Reports of the Committee on Decent Work in Global Supply Chains
The International Labour Organization held its annual tripartite meeting between Workers, Employers and Government representatives on the topic of Decent Work in Global Supply Chains between 29th May and 10th June, 2016 in Geneva. Global supply chains encompass the manufacturing, production, supply and disstribution of a single product, the chain of which extends to several companies. At the 105thInternational Labor Conference (ILC) held, there were arguments from NGOs and unions on one side and from industry and government on the other which reflect the polarized nature of the debate about global supply chains. On the one side Workers called for new regulations governing these global supply chains. The Employers firm position was that no new standard-setting on supply chains was required. The Governments deferred in their opinion and supported social change.
The Indian government initially was represented by the Director General of Labour Welfare. He supported the stand of the Workers as a part of the Drafting Committee and put forth his support completely. However, this was later changed when he was replaced with Additional Secretary to the Labour Minister who removed support on certain points including mediation and dispute resolution by ILO.
Initially, in the Workers group meeting, the challenges of regulating global supply chains which are inherently linked to the broader challenges of regulating business in a globalized world were discussed. These included plight of workers in the fishing industry, transport industry, garment industry and the absence of any impact of CSR in some countries. The solution suggested was to create a tripartite expert committee on international regulation to share the issue of global supply chain.
SEWA highlighted how the Government of India has contracted with international companies operating in vast global supply chains to provide infrastructure facilities to India ignoring the plight of local construction workers. These supply chains often rely heavily on sub-contracting, or ‘indirect sourcing’. That is, a company will have a number of suppliers with whom it contracts directly (also referred to as ‘first-tier’ suppliers) and these suppliers will then sub-contract out some (or all) of the work to further suppliers down the chain. These complex and indirect relationships pose significant challenges, particularly when considering regulation and international law responses.
SEWA also put forth the need to include homeworkers in the report on decent work in global supply chains. This was backed by WIEGO which reiterated points on Homeworkers provided from Nepal, Thailand and Pakistan including the need to ratify the convention in individual countries and give minimum wage to homeworkers, giving official recognition and raised awareness on the absence of data collection on homeworkers. For example, in Thailand there is seen an absence of Minimum wage, OHS and social security scheme which Covered sickness, pension and death. Besides, SEWA put forth the issue of transition from informal to formal economy and paying of minimum wage depending on living wages and not piece rate to the workers.
In the internal discussions amongst the WIEGO meetings, SEWA put forth the plan to liaison with ILO Delhi office which is a part of several government committees. Besides, plans were made to get a National Policy on Homeworkers implemented to complement the Convention 177 on Homeworkers.
Based on the inputs from the initial discussion on the various stands, the Worker’s group initially asked for:
• To fight for a Convention on Global Supply Chains.
• To ask employers for greater transparency in their supply chains.
• Measures to increase safety of labour in supply chain
• Promotion of sectorial collective bargaining
• Establishment of minimum living wage rates and minimum wage setting mechanisms.
• Increase corporate accountability
After the initial discussion points, when it came to the draft committee report, SEWA was given the distinct honor of being a part of the prestigious Bureau where only a dozen were selected from amongst 600 members to represent the Indian subcontinent and liasion with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Indian governments and know their views on supporting the respective trade unions from their countriesfor amending the draft report on Global Supply Chains.
In the draft report that came out, the contents focused on EPZ and the weak law ignoring unions and other labour regulations while at the same time, it focused on women in the decent global supply chain, skill training to workers and a major victory for SEWA since homeworkers were included in the global supply chain. Moreover, the Committee recognized the need to include Convention 177 amongst the conventions needed for improving decent work in global supply chains- an effort of SEWA’s constant representations. Besides, points included were:
• Government reporting requirements for linking transparency with accountability.
• The reproduction of the success of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and the challenge to build on this model to address other systemic violations of labour rights in supply chains.
• Due diligence requirements of the Company
• Formal examination of governance gaps and standards
• Mediation and dispute resolution intervention by ILO
• Due diligence by Companies
• Implementation and ratification of existing principles and guidelines by governments
However, it was observed that construction workers were nowhere mentioned in the committee report. SEWA had previously submitted to the working group chair the conditions and need to recognize work deficit in the Garment and construction industry. This point was put forth along with the need to include cooperatives which was amended by the Committee- another honor in SEWA’s basket.
In the side event to commemorate 20 years of the Convention 177, members of the ILO, SEWA, ITUC and the Belgian government as a part of the panel discussion talked about the history of the convention and happenings at the ILC including the employers reluctance to have this convention. SEWA highlighted the history behind the convention, the state of Beedi workers and how homeworkers contributing 60 percent of labour force in SEWA’s membership. The need of conducting a survey to analyze the number of home based workers and asking the government why C177 was not ratified was highlighted. The minister of labour from Belgium put forth the steps behind the recent ratification of C 177 in their country where the law was an Instrument for making progress with regard to gender equality to enhance quality of women’s work since women were primarily the homeworkers in Belgium providing an informative afternoon uniting homeworker’s representatives globally.
The Conference concluded satisfactorily with the Committee deciding to form a tripartite experts committee to oversee challenges and decide measures for improvement in the global supply chains. SEWA Sisters successfully lobbied the inclusion of its agenda and included homeworkers in the considerations for laws on global supply chains.
