FICSA is glad to announce, on Labour Day, that the Global Compact has won a new supporter, Ketchum, the seventh-largest public relations agency in the world.
The Global Compact, launched by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the Davos Forum in January 1999, asks companies to "embrace, support and enact" a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards and the environment.
"Today business leaders must be responsible to a broad range of stakeholders" said Raymond Kotcher, senior partner/chief executive officer of Ketchum. "The Global Compact provides an international framework to promote good corporate citizenship and creative partnerships to help solve the world's most
pressing problems."
It is ironical, however, that the United Nations and the agencies, programmes and funds have not themselves subscribed to the Global Compact, particularly principle 3:
The Secretary-General asked world business to uphold:
Principle 3: freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining