The Impact Department coordinates CSR in the Group: corporate coordination of the business lines and subsidiaries through the SDC (Sustainable Development Committee) (see section 3.5.2.3 “Sustainable Development Committee”), coordination of the dedicated internal networks such as the EMS and the predictive watch networks (see sections 3.5.4.2 “Environmental management system (EMS)” and 3.5.4.4. “Predictive watch networks”), coordination of relations and dialogue with external partners (see section 3.4.1.1.1 “EDF, a policy of dialogue and consultation”).
The detailed outline of the Group’s general CSR governance is similar to that shown in section 3.1.3 “EDF climate governance”.
The Group’s actions go beyond merely integrating environmental issues into its strategy, as EDF remains a socially-responsible, committed employer and a leader in terms of the professionalism and involvement of its employees, by building their skills and fostering greater workforce diversity.
The EDF group’s Global Social Responsibility Agreement sets out the major principles to be respected in several areas: respect and integrity; people development; dialogue and consultation; support for local residents and the impact of the Company’s policies on local regions.
All Group employees and subcontractors worldwide are covered by the provisions of this collective agreement, which the Group’s subsidiaries apply with a view to continuous improvement by including it in their strategic action plans. Signed in 2018 for an initial period of 3 years, it was unanimously agreed by the signatories to extend the agreement for a further 2 years on 29 November 2021.
The EDF group’s global Committee for Dialogue on Social Responsibility (CDRS) is made up of representatives of all the signatories to the agreement (11 trade union organisations and two global trade union federations). Tasked with monitoring the implementation of the agreement, the CDRS continued its work in 2022 on the implementation of the EDF group’s Duty of Vigilance and on the various aspects of its 2022-2024 roadmap. Its annual plenary session, organised on 15 June 2022 in the Paris region, enabled almost all of its members to meet physically for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
On the basis of the interim assessment of the deployment of the agreement carried out in 2021, the CDRS defined its main areas of work for the next two years of the agreement’s extension. In order to give new impetus to the implementation of this agreement, which was slowed down by the pandemic, the CDRS adopted a roadmap aimed in particular at intensifying social dialogue on Social Responsibility in the Group’s subsidiaries, expanding the involvement of social partners in carrying out the Duty of Vigilance, providing more support to the subsidiaries and helping the CDRS to function more effectively.
The CDRS is the preferred venue for dialogue with employee representatives on how the EDF group exercises its Duty of Vigilance regarding the impact of its activities on local populations and how it safeguards the rights of its employees and those of its suppliers. Since 19 June 2018, an update has been systematically given at each meeting of the Agreement Monitoring Committee (3 times a year on average). In continuation of the training day on the Duty of Vigilance co-organised in the autumn of 2021 by the EDF group’s Social Dialogue Department and the two global union federations that signed the agreement, the CDRS focused in 2022 on ways to involve employee representatives in the development of the Duty of Vigilance plan and the implementation of the resulting annual action plan. By sharing views on the various stages of the Duty of Vigilance Plan’s annual cycle (assessment of the previous year’s actions, updating of the Duty of Vigilance Plan, drawing up of the action plan for the coming year, etc.), it was possible to define a methodology and identify the key moments when the CDRS’s contribution would be needed.
The European Works Council, made up of 38 employee representatives from the parent company and the European subsidiaries (French, German, British, Italian, Belgian and Polish subsidiaries), was characterised in 2022 by the roll-out of amendment no. 4 to the collective agreement, which had three objectives: to revamp and streamline the operation of the body set up in 2001 (composition, skills, resources, etc.), to determine the fate of the United Kingdom within the body after Brexit and to assimilate the lessons of the health crisis.
The Social Dialogue Department held a seminar to kick off the new 2022-2026 term in March 2022 with the aim of sharing improved knowledge of the Group and getting to grips with the renewed provisions of the agreement. This included a shared reading of the collective agreement as revised by Amendment no. 4, a presentation of the Group and the major areas of business at the European level, as well as presentations by each of the deputy secretaries of the social dialogue organisations for each of the countries represented within the EWC.
In 2022, the EWC met three times for two ordinary meetings and one extraordinary meeting. The ordinary meetings dealt with recent developments from the European subsidiaries, the yearly presentation of the Group’s consolidated financial statements, an exchange with the Chairman, Jean-Bernard Lévy, and an update on European policies and their consequences for the Group. In accordance with the provisions of Amendment no. 4, the EWC was consulted in November on the strategic policies, as approved by EDF’s Board of Directors, in addition to the consequences of these strategic policies on the environment and employment.
The extraordinary meeting on 12 April 2022 was held to consult with the EWC on the planned acquisition of GE Steam Power’s nuclear business, covering its European operations. The EWC issued a favourable opinion.
The EWC Secretariat met twice in 2022 to prepare for the plenary sessions and discussed the Group’s current situation in Europe, changes in the geographical scope of the EWC and the status of the Group’s activities in Ukraine and Russia.
Through working groups, EWC employee representatives carry out work at the European level in connection with European news and Group policies (health and safety, site closures, consolidated accounts, energy transition, equality and diversity). In 2022, the Health and Safety WG and the Group Health and Safety Division will coordinate the organisation of the Health and Safety Stop on 13 October 2022 in all the Group’s companies in France and Europe.
In a context characterised externally by a succession of crises (energy, purchasing power, etc.) and internally by significant industrial and economic difficulties for the Company, social dialogue continues to play a major role at EDF, both within the employee representative bodies (nearly 20 CSEC meetings over the year) and during negotiations (with, as a sign of confidence between the players in the social dialogue, the unanimous signature of the wage measures agreement at the beginning of the year).
Thoroughly overhauled and with an innovative approach, the social dialogue also supports the evolution of the Company and in particular the transformation of the way it operates and is managed: the TAMA agreement, which was signed in November 2021, was rolled out throughout the Company in 2022 and has enabled teams to move collectively towards greater trust, empowerment and autonomy (see section 3.3.1.3.5 “Well-being, organisation of work and working time”).
