Wal-Mart’s harder line on suppliers that use subcontractors without the retailer’s approval is an important step in the right direction.
“Our message of zero tolerance is meant to get people’s attention,” Wal-Mart’s Vice President for Ethical Sourcing Rajan Kamalanathan says in today’s Wall Street Journal.
Of course, especially suppliers are supposed to listen carefully. Without informing the US retail multinational, one of them had placed part of an order at the now infamous Tazreen garment factory in Bangladesh, where over 110 workers perished in a devastating fire late last year.
Subcontracting arrangements are indeed one of the biggest problems for corporate social responsibility schemes and social auditing. A supplier factory may be in proper shape, but the conditions at subcontractors could then be completely different. Getting subcontracting under control is an important task.
The factories which produce for Wal-Mart will have to undergo obligatory fire safety control and comply with certain requirements before they are allowed to supply the US-based retailer. They will also be required to have secondary exits from all floors, and their electrical systems have to be safe. There will also be regular follow up checks, and closer monitoring.
The observations made by Turkish fire safety expert Dundar Sahin when he visited a range of Pakistani garment factories last autumn on behalf of Social Accountability International SAI ( SA8000 ) confirmed that there is indeed much to do to ensure worker safety in these plants.
To just dismiss the measures by the world’s largest retailer like some campaigners have done in their first comments is not constructive. Cartainly, both Wal-Mart and other buyers from the Bangladeshi garment industry will have to be prepared to carry part of the costs for making workplaces safer. The Wall Street Journal that the retailer is looking at creating a fund or a revolving line of credit to support these necessary investments. This should act as an example also for other large buyers to follow
The basic reasons for poor conditions for garment workers in countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan are bedded into the global supply chain system itself. Low prices in consumer countries are too often based on poor working conditions in the producing regions. This will not change overnight, but the reactions to the recent fire catastrophes in Pakistan and Bangladesh can perhaps launch a general development in a positive direction.
Also, we should not forget that these industries are essentially important for the producing regions and countries to develop their own economies and offer livelihoods for their people. This cannot be done at the cost of safe workplaces, decent working conditions and human dignity. It is clear that whatever differences there may be, this is now generally accepted by both the global business community and other stakeholders. Now is the time to work effectively to promote these principles without compromising the task by letting other considerations override it. This concerns equally the business sector as it does trade unions, campaigners and others.
Finally, once again some campaigners are calling for making social audit reports public. This would effectively destroy all workplace auditing. Confidentiality of all audits and reports is a condition for workers and others to be able to speak out about workplace problems, and a necessity to protect those that do it. Campaigner mistrust against business should not lead to destroying what may often be the only existing instrument to monitor the reality in these vulnerable supply chains, and thus create a basis for a concrete improvement of working conditions.
It will be both interesting and important to follow how the Wal-Mart initiative will transform into a broad action and to a changing reality on the ground in countries like Bangladesh.