Advancing Decent Work in Global Supply Chains
Extract from a presentation to the UN Forum on Business & Human Rights making the case for why procurement departments should be perceived as part of the solution to improving Human Rights in Global Supply Chains.
Human Trafficking, Forced Labour, Child Labour, Indenture Workers, Decent Work. There are lots of words for it. But can we call it what it actually is?
Slavery.
It’s been part of human history for thousands of years, across all cultures. Let’s look at the first person to try and do something about it.
William Wilberforce. Like many young men, he aspired to be wealthy and he found a rich sponsor and became a member of Parliament at 21. He became a bit of lad, upper class, well off. We would probably call him one of the 1%.
But he began to reflect deeply on his life and he didn’t like what he saw.
Slave owners, plantation owner and their friends getting rich, literally, off the backs of others. Passion is not enough, altruism is not enough. Have to work the problem within the framework of the time. For Wilberforce that was legislation.
Wilberforce was initially optimistic, but he found out that the pathway to abolition was blocked by vested interests, bigotry and fear. He introduced 8 bills into parliament: they all failed.
But finally, sick and dying, he succeeded, and in 1807 the Slavery Abolition Act was passed and 800,000 slaves were freed.
But according to the UN’s own International Labour Organisation there are 21,000,000 slaves today.
We need a second Wilberforce.
The second Wilberforce, to eliminate Modern Day Slavery. Who is that? That’s all of us.
NGOs, Consumers and Big Business. Now you are probably surprised that I added Big Business to that list. I’m from a Big Business, aren’t they the bad guys in all this? Weren’t they the ones that frustrated old Wilberforce? Those plantation owners trying to keep their profits up?
Let me quote from a good friend of mine, Justin Dillon who has been working in this space a long time.
Big Business caused this problem, but only Big Business can fix it.
So why is that, and why is it possible now, when 150 years ago legislation and military power were effective. Did big businesses suddenly become nicer, more compassionate? No. But we did. We consumers. Due to initiatives like the UN Global Compact consumers are more aware of a whole variety of issues.
Passion is not enough, altruism is not enough. Have to work the problem within the framework of the time. For Wilberforce that was legislation and the might of the British Navy, but for us now, we have a different way to be effective.
Social Media, Mobile technologies. We have power that we didn’t have 150 years, or even 15 years ago. And Big companies are extremely sensitive to this sentiment. You can argue whether they really care, or are just sensitive to consumer sentiment, but actually it doesn’t matter. Either way, they are changing their behaviour and working towards more transparent, ethical supply chains.
Let me give you an example. My colleague Henrik’s son Louis is eight. When Louis goes to the supermarket to buy food, he doesn’t look at the front of the packet, all that branded packaging that marketing companies work on. He flips it over and looks at the ingredients, at the marks regarding sustainable farming, palm oil, recyclable packaging. This is the basis of his purchasing decision, and big companies are starting to take notice.
Consumers, especially young ones have a new voice, either by the simple choice of what they put in their shopping basket, or collectively through social media activisim.
There are a lot of consumers like Louis. In fact,
73% of millennial spending is driven by sustainability
You think companies don’t care about those statistics? What it means is that companies don’t have to make a choice between making a difference and making a profit.
Doing good is good for business.
Let me tell you about another activist. James Johnson, he works inside the large multi-national company Nielsen. He’s a corporate guy. Happy in his corporate life. Doing well.
But one day, he had the following thought:
“When I’m at the end of my life, I don’t want my kids to think I spent all this time at work just building a pile of money”
He set a new goal of making the world a better place. But how can he do that working at a large multi-national, he even has the most unglamorous role in that unglamorous company: Head of procurement and supply.
It turns out that he can do something. Procurement people have tremendous power and influence in how large companies spend their money. You see, choosing a company which has a poor Human Rights record introduces risk to the buying company. And if there’s one thing corporate companies hate, it’s risk.
By using technology he can start to get signals through the mass of data inside his own company and out on the internet. Can start to figure out how to favour companies which are working to improve the lives of workers, avoid companies that have practices that breed corruption.
People like James are scattered throughout companies, and with the rise of millennials, they becoming common. Very common.
They go to work to make a difference, and want to help shape a successful business, but crucially, one that’s also an instrument of good. A business with purpose. One that creates opportunities for livelihoods, not merely employment; one that builds families and communities and entire economies, not simply products and services.
By providing transparency into the supply chain, solutions like SAP Ariba help make it possible. We help companies look at its suppliers — and help them look at both their suppliers and their customers — so everyone can see who believes in doing good, see who protects both people and planet, and see how far their influence can reach.
With this level of clarity, you can manage and improve the human, economic and environmental impact of business and every organization and community it touches.
As Wilberforce said 200 years ago:
“You can choose to look the other way, but you cannot say again that you did not know.”
21 million people, that’s too many people to think about. It’s the same number of people is the whole population of my own country, the UK. Let’s focus on just one person.
Eduardo, in Brazil (not his real name)
Some friends told him there was work on a coffee farm, so he called the farmer and arranged for his whole family to work on the coffee harvest. Him, his wife Leni, a niece Keila, and a couple of friends. They all travelled down together.
As soon as they got there, they realised we were in trouble. The “lodgings” were a decrepit house that had been left to rot by the farmer; it was close to collapse and totally unfit for living. There were no beds. No mattresses. No kitchen. No cupboards to store any food in or closets to hang any of our belongings. No toilets. The work was exhausting: 11 hours a day, seven days a week.
They became hostages, with no food or payment for any of the harvesting we were doing.
Companies like Nielsen, or my own company, SAP, worry about the coffee worker’s story hitting the headlines. Do we know where our coffee comes from? Most companies use an outsource provider. Where do they get their coffee from? You see how this gets very tricky, what about the cobalt in the batteries of their equipment, what about the union rights over the workers who clean their offices.
SAP Ariba is committed to solving this problem. We believe that making a difference should be part of making a profit. And when you can see every source on your supply chain, you can see who protects both people and planet. You can see how far your influence reaches and can improve the human, economic and environmental impact of every organization you touch. This is procurement with purpose. SAP Ariba Supplier Risk with Made in a Free World FRDM data integration enables companies like Nielsen to analyse their supply base against forced labour risk exposure. They are now having conversations with tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers to engage them on their human rights practices.
Today Eduardo is back on his own land, relieved that those moments of terror are behind him. Water is still scarce. While he waits for rain, Nelson tends the watermelon plantation that he started, and his wife, Leni likes to look after the small garden beside the house. Life is still precarious, but he is back home, and he is free.
That’s just one story out of the 21 million, but it’s the kind of story that worries big companies. With the power of social media, they know that sentiment can turn against them. So they are starting to focus on issues such as forced labour. They have set up Corporate and Social Responsibility programs, some are engaged with the UN.
My company is a patron of the Action Platform on Decent Work in Global Supply Chains by supplying technology to supply chain managers like James, to help them win consumers like Louis, so together they can help people like Eduardo.
It’s no good waiting for a Second Wilberforce. The Second Wilberforce is all of us.
