NEW YORK — Speakers at Social Accountability International’s 10th annual conference here last week stressed the need to expand programs intended to increase socially responsible behavior and empower workers.
Although the majority of funding and attention is directed to improving conditions at the factory level, companies are turning the spotlight on their own processes to examine their culpability in potential abuses.
“Together we face fearsome challenges in this complex intersection of resource management, worker empowerment, supply chain management, purchasing practices and, of course, communication with our consumers,” said Alice Tepper Marlin, president of SAI, a nonprofit organization focusing on workers’ rights.
The foundation of SAI’s efforts has been SA8000, a set of standards that seeks to ensure workers’ rights and promote safe working conditions. Marlin said more than 700,000 workers in 64 countries in 66 industries are under the SA8000 code. The number of certifications is growing more than 35 percent a year, primarily in factories located in India, China and Brazil.
A reminder of the importance of having fully developed corporate social responsibility programs came a week before the conference when it was discovered that an Indian facility making products for Gap Inc. was using child labor. The disclosure dominated the conference and highlighted that even companies with codes of conduct and fully staffed compliance departments are likely to face problems in a global sourcing environment.
Dan Henkle, vice president of social responsibility at Gap, addressed the matter and credited the company’s involvement with organizations like SAI for preparing it to quickly respond.
“It’s truly not an acceptable situation,” Henkle said. “And just to be crystal clear, under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to be used in the production of Gap’s products or for any company’s products. That’s why we took swift action.”
Henkle said one of the company’s vendors subcontracted some work in violation of its agreement with Gap. Children were found to be working in a four-story building that Henkle characterized as a “makeshift embroidery facility.” He said the children were removed from the facility and entrusted to the Indian government. They will receive back pay for their work and wages until they reach a legal working age.
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Gap is also providing access to schooling and job training and is ensuring that none of the products made at the facility reach store shelves. Having child remediation clauses in its protocol is something Henkle attributed directly to working with SAI and the Ethical Trade Initiative.
All aspects of the apparel industry have not faced the same scrutiny, said Andrew Olah, chief executive officer of Olah Inc., a U.S. agent for foreign contract manufacturers and textile and hardware vendors targeting denim designers. Little attention has been paid to the more than seven million people working in textile mills across the globe.
“Recently I was told 94 textile mills have attained SA8000 certification,” Olah said. “Yet I have never been asked in 32 years to perform a social audit on any textile factory. Worse, and most unfortunately, apparel companies do not seem to have fair textile buying policies in place.”
Robin Cornelius, ceo of Switcher, believes the best solution for preventing abuses is to allow consumers to see all the available information about a product — from identifying the factory in which it was made to how it was delivered.
“Each product should have a DNA telling you everything about the product,” Cornelius said. “It justifies the product for the consumer….The only way is to prove that we have a traceable system for the supply chain and each and every guy is responsible for his step.”