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Case Studies | Monday June 1, 2009

Defining the Role of Responsible Business in Protecting International Labor Migrants

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The Challenge

An increasingly vital part of the global workforce, labor migrants now comprise approximately 190 million people, or about 3 percent of the world population. These migrants—many of whom are moving “South to South,” between emerging economies—often arrive in destination countries heavily indebted, with limited knowledge of local languages, laws, and culture, and with restricted access to protection. As a result, they are vulnerable to a number of human and labor rights violations, including passport withholding, bonded labor, broken contracts, and nonpayment of wages.

Despite attention to general working conditions in global value chains—and despite the fact that this issue can have a great impact on global businesses—there are no widely accepted and understood guidelines for how multinational companies can help manage the needs of migrant workers. The complex scope of the problem, and its potential solutions, lie beyond the abilities of individual businesses to address.

Our Strategy

With support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, BSR launched a two-year initiative to engage business in operational and policy efforts to protect the rights of international labor migrants in global supply chains in South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

We began this project by conducting comprehensive outreach to experts worldwide from business, government, civil society, and academia concerning key features of labor migration between emerging economies.

Through this research, BSR identified stakeholder interests and activities, key areas of vulnerabilities for workers, and broad trends in the current system of labor migration between emerging economies. For optimal impact, BSR pinpointed key risks and strategic opportunities for company engagement.

Our Impact

This initiative represented the first effort to engage companies in an analysis of the South-South labor movement and its impacts on global supply chains. In the fall of 2008, we published “International Labor Migration: A Responsible Role for Business” on the nexus of South-South migration and business challenges, such as:

Applying this knowledge, as well as our expertise from more than a decade of supply chain work, BSR built a three-step business engagement strategy that encourages companies to educate themselves, engage with suppliers, and expand their influence through partnerships with government, trade unions, NGOs, and others.

At the BSR Conference 2008, we conducted outreach with international companies through our Ethical Sourcing Working Group and a Conference panel session entitled Migrant Workers in Your Supply Chain: Risks and Opportunities.” More than 40 companies from apparel, electronics, food and agriculture, and media sectors, as well as 20 NGOs and government representatives, expressed interest in joining a Migration Focus Group launched in early 2009 to address the needs of migrant workers in global supply chains.

• Use of third-party recruiters and labor outsourcing companies increases the risk of abuse.
• Migrant workers are unprotected under many national laws.
• Few workers receive adequate predeparture skills training.
• Processes for dispute resolution are often ineffective.

Case Studies | Monday June 1, 2009

Cleaning Up Industrial Water Pollution in Southern China

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The Challenge

In industrial regions of southern China, water pollution is an increasingly serious problem. According to the Nanfang Daily, 12.62 billion tons of polluted materials and 8.3 billion tons of wastewater were discharged into the waters off Guangdong in 2007—up 60 percent from five years ago. Perhaps most distressing, according to Guangdong officials, more than 40 percent of the province’s rural people do not have access to safe drinking water.

In southern China, the apparel and textile industry’s discharge of wastewater containing reactive dyes is a serious environmental challenge contributing to the problem of polluted water. The load is characterized by high color content, with suspended solids, salts, nutrients, and toxic substances such as heavy metals and chlorinated organic compounds that pose significant risks to human health, including exposure to constituents such as chloride, nitrate, nitrite, and sulfate. In addition, the effluents discharged lead to serious pollution of surface water sources and groundwater, inhibiting biological processes and the productivity of rivers and streams.

Our Strategy

In January 2008, BSR launched the China Water Initiative to determine how the private sector can help reverse the degradation of southern China’s water resources. Our aim is to create a network of organizations working toward the same objective—to protect the region’s natural waterways.

To do this, BSR built partnerships with organizations like the Center for Water Research at Beijing University, the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs, the China Environment Forum, and the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia, which already are tackling this challenge.

Our Impact

Based on a series of factory visits in southern China, BSR identified a range of pressures on factory managers that impact the management of water resources and wastewater discharge. These include low worker retention rates, international competition, and rising prices for their material inputs.

