Lafarge: interview of Philippe Jacquesson, SVP Social Policies for the group, about the global agreement on fundamental social rights and international social relations

In 2005, when it signed its Global Framework Agreement on fundamental rights, the French group was already a pioneer in establishing global dialogue with international unions.  On May 21, the group – which directly employs 65,000 people in 64 countries – renewed its international commitment to fundamental social rights, actually improving some areas.  In 8 years, the agreement was used to settle given situations and helped structure a transverse health and safety policy.  In this respect, it has improved competitiveness, according to Philippe Jacquesson who agreed to tell Planet Labor about this agreement and the way it is implemented.  (Ref.  130372)
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  • On May 21, you renewed your global agreement with IndustriAll Global Union and BWI. What could you say about this new agreement, to begin with?

Philippe Jacquesson. We negotiated for two years, with about one meeting every three months, before we came up with this text. The new agreement explains the commitments we already made in 2005 as regarding health and safety at work. It also contains a new commitment to diversity. These two commitments were already expressed in the group’s sustai

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