terug
Suffer the little children
|
Codes of conduct will not be enough to stop child labour and long hours. By Roger Cowe Nike and Gap were exposed on Panorama recently as having child workers stitch their products in a Cambodian factory, in breach of their employment codes. They are not alone. A recent edition of Business Week exposed appalling conditions in a factory in Guangdong, southern China, which makes handbags for Wal-Mart. [id:3823], the retailer has a code of conduct that appears to have been ignored by its supplier, and, as in the cases of Nike and Gap, the code is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. These stories obviously reflect badly on all concerned, but they highlight several issues arising from globalisation that do not get the same attention as the international trade and finance aspects that attract the rioters and the headlines. First, conditions that appear appalling by western standards are endemic in developing countries. Second, codes of conduct will not stamp them out. Third, auditors face an impossible task attempting to certify the standards in contractors' factories. These are the [id:3824] projects such as the UK's Ethical Trading Initiative, which is backed by the Department for International Development. The initiative exists to improve the conditions of workers in developing countries who make the products that appear on British shelves. Child labour is the headline-grabbing issue, but there are many others (see table). The initiative is now led by the unlikely figure of Yve Newbold. She used to be the Hanson Group company secretary and, because of that past, she may have the clout to persuade reluctant boards that they need to take seriously the [id:3825] of their suppliers, no matter how far away these may be. Publicity such as the Panorama programme, and other controversies dragging in companies such as Marks & Spencer, have shown it is [id:3826] to get the attention of directors in the most vulnerable companies - the big-brand owners. After all, nobody with a fragile brand to protect wants to be exposed for using child labour in China or paying a pittance in Portugal. But the question is how to ensure [id:3827] are what they should be, and the ethical initiative is running a series of pilot schemes in Zimbabwe, China, Costa Rica and elsewhere to work out practical solutions. It is tempting to think that the answer is simply to pay more for the products. That would certainly help and in many cases would hardly be noticed, given the tiny proportion of the western selling price accounted for by the [id:3828] of items such as trainers. |
 But price is not the only, or even the main, issue. This is a question of bridging the cultural divide between the kind of attitudes that existed in England at the start of the industrial revolution and those prevalent today. The battle for the ten-hour day for children and women went on for decades before it was won in 1847. Organising a strike was a criminal offence until 1875. That [id:3829] the current employment conditions in Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries producing the west's cheap consumer products.This is not to excuse such conditions, but to highlight the complexity of the issues - which has forced the Foreign Office into a rethink of its plans to tell British businesses how to behave abroad. Guidance on [id:3830] was supposed to have been published months ago, but an initial draft was savaged by experts and campaigners. According to a recent report from the Institute of Business Ethics, systems to ensure appropriate employment practices will take at least ten years to develop. In the meantime, companies such as Nike and Gap will continue to be exposed, in spite of their best efforts. Sometimes, the only answer is to move production. For example, the DIY chain B&Q had to stop buying rugs from Pakistan because it was impossible to guarantee that children were not being exploited. [id:3831] that is almost self-defeating, as is the sacking of child workers, who often end up as street prostitutes. There is no shortage of codes (from the International Labour Organisation, for example) and no shortage of companies willing to sign up to them. But a code is of no use unless it is enforced, and that is the tricky bit in an environment where there may be [id:3832] what is actually happening inside factories. In countries where there are no birth certificates, it can be hard even to tell who is a child. And it is usually easy for a recalcitrant manufacturer to give the children a day off when the auditors come calling. New Statesman |