|
Slaves of Steel Update: |
Social Responsibility
Workers wait for the staff of the Mobile Inspection
Group. In recent years, various documents have become references used in the evaluation of corporate social responsibility. Nevertheless, many actions proclaimed to be socially responsible have more to do with philanthropy or marketing strategies than with concrete and long-lasting activities that involve a business itself and its productive chain. Slave labor fits into a basic issue of corporate social responsibility: a socially responsible company should assume a public commitment to decent social and environmental conditions along the production chain. It should create criteria for its suppliers, prepared with the involvement of social actors. It should discredit violators, that is, those who systematically disrespect basic labor rights and degrade the environment. If a company does not do so, they become accomplices. Slave labor violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration of Basic Labor Rights of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Guidelines for Multinationals of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Financial institutions, above all pension funds and banks such as BNDES (Brazil's National Economic and Social Development Bank) should not finance companies that use slave or degrading labor in their production process. Another important reference is the Global Compact, an initiative of the United Nations Organization that is currently popular among socially responsible companies. It seeks voluntary compliance and mobilization of the business community for the promotion of basic values in the area of human rights, labor and the environment. It has the participation of companies, unions, non-governmental organizations and various UN agencies. More than one thousand companies are signatories of the Global Compact, that encourages the organizations to incorporate 10 basic principles. Of these, three are directly linked to responsibility along the productive chain: - Support and respect protection of human rights within its sphere
of influence; None of the companies cited here is a signatory to the Global Compact. Unfortunately, one of the factors that affects the credibility of this initiative is that even many companies that adhere to the agreement's principles do not monitor compliance. In practice, it has been found that these principles are not being respected. Another reference is the Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social [Ethos Institute of Companies and Social Responsibility]. In its Selection Criteria and Supplier Evaluation Ethos said: "The company should provide incentives to its suppliers and partners for them to adhere to the agreements that they adopt in relation to society. They should also use social responsibility criteria in the choice of suppliers and demand, for example, certain standards of conduct in relation to workers or the environment ". Slave labor, according to Ethos, is a standard of conduct completely
unacceptable for a supplier. "Commitment to the quality of
the productive chain is extremely important to strengthen corporate
social responsibility", said the Institute's public policy
assessor Caio Magri. "It is essential that a company committed
to social responsibility does not accept slave labor along its productive
chain". For Magri, companies need to know their suppliers very
well and adopt standards of relationships based on respect for human
rights. "It is very important to unveil and denounce a productive
chain where there is slave labor", he said.
Proposals National Confederation of Metalworkers Director Fernando Lopes,
a Gerdau employee, agreed that the problem begins at the charcoal
operations linked to the iron companies that use slave labor in
some cases and degrading labor in others. "It is important
to have stricter control, a concrete position of social responsibility
and that the iron company Lopes proposed that the iron companies and unions form a partnership to inspect the work at the charcoal plants. "The first step would be the formation of a commission to act directly to control the problem". Another idea is to steer discussion of the issue to municipal Labor and Income Commissions, to which can be presented joint proposals from civil society, unions and companies. "This is a suitable space to begin a conversation. Either concrete tools are created or the problem will not be resolved", he said. One of the unionist's concerns resides in the eventual sanctions that can be imposed by international buyers of pig iron. "In today's globalized market, any pretext can be used to bar a product or apply sanctions, which would be very bad for the country". On the other hand, he said, the problem cannot be simply swept under the carpet: "Transparency is needed, a joining of forces. It is a serious social problem, society and markets need to take a clear position about slave labor". In the relationship between the charcoal and iron manufacturers, there are so many irregularities that the right to unionization is a theme unknown to charcoal workers. The reporting team did not detect any union activity among these workers. ILO Convention 98, ratified by Brazil in 1952, protects workers from acts that threaten freedom of association and calls for support for collective labor negotiations. One possible position is that the collective labor accord reached by the union in the metallurgical industries include clauses that apply to the charcoal workers. This issue can be dealt with in a plan of action between the iron companies and unions for the inspection of charcoal operations. Slave labor in the steel production chain shows how the free market
disconsiders the social costs of industrial production. At the beginning
of the chain are workers who do not have drinking water, bathrooms,
medical assistance or freedom. The wealth created by these modern-day
serfs is appropriated by the modern slavocrats who exploit their
dignity. Large corporations close their eyes to this crime - with
risks to their image and even their business - and profit from producing
the most modern materials. These in turn are purchased by globalized
consumers, but those which are never well informed about the source
of their products. * * *
|
This report is part of the publication "Observatório Social Em Revista" - # 6 - June 2004 - Florianópolis, Brazil English version: Jeffrey Hoff Published by Observatório Social |
