From SCDigest's On-Target e-Magazine
- May 21, 2013 -
Global Supply Chain News: Amid Offshore Working Conditions Turmoil, New Services Try to Connect Directly with Employees
LaborVoices and Labor Link Offer Direct Worker Outreach; May be More Effective and Less Expensive than Third-Party Audits
SCDigest Editorial Staff
Amidst the disaster from the building collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1200 apparel factory workers and the on-going aftermath of that tragedy, a look here at relatively new services designed to ferret out problem factories by connecting with the workers there directly.
Just last week, a group of European retailers and brand companies signed a legally-binding accord that includes prescribed supplier inspections and audits for Bangladesh apparel suppliers. Walmart separately announced its own program that will also include more on-site inspections and publishing of the results.
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Heather Francese, head of Labor Link's parent organization and a former manager at Columbia Sportswear, told Bloomberg's BusinessWeek she believes third party audits are not usually very effective.
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What Do You Say?
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But some question the effectiveness in the end of audits and inspections, fearing the results are too easy to rig by management.
Now, relatively new services provide a new option for getting a better handle on working conditions at offshore supplier sites. At the same time, they may also present a source of risk for some companies in potentially identifying and perhaps publishing unacceptable conditions at a given company's suppliers.
LaborVoices, a three-year old Silicon Valley start up, says it can provide feedback on poor labor conditions and perhaps do so at a lower cost or with better market coverage for corporate clients than on-site audits might deliver. In a country like Bangladesh, such traditional audits might cost $5000-7000 each or more.
Instead, LaborVoices offers local phone numbers in local languages that allow workers to anonymously report poor, dangerous, and/or unfair conditions at the factories where the work.
At an individual level, workers who phone in are then also sent information about local services and agencies, unions and labor groups, and other resources that may be able to help them and or look into labor conditions, where local laws may be being violated.
At a corporate level, LaborVoices aggregates responses and provides data on which facilities appear to be having issues, and the number and severity of the complaints (anonymous of course). You might call it "crowdsourcing" for identification of offshore labor troubles - a service that just might catch an issue before a real problem develops in which workers are hurt or a company's brand image is damaged from being associated with that source. That includes an on-line dashboard that the maps the feedback coming in.
LaborVoices also includes a form of event management and escalation that might be used if reports come in regarding child labor, for example, or conditions where worker harm may be imminent.
Could a service such as LaborVoices have caught the potential for fire at the apparel factory in Bangladesh last November, where 112 workers were killed, or raised the issue earlier of escape doors in the building being padlocked shut? That is the kind of potential offered from this type of service.
Labor Link, on the other hand, is a non-profit company also started about three years ago, but in Peru, though the small company is now headquartered in San Francisco. It surveys workers in countries across the globe, including China, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and more. More than 20,000 workers have been surveyed so far.
(Global Supply Chain Article Continued Below)
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Labor Link charges companies about $3000 for a worker feedback campaign at a given site, the organization says, and says its clients include network gear maker Cisco Systems, UK retailer Marks & Spencer, and apparel brand Patagonia.
