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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Consultation

In Europe our staff or works councils and European Employee Consultation Forum meet regularly, providing an opportunity for employees and company management to discuss key issues and developments in the business.

We also recognise trade unions for consultation and collective bargaining in many countries worldwide.

Our European Employee Consultation Forum, which includes employee representatives from 28 EU countries, works alongside national consultation processes and is governed by UK law. There is an Operating Sub-Committee of six employee representatives who meet four times a year with six management representatives to receive updates and review proposals affecting the structure of the business. Extraordinary Operating Sub-Committee meetings can be called should the need arise. The whole of the Forum meets once a year at an Annual Meeting to receive a business update from senior GSK executives. In 2008, Eddie Gray, President of GSK Pharmaceuticals Europe, and other business leaders spoke about the opportunities presented by new products in the R&D pipeline, the challenge of growth within Europe and GSK’s vision for developing the Consumer Healthcare business.

We also discuss issues through national consultation forums. For example, the UK Information and Consultation (I&C) Forum which consists of 15 GSK elected employee representatives and seven managers and meets three times a year. In 2008, the I&C Forum reviewed and amended a number of GSK’s UK policies including those on driving while on company business, further education and special leave. The Forum also continued to review UK-wide redeployment and selection guidelines for redundancy and proposals to handle pension legislation changes taking effect in April 2010. In 2008, the Forum received presentations on strategy from senior managers within Global Manufacturing and Supply and R&D.