ABSTRACT
Members of the International Trade Union Confederation, the world’s largest union federation representing more than 168 million workers around the world, pressed various ministers about the problems associated with hedge funds and private equity. Andrew McDonald, director of the private equity campaign for the Service Employees International Union, which represents 1.8 million workers, told Reuters that ‘America is waking up to the fact that private equity is everywhere and it has a huge impact not only on the economy but workers and communities’. Private equity managers themselves have differing perspectives on corporate social responsibility. Some commentators on corporate social responsibility argue that ‘there is nothing inherent to the private equity model that should mean that privately owned businesses must be inherently less sustainable and see the issue merely as one of increasing the knowledge of private equity managers and their stakeholders about best practice.
