Does slavery exist in your company’s supply chains? Many well known corporations are getting unwanted attention because they are not complying with laws regarding slave labor…
This article from Forbes points out a few examples:
Supreme Court Denies Nestle, Cargill, ADM Appeal in Slave Labor Case(Wall Street Journal)
Costco Sued over Claims Shrimp Harvested with Slave Labor (Bloomberg)
Brazil convicts Odebrecht Group for slavery-like practices in Angola(Reuters)
Leading social compliance organizations are asking participating companies to report on their efforts to make sure that they are not procuring goods produced by slave labor in their corporate social responsibility reports. And 2015 saw “an unparalleled spike in legislative and enforcement efforts.” More recently, President Obama signed into law a bill containing a provision that officially bans imports of goods made by forced labor.
Companies are wondering what they can do. In a Wall Street Journal article, Jackie Sturm, vice president of global supply chain management at Intel, explained that educating and training suppliers requires a significant commitment in time, resources and patience. Intel has two dozen people dedicated to the task plus dozens more who assist in the effort.
The article says that multinational corporations must look closely at their suppliers, however, there are some possible solutions emerging. For example, Dunn & Bradstreet has created a new Human Trafficking Risk Index that looks at a company’s suppliers to see if slavery exists in those chains. If there is a problem with human trafficking in the chains, then companies can audit in order to estimate the risk.
To read the entire article about supply chains, click on the link below.
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