Firstgroup And A Company-Wide Human Rights Policy

EDM number 2501 in 2005-06, proposed by Graham Stringer on 04/07/2006.

That this House applauds the worker shareholders of FirstGroup plc for the innovative use of their shareholdings to raise the issue of FirstGroup's violation of basic human and labour rights at the company's annual general meeting on 13th July; supports their resolution to the Annual General Meeting calling on FirstGroup to adopt a company-wide workplace human rights policy based on International Labour Organisation conventions that would allow workers to seek trade union representation and collective bargaining without discrimination or interference by the company; notes that FirstGroup had one of the worst industrial relations records in 2005 of any bus operator in the UK; further notes that Lance Compa, Cornell University's professor specialising in international labour and human rights law, found that FirstGroup's practices in its US yellow school bus subsidiary have demonstrated `a co-ordinated strategy to block workers' freedom of association by a pattern of interference' that would be `a violation of international human rights standards'; is appalled that the company's board of directors has called on shareholders to oppose the workers' resolution; further applauds the Co-operative Insurance Society for supporting the resolution; and calls on other institutional shareholders concerned with the long-term business success of FirstGroup to support a resolution that will minimise serious risks to FirstGroup's business prospects by promoting responsible business conduct and good labour relations, such as enabling workers freely to organise collectively in trade unions without fear and intimidation from management.

This motion has been signed by a total of 28 MPs.