Global Policy Forum

The Debate on Labour Standards:

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By M. Maqbul Hossain

Independent (Bangladesh)
April 2, 2000

Recently labour standards have generated heated debates throughout the globe, including the United States. Developing countries see the labour standard as a restriction of their access to world markets. Many more have brandished the standard as unwarranted interference, particularly by the United States and the European Union in their domestic affairs. Developing countries fear that large numbers of their factories could go out of business.In the West, the market scenario is somewhat different. Increased global competition has led to increasingly more stringent customer expectations with regards to safe working conditions, living wages and worker rights.


The constant exposure, of stories of exploitation, has sensitized consumers who are increasingly using their purchasing power to indicate that the abuse of child labour, forced labour, discrimination, the barring of freedom of association of workers are repulsive and no longer acceptable. The American people would not knowingly purchase products made by children or by any other form of exploited labour by people forced to toil in sweatshop conditions for wages. Retailers in the US now realise that the sale of a T-shirt, a soccer ball, or even a cup of coffee is a package that must include an assurance to the consumers that these products are not based on worker exploitation.

Today, as never before, an enterprise's public image is an asset which must be protected and developed to the maximum. In highly competitive consumer markets, a company's public image often determines a decision whether the consumers will buy its products.Companies of today face enormous difficulties in designing and enforcing policies globally. Retailers and manufacturers risk damage to their reputation and the value of their brands, if workplace abuses at their factories or those of their contractors / suppliers are exposed.Human rights activists, in the US closely scrutinise corporate behavior overseas to ensure that it does not contribute to worker rights abuses by fostering unsafe working conditions or extremely low wages.

Through the worldwide web, these activists can easily and quickly generate negative publicity that will tarnish a corporate image and eat into market share and profit margin. At the same time, increasing numbers of consumers and other stakeholders express concern about the conditions under which goods are produced as can be seen from the high-profile media coverage recently on child labour and discrimination.These concerns are causing American corporations to establish "codes of conduct" to guarantee that their suppliers abroad respect worker rights. Meantime, many businesses have adopted different "codes of conduct" in recent years.

These include the American Apparel Manufacturer's Association, whose members accounted for about 85 per cent of the 100 billion dollars of clothing sold in the United States each year. Unfortunately, lack of proper implementation and the absence of "independent" monitoring have been the subject of much criticism. This has led to the development of SA 8000.What is SA 8000?Social Accountability 8000 (or SA 8000) is a common labour standard seeking to guarantee the basic rights of workers and to improve working conditions. The standard, developed by trade unions consumer campaigns, labour activists and human rights groups, has specified requirements for a company to comply with all applicable laws and other legislative requirements. A set of universal requirements is in line with the ILO conventions, the Rights of the Children and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The standard provides the framework for the independent verification of the ethical production of goods and services. The standard has been developed by New York, based NGO -- Council for Economic Priorities Accreditation Agency, CEPAA in October 1997.What does SA 8000 contain? SA 8000 has nine core areas, such as child labour, forced labour, health, and safety, freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours and compensation. SA 8000 has an additional core area, e.g. management system, through which a company can effectively deliver labour codes.In Bangladesh child labour, forced labour, discrimination and disciplinary practices are practically not existent and do not pose a big threat to the local garment factories. However, some factories have major problems especially in health and safety, freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, working hours and wages.

The aims of SA 8000 are to- Strengthen the capacity of NGOs, trade unions and business, especially manufacturers, to implement systems for improving workplace conditions, in line with applicable law and legislative requirements, and to use social auditing techniques to verify systems' effectiveness.- Secure the participation of NGOs and trade unions in the verification process and in the development of system improvements.- Encourage local partnerships among NGOs, business and trade unions and local activities to promote corporate social accountability.

What prompts this labour standard? A famous American coffeehouse chain was appalled to see in 1995 that its outlets were picketing because workers' rights were abused in the Central American coffee fields.In recent years some major US companies, have experienced numerous protests against conditions in factories abroad, where their products an manufactured in sweatshop conditions.A few reported workplace abuses are reproduced: Locked in the factories. Work upto 12 hours a day, seven days a week without overtime. Paid only 59 per cent of US minimum wage.- At the time of hiring, pregnancy test is compulsory. Workplace is hot, dirty and dangerous. Security is tight -- humiliating body searches are routine. Trade union activity is forbidden. Minimum wages are un-enforced. Maternity benefits are unknown. (Source: Media report on Noida EPZ, 24 Km from New Delhi.)

Continuous reports by NGOs, Human Rights Groups and media in the USA and West Europe have created tremendous consumer concerns on sweatshop practices. Company or corporation's public image is a precious asset. Such public image greatly determines a decision whether the public will buy its goods. Retailers and manufacturers "shall" not take risks damaging reputation of their brands, in respect of workplace abuses.Large retailers in the States and Europe now realise that the sale of a T-shirt, a soccer ball, even a cup of coffee is a package, that must include an assurance to the consumers that these products are not based on workers' exploitation. Who is the real offender? Well, this is of course a delicate question. The West is now pointing towards the developing countries. Are we really at fault?"The world's largest 200 companies - many of them American - search the globe for the lowest possible labour costs and weakest environmental safeguard. Often they get help from undemocratic governments that compete in the global marketplace by refusing to protect their citizens from workplace abuse and environmental degradation". Interestingly these 200 giants control 28 per cent of global economic activity, but employ less than half of one percent of the world's workforce.

What should we do?This is of course a new challenge. We should understand the rapid changes taking place. Just like a failed one, we can make issue and blame the West. Even go to the streets and organise agitation. Nobody will listen and eventually we would be tired and frustrated. We have heard that pessimists always complain about the weather. The optimist expects an early change. But the realist adjusts his sail. No looking back. We should take a leadership role and just apply our "common sense" to manage risk. (To be continued)


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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.