Companies, unions and campaigners must set aside their differences and work together on supply chain fire safety.
If we really want to help improve factory fire safety in Bangladesh and Pakistan we need to move from talking to doing. There is one effective working week left for the global economy and supply chains in 2012. This is not much, but should be enough for concrete commitments to be made and plans of action agreed. This allows for the all-important work on the ground to begin early next year.
Already before the tragic factory fire in Bangladesh, I took the initiative to raise fire safety issues urgently also within the Global Social Compliance Programme GSCP. This was a reaction to the disastrous fire that struck the Ali Enterprises garment factory in Karachi in Pakistan in early September, and was readily agreed to by both the executive and advisory boards.
Nobody would of course have wanted to see that when the boards met for a joint meeting in Switzerland at the end of November, there was a second disaster to prove that urgent action is needed to protect the safety of workers in these as well as many other countries, where the present situation is bad beyond belief.
When I asked GSCP to take this up as an urgent issue on the joint agenda of the executive and advisory boards it was because of the unique convening power that this programme has among buyer brands and retailers.
GSCP itself is not really adapted to deal itself with the immediate needs for correcting the safety situation on the ground. It is more of a platform for encouraging and advising buyers and retailers on integrating high social and environmental standards into their supply chain behaviour. Driving upward convergence of individual codes, standards and other tools to achieve this, GSCP can help to move resources from social and environmental auditing to the all-important capacity building and remediation at supplier workplaces.
Leading global brands and retailers are already working together within GSCP on many aspects of supply chain responsibility, both on central levels and in regions where their buyers are active. When it comes to social and environmental conditions, the approach is non-competitive. I am convinced that we will very soon see this culture of working together forming a realistic and solid basis for their concrete and substantial contributions to making supplier factories safer for the workers.
This will further underline the important role that GSCP plays, but also that of individual corporate responsibility schemes and initiatives. They are not there as a substitute for obligatory rules or collective bargaining between employers and trade unions, but a tool to promote the same aims in circumstances where this would often not be possible without them.
During the last weeks we have seen an intensive discussion activity about the social dimensions of these global supply chains. Once again, we have been reminded of the bad and dangerous conditions of many workers who produce apparel and other goods for the world markets and consumers. This public discussion with all its excesses has been useful and important for raising awareness among both those directly concerned and the general public.
And yes, there have also been excesses and ill-advised attacks, which have not necessarily contributed to build confidence for joint work to support concrete changes and improvements. We should still understand the frustration that drives also those who rightly feel that many safety risks should have been addressed much earlier. Clearly, there is scepticism also about the real preparedness of large buyers to participate, and to accept that their purchasing prices may be affected.
Now is the time to move on from this discussion. Positions have been established and opinions registered. Unless all focus on concrete action now, the supply chain workers and their families will not see improvements in their conditions. All who want to engage themselves in real ways must now talk and work together, however differently they see the larger picture.
Brands and retailers, corporate social responsibility schemes or initiatives, global or national trade unions, non-governmental organisations, public sector authorities and institutions, suppliers and traders – they and others must now come together. Concrete projects and other action is needed. Only a broad and powerful coalition can make a real difference for the workers who are concerned.
There are already things that have been done, which are useful when developing a comprehensive programme. Buyer companies have developed awareness raising and training materials, and already engaged in important capacity building efforts, such as French multinational Carrefour and Swedish apparel giant H&M. Others have developed their own projects and budgeted important funds for them, one of the public examples being the US based garment company GAP. All these companies have longstanding commitments to social supply chain responsibility and much experience of dealing with these issues.
An important part should also be that of the initiative which campaigner and advocacy organisations – the Clean Clothes Campaign, the International Labor Rights Forum ILRF, the Workers Rights Consortium WRC and the Maquila Solidarity Network – have launched last year in Bangladesh. With union and NGO support and commitment to participate by two large companies that also have solid social responsibility track records – US-based PVH and German Tchibo – they have developed a concept that is really worth a close look when developing any approaches also on a broader basis.
If a broader coalition can come together very soon – as I think it will – care should be taken that it can provide also a platform for a multitude of individual projects which are well aligned with all other activities. This civil society driven project should be one of these, and it should be in common interest to ensure that it then gets the necessary backing to be launched. The owners of this project should also see the benefit in this and be prepared to work as a part of a larger effort to ensure real and significant results.
Some key considerations when building a broad and common approach should be :
- Governments in the countries concerned must act to secure and effectively enforce safety regulations in all workplaces, not only those that work for the export sector. There is also much work needed to combat corruption, which has a big negative influence both on fire safety conditions and on dealing with catastrophes when they happen.
- Individual suppliers and their industry federations must understand that demands on securing worker safety are serious and have to be acted on if they want to continue their business relations and role in global supply chains. They cannot only hide behind allegations that pressure on prices and supply conditions by international buyers push them to ignore safety considerations when building and operating factories. Even if this indeed is an important factor, it is far from the only reason for unacceptable conditions.
- Brands and retailers, traders and others who are engaged in global supply chains and who benefit from the work done in these factories and other workplaces have to carry their part of the responsibility, also when it comes to economic issues. Prices and other supply conditions must be on a level that allows for safe working conditions to be established and upheld, and respects the human right of supply chain workers and their families to live their lives in dignity. Here, buyers cannot hide behind anti-trust regulations and the authorities in the developed world have to accept that a level playing field may be one of the necessary conditions for dealing with this issue. This time, the economic dimension will be important, the fire safety situation will require also many structural and construction changes that will cost a lot of money. Part of this has to be carried by international buyers and the end consumers in the developed world.
- Campaigners and trade unions must take care that they do not use these issues as a vehicle for promoting other aims and objectives, however urgent they may be seen. They have to be prepared and able to work side by side also with companies whom they may have fundamental differences with when it comes to other parts of labour relations or their conceived social and environmental behaviour. There is a job to be done here, and if the business sector is now prepared to act strongly and concretely, campaigners and unions should support rather than question it, and accept that everyone will have to make compromises along the road to secure that the main aim is achieved.
At the end of the day, successes and failures will be measured on how effectively changes are put in place locally. This means that relations between employers and workers have to be developed as well. Without a worker empowerment which normally takes place through trade union organising and social dialogue, credible workplace action and controls can become impossible. In addition to employers and unions themselves, the corporate social responsibility schemes and initiatives must consider taking a step further from a passive recognition of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining and work for active worker empowerment to be included as part of their codes and standards, in addition to being raised in capacity building and remediation.