Comings and Goings Highlight USCIB Labor and CR Meetings

L-R: Ed Potter (Coca-Cola), Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB) and Ariel Meyerstein (USCIB)
L-R: Ed Potter (Coca-Cola), Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB) and Ariel Meyerstein (USCIB)

USCIB members and government officials gathered in Washington, D.C. on April 15 and 17 for meetings on human rights, labor policy and corporate social responsibility. USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee and Labor & Employment Policy Committee met to discuss business priorities through 2015 at Baker & McKenzie’s offices in Washington.

Laura Chapman Rubbo (Walt Disney) chaired the Corporate Responsibility Committee meeting on April 15, while Ed Potter (Coca-Cola) chaired his last Labor & Employment Policy Committee meeting before retiring this summer. USCIB members and staff honored Potter for his three decades of service representing American business at the International Labor Organization.

At the Corporate Responsibility Committee meeting, members reviewed work on human rights metrics for businesses, ongoing efforts on corporate responsibility reporting in various international forums, and received updates on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as they relate to corporate responsibility, as well as progress on the United States National Action Plan (NAP) on responsible business conduct, consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Members also attended a stakeholder dialogue on April 16 on the U.S. NAP, to which USCIB provided comments.

On April 17, USCIB members and staff toasted Potter’s last Labor & Employer Policy Committee meeting. During the meeting attendees discussed the 2015 ILO conference, updates on forced labor and human trafficking laws and further updates on the UN guiding principles. Members also heard from Sarah Fox, special representative for International Labor Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, who discussed priorities for business and her unique role focused on labor issues outside of the Department of Labor. She briefed members on the coordination of labor issues across government agencies, and specifically discussed their work on the labor chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

USCIB’s Labor and Corporate Responsibility committees will reconvene in October.

Staff Contact:   Ewa Staworzynska

Director, Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs
Tel: 212.703.5056

Ewa Staworzynska is USCIB’s Director of Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs. Staworzynska brings to USCIB her extensive policy experience from both public and private sectors. Prior to joining USCIB, she led DoorDash’s policy efforts in international markets and was in charge of diplomatic relations. Before her position at DoorDash, Staworzynska was an officer at the International Labor Organization (ILO), where she worked multilaterally to advance support for decent work and related policies at UN headquarters. Staworzynska began her career in New York working for a real estate start-up. Staworzynska will be based in USCIB’s New York office and will work with Jose Arroyo, USCIB policy associate on corporate responsibility and labor affairs, on a wide range of issues, including human rights and industrial policy, responsible business conduct, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She was born and raised in Norway and has a B.A. in Economics and M.A. in International Relations, with a specialty in International Business, from New York University.
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