consultation allows the affected parties to understand the impacts of the changes, such as possible loss of employment. It also gives an opportunity for them to work collectively to prevent or mitigate negative impacts as much as possible (see references [11] and [12] in the Bibliography). Consultative practices that result in good industrial relations help to provide positive working environments, reduce turnover, and minimize operational disruptions.

Bibliography​

This section lists authoritative intergovernmental instruments used in developing this Standard.

Authoritative instruments:

  • International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 87, ‘Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention’, 1948.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 98, ‘Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention’, 1949.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 135, ‘Workers’ Representatives Convention’, 1971.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 154, ‘Collective Bargaining Convention’, 1981.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 158, ‘Termination of Employment Convention’, 1982.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO), Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM), http://www.ilo.org/global/statistics-and-databases/research-and-databases/kilm/lang--en/index.htm, accessed on 1 September 2016.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO), LABORSTA Internet, http://laborsta.ilo.org/, accessed on 1 September 2016.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO) Recommendation 91, ‘Collective Agreements Recommendation’, 1951.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO) Recommendation 94, ‘Co-operation at the Level of the Undertaking Recommendation’, 1952.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO) Recommendation 163, ‘Collective Bargaining Recommendation’, 1981.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy’, 2006.
  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, 2011.