Inbrief

A British American Tobacco subsidiary has been accused by the UK government of violating the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises.

BAT Malaysia was found by the UK National Contact Point (NCP) of the guidelines to have failed to consult trade unions before proceeding with wide-ranging workforce restructuring. The UK NCP’s final statement, following an original complaint from the Malaysian Trades Union Congress in December 2007, holds that BAT should encourage its subsidiary to ‘establish a permanent and regular process to consult and inform its employees on issues of mutual concern before key decisions of mutual concern are taken by management’. However, the NCP’s recommendations are not legally enforceable.