Defending entrepreneurs - 'employers have rights, too'

IF current trends continue, says Uriel Lynn, new rights for unions and workers are going to suffocate business. He has drawn up guidelines which member Chambers of the ICC will take to governments across the world, seeking to defend employer rights . . .

THE International Chamber of Commerce announced in June a set of guiding principles for its affiliated Chambers in 125 countries to help shape legislation in defence of the rights of entrepreneurs — and major employers.
An ICC working group chaired by Uriel Lynn, President of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, drew up the guidelines, which were launched during the ninth biennial World Chambers Congress in Turin, Italy, in June.
 They are known as Guiding Principles for Chambers in Shaping Legislation — Defending Entrepreneurs Rights.
“The idea is that our member Chambers around the world will start to imprint the idea of protection of the rights of entrepreneurs onto legislators in their countries,” Lynn told ATI.
 A trained lawyer who became a legislator in the Israeli Parliament for many years before turning to business, Lynn stresses that he is not against employees. “I’ve all the time for improving labour conditions.”
 But he says the rights of employers have been trampled — while the rights of employees are being strengthened to the extent that union representatives in France and Germany, for
example, have unlimited access to workplaces. These rights, he adds, have been reinforced by the courts in many developed countries.
 “I was a Member of the Israeli Parliament, so I have a lot of experience from the side of
Government and Parliament, and now that I have changed position — and I represent business interests — I see things very differently.
 “Since 2000, my country has passed 140
major new laws or amendments to existing laws on industrial relations. In each one of them we have upgraded the right of employees. None of these laws has stated the obligations of the employees, and there is no mention of the fact that employers also have rights.”
 “In the ICC-World Chambers Federation I get to see what is going on in other countries,including China and India, so I realise that what is happening in Israel is a world trend. It is happening in varying degrees to every country,”
 Some countries are more extreme than others, he says, citing the examples of Germany and France which, he says, have gone very far in protecting employee rights — “although they have slowed in recent times because of the state of their economies”.
 Lynn says the courts in these two countries have said that employees must also be given proprietary rights in the business. “And because they have rights in the business, they should have a say in any structural change the employer seeks to make to the business. The point is that both legislatures and the courts are working against employers.”
 Two years ago, says Lynn, when he was attending a labour relations convention in Israel, it hit him that something must be done for employers as well. He started to raise questions. “Have we lost our mind? Don’t you think that maybe the entrepreneur has some rights?
 “The entrepreneur is risking his money — maybe risking more than his money. It takes years of hard work to build up the business, which is, in turn, helping to build the economy. Don’t you think the person who creates employment has some rights?
 “We formulated a law in Israel in our Chamber of Commerce and then we took it to the World Chambers Federation. We had four meetings in Paris, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and Hamburg, and the document was accepted.” If you look at content of the document it is difficult not to agree,” he told ATI.  “You cannot kill the motivation of individual employers. If you do, then it impacts on your national economies.
“Here, I am only touching on a few things. Apart from labour laws, businesses have to deal with environmental protection, then there is consumerism, which places the entire responsibility on business — while the consumer is not responsible for anything any more. 
“On top of that, there is now a move in some countries to criminalise employers for what should be civil matters.
“If this trend continues, you are going to suffocate business. People are not going to be motivated to start a business, to take the risks and so on. Israel has prospered in the last 25 years because of the motivation to get rich.” At the end of the day, he says, it is all about balance. There should be rights for employees and equally, employers should also have some rights.
 Through the ICC World Chambers Federation, Lynn hopes all members will work towards promoting the protection of fundamental rights for the entrepreneur, and seek to recommend to Governments in their respective countries the adoption of the principles set out in the ICC’s Entrepreneurs’ Bill of Rights.
 Lynn says that legislation is important for those investing capital to build their own business — to ensure that they know their rights, and to support future growth of the business sector.