The Future of Work and the UN Guiding Principles

Location: UCL Haldane Room, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

Thursday 9 November 2017, 18:00 - 19:30
UCL Haldane Room, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

Chair: Anna Triponel (Triponel Consulting)

Speakers:
Hugo Martin (Director of Legal and Public Affairs, Hermes Parcelnet)
Tom Player (Partner, Human Resources Practice Group, Eversheds)
Claire Richards (ShareAction)
Prof. Alan Neal (University of Warwick)
Prof. Nicola Countouris (University College London)

About this event

We have seen a significant focus recently on the rapidly changing nature of work. As business models and consumption patterns change, what are the rights of agency workers, the self-employed, and those working in the ‘gig economy’? The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide the authoritative point of reference for companies when it comes to worker rights. They expect all companies wherever they operate to respect the principles concerning fundamental rights in the eight ILO core conventions, as set out in the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.  In the UK, policy-makers are listening to the needs of workplace concerns, and have introduced the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to stamp out abject ‘slavery’ conditions in UK companies and their supply chains. The 2017 Taylor review of Modern Working Practices also highlights needs for reform. What is the role of modern employment or labour law? How do we secure an acceptable social contract between labour and enterprise? We bring together a panel representing industry, practice and academia to explore these questions. 

About the speakers

Hugo Martin studied at the universities of Manchester and Leeds before training as a solicitor in Leeds. After 2 years in private practice, he spent 7 years in-house at Capita and joined Hermes in 2012. He currently serves as Director of Legal and Public Affairs, dividing his time equally between running an in-house legal team and being engaged in public policy matters. His time outside of work is centred on family, cinema, new music, keeping fit and Leeds United.

Tom Player is a partner in the Human Resources Practice Group having worked for Eversheds Sutherland for 19 years. He has a particular specialism in International Labour law, Industrial relations and business and human rights and is listed as a recommended individual in Chambers and Partners Legal Directory. Tom acts in an advisory capacity for many companies operating European Works Councils to ensure appropriate engagement with representatives to reduce the legal risk of breaches of the agreement and he has successfully led the company negotiations for companies in their discussions with global unions and representatives when drafting and amending their European Works Council (EWC) agreements. Tom’s work is largely international in nature and he regularly coordinates and manages large scale employment law projects over multiple jurisdictions. Tom also leads for the Practice Group on Business and Human Rights and has acted as an expert advisor to Shift and the Equality and Human Rights Commission in their production of a Director’s guidance on business and human rights reporting obligations. He also has extensive experience of the new Modern Slavery Act and is advising companies across multiple sectors on the transparency obligations and supply chain challenges under the Act and is a regular speaker at conferences and events.

Clare Richards leads the Good Work programme at ShareAction, the responsible investment charity. Since joining ShareAction she has been coordinating collaborative investor engagements that encourage both the corporate and institutional investment communities to do more to act on environmental, social and governance metrics. In the UK, the Good Work programme currently includes a campaign in support of the real Living Wage, while 2017 also saw the launch of the pilot year of a new Workforce Disclosure Initiative (WDI) in partnership with Oxfam. The WDI survey, backed by more than ninety institutions managing $8.6tr of assets, aims to mobilise investors to improve the quality of jobs in companies’ direct operations and supply chains.

Professor Alan Neal is a specialist on European, International & Comparative Employment Law. He has served on expert committees for the Social Affairs Directorate of the European Commission for over 30 years, and acts as an Independent Expert for the International Labour Organisation. Professor Neal advises national governments in the field of employment law and social policy, and is actively involved in the provision of specialised judicial training, both in the United Kingdom and abroad. Professor Neal is a practising barrister with Cloisters (1 Pump Court, Temple) and with 2 New Street Chambers (Midland & Oxford Circuit, Leicester). He holds judicial office (since 1995) as a part-time Employment Judge (London Central), and has been Convenor of the European Association of Labour Court Judges since 1996. He was also the founding editor and is now Scientific Director of the “International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations”.

Professor Nicola Countouris (closing remarks) joined UCL Laws in 2009 and was promoted to a Professorship in 2015. Before joining UCL he had taught law at the Universities of Reading, LSE, and Oxford, where he also obtained his DPhil. He has acted as an independent expert for the International Labour Office and on a number of European Commission projects, and has been a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Bologna, Pompeu Fabra, Nantes, and Seinan Gakuin. He is one of the co-ordinators and founding member of UCL’s Labour Rights Institute, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute of Employment Rights.

Anna Triponel (chair) is Honorary Associate at UCL’s Centre for Ethics and Law. She is an adviser at Triponel Consulting where she advises companies, lawyers and investors on business and human rights matters. She is Ombudsman to Hermes Parcelnet, Senior Peace Fellow at the Public International Law & Policy Group and social enterprise consultant at the World Bank. She was an adviser to the UN mandate of Professor John Ruggie, the Special Representative on Business and Human Rights. She is also a project adviser at Shift, the leading centre of expertise on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. She has been admitted to practise law in France, the UK and the US, and was a cross-border mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Jones Day.