After we presented these findings at a forum in Guangzhou, BSR incorporated the information into a training curriculum designed for factory managers. BSR is applying its expertise as a partner with brands and suppliers to provide best practices, tools, and training to factory managers at textile mills, dyeing facilities, and other finishing mills. Ultimately, this will help factory managers improve their environmental performance related to wastewater management, water and energy use, and efficient use of materials and chemicals.

Case Studies | Monday June 1, 2009

China Mobile: Advancing Corporate Responsibility Reporting

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The Challenge

While sustainability reporting in Europe, Japan, and the United States has been common practice for years, businesses in China have begun embracing this practice recently. China Mobile issued its first corporate responsibility report in 2006, and it engaged BSR to assist with its 2007 report as a way of advancing its newest sustainability efforts.eams.

Our Strategy

BSR responded by putting together a global team composed of BSR staff with deep experience in the telecommunications industry, familiarity with international standards and approaches to reporting, and specific knowledge of Chinese culture and business practices.

Together, the team spent months interviewing China Mobile officials about how the company defined and implemented its approach to corporate responsibility—responsibility makes perfection”—across 19 different departments at its headquarters and 31 subsidiaries across China. Specifically, discussions focused on understanding the four distinct elements of its approach: improving access to technology in rural villages; offering care and support for society’s disadvantaged; sponsoring philanthropic support for education; and promoting new techniques to manage resource consumption, improve materials efficiency, and decrease environmental impact overall.

Our Impact

With input from the BSR team, China Mobile published its corporate responsibility report in early 2008. China Mobile was praised by the international corporate responsibility community for providing readers with a better understanding of its systematic and strategic approach to corporate responsibility management. In the latter part of 2008, China Mobile became the first mainland Chinese company recognized on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The company also has continued to expand and meet its commitment to absorb nonfinancial criteria into corporate decision-making and pursue its goal to “grow together harmoniously” with industry, society, and nature.

Case Studies | Monday June 1, 2009

Building Collaboration: The ILO/IFC’s Better Work Program

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The Challenge

A joint project of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Better Work program is designed to improve working conditions in global supply chains while boosting both countries' economic competitiveness and business for national industries. The ILO and IFC selected BSR to help increase the involvement of international buyers in order to create systemic improvements of the working conditions in their supply chains.

Our Strategy

BSR's work on this project grew out of our support for the ILO/IFC's Better Factories Cambodia project. In 2008, following the global expansion of the model, BSR worked with the ILO/IFC to expand the participation of international buyers in Better Work, to strengthen both that program and the companies' efforts to ensure responsible supply chains.

At the same time, BSR began running country-specific buyers' forums in countries to which Better Work was expanding, including Vietnam and Jordan. These events allow buyers to work directly with key local stakeholders—including government, unions, and enterprises—on shared solutions to improve working conditions. These country-level programs—which directly benefit nearly 800,000 workers—combine independent assessments of labor standards at the factory level with training and capacity building.

Our Impact

As a result of BSR's efforts, the number of international buyers in the project doubled, and we contributed to a significant reduction of duplicative factory monitoring in Cambodia. Our approach also led to verified improvements in working conditions across the apparel industry, the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, and sustained increases in exports to the United States and the European Union.

In 2005, at the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement, the international system of national quotas for apparel production, many people were concerned that the industry in Cambodia would be decimated. Instead, the Better Work program helped increase jobs in Cambodia's garment export market by nearly 30 percent. In the first year after the lifting of quotas, international buyers involved in the program increased exports at twice the rate of the industry average.

While it's too early to quantify our impact in other Better Work countries, BSR has worked with many buyers sourcing in those regions to create a strong commitment to reducing the duplication of monitoring, continuously improving working conditions, and actively engaging in partnerships with local stakeholders.

The tripartite model of Better Work provides a basis for impact and credibility. Most importantly, Better Work's tools and country-specific programs enable international buyers to collaborate with government, employer, and workers' organizations on shared models that promote sustainable impact at the national level.

Reports | Tuesday October 28, 2008

International Labor Migration: The Responsible Role of Business

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With 90 million people migrating globally for work every year, learn about the key migration trends that affect your company—and the solutions for improving working conditions along your supply chains.