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13 Int'l Bus. Law. 143 (1985)
On Notice

handle is hein.journals/ibl13 and id is 145 raw text is: (( On Notice )) ICC The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has elected a new president, Frans van den Hoven of the Netherlands, former chairman of Unilever NV. He replaced Frangois Ceyrac on 1 Jan 1985 for a two year term. Van den Hoven says his priori- ties will be 'to foster a climate of challenge inside the ICC, to redouble our efforts to serve business, and to remain the most effective spokesman for the interests of private enterprise the world over.' Van den Hoven was formally elected president last December by the Paris-based world business orga- nisation's Council, its supreme gov- erning body. The new ICC vice-presi- dent is Theophilo de Azeredo Santos of Brazil, a noted banker and author- ity on trade relations. Outgoing ICC president Ceyrac praised van den Hoven as a 'forceful leader who has vast experience in the concerns of multi-national business as well as the interests of smaller companies in the developing world'. M Ceyrac himself brought exception- al accomplishments to his 1983-84 term as ICC president, having served as chairman of France's Patronat, the national federation of employers, for nine years. Van den Hoven, 61, hopes to 'build on the work of my two predecessors', M Ceyrac and Philipp von Schoeller of Austria, who was president until 1982. 'Under them', says van den Hoven, 'the organisation has been tightened up and restored to finan- cial health.' The new president will give par- ticular attention to upgrading the ICC's global network of 57 national committees and strenthening the links with them. He also intends, he says, 'to involve more top manage- ment of companies in ICC activities' and combat growing international regulation through 'ensuring that the community of nations hears the voice of free enterprise coming through in a clear and timely fashion.' The ICC must be at the cutting edge of the rapid changes sweeping the global economy and 'position it- self so as to ensure that private enter- prise contributes to solutions of emerging problems', President van den Hoven says. 'We must keep an open mind, adapt to changing cir- cumstances, and critically examine all our activities.' Van den Hoven started his career at 14 with Unilever as a junior clerk. At 35, he became chairman of the Unilever subsidiary in Turkey. Eight years later, he moved into a senior marketing post for margarine, edible fats and oils in the Unilever product group. In 1970, he became a member of the Unilever boards, and five years after that chairman of Unilever NV and vice-chairman of Unilever PLC. He retired from Un- ilever in 1984. The new ICC president remains board member in a number of com- panies, and sits on the council of Kel- logg Graduate School of Manage- ment at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. His decorations include Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau and Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). He is also chairman of the Dutch Save the Chil- dren Fund, presently engaged in a major immunisation programme in Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). ILO The International Labour Office (ILO) reports that economic reces- sion in industrial countries is chang- ing the face of collective bargaining as redundancies (layoffs) and plant shutdowns create a harsher negotiat- ing climate for trade unions and em- ployers. According to the Geneva-based permanent secretariat of the Inter- national Labour Organisation, un- ions are on the defensive in the UK, uncertain how to cope with their straitened circumstances in Bel- gium, and organising at a steadily declining rate in Japan as a result of these changes. A series of articles* recently pub- lished by the ILO on collective bar- gaining trends in these three coun- tries makes it clear, however that although collective bargaining may be declining in its traditional form, a new and more comprehensive system of industrial relations is emerging in * See International Labour Review, No. 3, 1984, ILO, Geneva. which consultation complements negotiations and sometimes takes place independently of them. The UK study found that 'structu- ral changes in industry which are reducing the size of employment un- its are leading to better relations be- tween workers and managers', while at the same time technological adv- ance is creating a new type of skilled worker who 'is well aware that the problems of adjustment cannot be solved by Luddite methods.' It points out, however, that there is resistance on the part of union leaders whose power is weakening and whose organisations are con- tracting under the combined effects of new technology and social, econo- mic and political change. Their re- sistance, however, is provoking stif- fer reactions from employers who tare no longer reluctant to use the law against unions refusing to accept the need for change.' The future of collective bargaining in the UK promises important changes at the enterprise level. The study says that employers are re- sponding to rising pressures from their employees for more consulta- tion and information outside the col- lective bargaining process. This is already taking place through formal committees, briefing groups, depart- mental meetings, working parties and quality circles, while 'the unions are still overwhelmingly concerned with securing improvements in pay and reducing hours of work through collective bargaining.' In a preemptive move to support its austerity programme, the Belgian government severely limited free- dom to negotiate on wages, but the Belgian study comments that 'in another sense (the goverment) has given a fillip to collective bargaining by obliging management and labour to negotiate on the reduction of work- ing time and the hiring of new em- ployees in an attempt to increase em- ployment.' While wage restraints mean that workers have forgone income amounting to around 2.5% of earn- ings in 1983 and 1984, the govern- ment has stipulated that employers must use the savings to increase em- ployment. Despite this 'centralisa- tion' of collective bargaining, the study predicts that it will be more decentralised in the future as the eco- INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LAWYER March 1985 143 I

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