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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is now firmly entrenched in the business lexicon. This is the finding of a recent report from the Work Foundation and the Virtuous Circle (a CSR consultancy) entitled "Achieving high performance - CSR at the heart of business". Such a statement should come as no surprise as the issue of CSR has, for some time, been the focus of debate both in the UK and in the wider European context. CSR appears to embrace most aspects of business but the purpose of this article is to look specifically in respect of restructuring of business and the effect of such restructuring on employees. As global competition intensifies so businesses across the European continent are forced to restructure to maintain their position in the global market place. Such restructuring can have a devastating affect on a business's workforce. This has been evident in the last ten years with high profile restructuring such as the break up of the Rover Group in the UK, the extensive redundancies at Marks and Spencer in Europe, and Renault's decision to close its plant in Vilvoorde in Belgium. All of these have resulted in sizeable job losses. With this backdrop, the debate within the EU is how to ensure that businesses, in responding to the ever aggressive global market, do so in a sympathetic fashion avoiding where possible sacrificing the trust between employer and employee for the sake of profits and share prices.
The European approach - legislation
The main thrust of the EU in this area has been ensuring legislation is in place across its member states that requires employers to behave more responsibly when restructuring and carrying out any related redundancies. The most recent legislation is the Information and Consultation Directive 2002/14/EC ("the Directive"), adopted in March 2002. The Directive, in force in the UK from 23 March 2005, applies to undertakings of 50 or more employees and establishments with 20 or more employees. It requires such organizations to inform their employees and consult on any measures that might affect the economic performance of the business, particularly where there is a threat to employees' positions. Existing legislation in many of the member states already contain the minimum requirements of the Directive. The UK, however, is not...