As companies look to uphold ethical labor practices in their supply chains, a major challenge arises – how to promote worker freedom of association (FoA) rights in places where union rights are legally restricted? Furthermore, the corporate accountability landscape is shifting toward government regulation of supply chain compliance via transparency and due diligence mandates and trade sanctions. Considering this, how must companies reassess the prevailing practices in their supply chains that create obstacles and suppression of rights, even in countries where union rights are less restrictive on pape
Worker participation is often overlooked as a strategy for building a competitive, sustainable business that can keep up with rapidly evolving social and legal standards in global supply chains. Even in countries where workers’ rights to freedom of association (FOA) are extremely limited due to national laws or the lack of government enforcement, corporations can still ensure workers in their supply chain have access to effective grievance mechanisms and systems that ensure workers have a say in workplace matters.
The construction industry, with its reliance on low-skilled, low-pay manual jobs often filled by migrants, has long faced significant forced labor risks globally. We’ll discuss these risks, the challenges of monitoring the sector’s long and complicated supply chains and how our new due diligence tools set can help. Customized to the sector, the tools are one feature of our fully refreshed ResponsibelSourcingTool.org (RST), which has been updated and expanded with the support of the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Nine billion dollars (1)–a conservative estimate on how much the supply chain traceability sector will be worth within 10 years, or even sooner. It’s a big business. And it’s growing fast because companies know that understanding where their products come from and being able to offer assurances to regulators and consumers is critical to being able to run profitable and resilient businesses.
The United States and other governments are creating laws and regulations to require more effective management and prevention of these risks by those who sell goods and services to the government and by those who import goods into the US and other countries. As a result, government officials of many types – from contracting and procurement officials to Congressional staff – are increasingly engaged in matters related to labor and human rights risks in global supply chains.
