Protecting Workers in the Supply Chain

"We need standards that apply wherever the supply chain reaches. There can be no excuses, no exemptions, no blaming abuses on the local management just because it’s a subcontractor or far from the home country,” said International Transport Workers’ Federation.

MH&L Staff

June 14, 2016

New international standards to protect those working in global supply chains, was made at the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva on June 10.

“The ILC has recommended – and empowered – this vital UN body, the ILO, to act to protect countless workers worldwide,” said ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) general secretary Steve Cotton. “Currently many of them are defenseless, victimized and exploited, as the shocking recent investigations into slavery in the fisheries sector have shown. For others conditions and job security range from good to near zero. This breakthrough move could lead to protections as positive and inclusive as the ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention 2006.

“We need accountability and governance, particularly from the ‘economic employer’, the lead firm in the supply chain," Cotton added. "We need standards that apply wherever the supply chain reaches. There can be no excuses, no exemptions, no blaming abuses on the local management just because it’s a subcontractor or far from the home country.”

Material Handling & Logistics is an IndustryWeek companion site within Penton's Manufacturing & Supply Chain Group.