The Corporate Responsibility Code Book, 2nd Edition
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Social Accountability International (SAI) is a non-governmental,
multi-stakeholder organization established to advance the human rights
of workers and the health of enterprises by promoting decent work
conditions, labor rights, and corporate social responsibility through
voluntary standards.
For newsletter inquiries contact: Joleen Ong, jong@sa-intl.org |
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 Ethical Seal of Justice to Be Accredited by SAAS
SAAS Signs Contract to Help Develop New Magen Tzedek Certification Standard
Magen Tzedek ethical certification to be launched in 2011
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SAAS is pleased to announce the signing of a contract with the Hekhsher Tzedek Commission for a joint project to implement the Magen Tzedek ethical certification which will define good environmental, labor, animal welfare and consumer protection practices. Starting in 2011, Magen Tzedek ethical certification-literally a seal of justice- will be able to be earned by kosher-certified producers that additionally demonstrate social performance. SAAS will work with the commission, to develop policies and procedures needed for sustainable implementation., Thus, SAAS will work with the developers of these standards to design and implement an effective system for verifying that practices are just and sustainable. The organizations share the goals of improving working conditions, environmental practices, and protecting animal welfare, and are eager to move forward. Launched in 2007, the Magen Tzedek project is a joint project of the Hekhsher Tzedek Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The basic principle of Magen Tzedek is that the ethical underpinning of kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws, is inextricable from the ritual observance and thus carries moral weight and requirements. Drafting of the Magen Tzedek standards was led by Dr. Joe Regenstein, Professor of Food Science at Cornell University, under the supervision of Rabbis Michael Siegel and Morris Allen. SAAS and SAI, having worked around the world with certification of social standards since 1997, are delighted to be working with the developers of these standards to implement an effective system for verifying that practices indeed are just and sustainable. "We look forward to helping to make Magen Tzedek certification available to ethical producers who will offer this assurance to ethical consumers," said Rochelle Zaid, Executive Director of SAAS. "[SAI and SAAS] boasts over a dozen years of experience building socially responsible audit programs, such as the one that Magen Tzedek has drafted. The firm is qualified to help build the principles of Magen Tzedek into a well structured, sustainable audit program. Engaging this experienced organization will enable us to deliver Magen Tzedek to the marketplace and place our social justice mark on kosher products in 2011" stated Rabbi Iris Richman, Project Manager for the Hekhsher Tzedek Commission and an attorney. SAI will leverage its expertise as a standards organization, and assist SAAS in developing the metrics and criteria for certification. As the world's first Jewish ethical certification seal, Magen Tzedek's work with SAI and SAAS will help to assure consumers that kosher food products are produced in keeping with the highest possible Jewish ethical values and ideals for social justice in the area of labor concerns, animal welfare, environmental impact, consumer issues and corporate integrity. Designed to coexist with the traditional rabbinic kosher certification seals, field tests will take place this year and the first certification is expected in 2011. |
New Publication: "From Principles to Practice: The Role of SA8000 in Implementing the UN Global Compact"
SAI, CIPE, and the UN Global Compact Publication Profiles Six Companies' Work with SA8000 & the UNGC to Achieve Decent Working Conditions
[From Principles to Practice: The Role of SA8000 in Implementing the UNGC]  | On June 24, at the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Leaders Summit 2010, SAI, in cooperation with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the UNGC, launched a joint publication: " From Principles to Practice: The Role of SA8000 in Implementing the UN Global Compact." This
publication features six case studies of companies from around the world that
use SA8000 as a tool to meet their UNGC commitments. "The experiences of these companies show that SA8000 certification works
effectively as a tool to report on and meet their Global Compact commitments,'
said Eileen Kohl Kaufman, Executive Director of SAI. Companies profiled in this are: Beraca (Brazil),
Rosy Blue Diamond (Thailand),
Sabaf (Italy), TDE (Bolivia), TNT Express (Argentina), and Yesim (Turkey). They are medium-sized enterprises by international standards (TNT Argentina,
Rosy Blue Diamond, and TDE are subsidiaries of larger global companies), in
diverse industries: apparel, appliance controls, chemicals, electrical
transmission, jewelry, and transportation. Through participation in the
UNGC and SA8000 certification they illustrate that businesses of all sizes,
sectors, and regions can move from ideas and statements to action. "Since 2000, the UNGC initiative has encouraged business to commit to ten
principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and
anti-corruption," said John D. Sullivan, CIPE's executive director. "Our joint publication highlights successful examples of how good
corporate citizenship can be an integral part of business strategy and
operations and help improve the business climate around the world." These case studies illustrate the usefulness of voluntary standards in advancing
all aspects of good corporate citizenship in a variety of business ventures and
environments. They also provide a strong case for the business benefits
of responsible conduct in terms of improved sales, employee satisfaction,
community relations, as well as brand and industry reputation. In the
words of Mike Patrick, Director of Corporate Responsibility at TNT Express,
"The challenge in this century is to recognize those that integrate social
and environmental demands with the demands of business and influence others in
the process." Click here to download the case study, and press release For more information, contact Joleen Ong, jong@sa-intl.org
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SAI & Rainforest Alliance Team Up to Benefit More Workers for Healthier, Safer, Stable Workplaces
Coordinating Standards to Make Farms Better Workplaces
SAI, the Rainforest Alliance, and the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), have joined forces in Latin America to improve agricultural workplaces by increasing application of labor and environmental standards and increasing efficiency of certification through joint auditing. This collaboration will leverage the benefits of both certification standards - SAI's SA8000 standard for decent working conditions and the Sustainable Agriculture Network standard for sustainable agricultural practices. Products from certified farms can bear the Rainforest Alliance Certified trustmark. Recognizing that time and resources are two common constraints for agricultural organizations seeking certification, this collaboration will enable a more efficient audit process to eliminate redundancies, so that farms can focus attention and resources on improving workplaces and maintaining productivity. SAI and Rainforest Alliance are developing procedures for combined audits against the certification systems SA8000 and SAN. The overlap between the standards is significant; for example, the SA8000 labor standard includes approximately 48% of the SAN standard's criteria. A joint integrated SA8000- Rainforest Alliance audit team conducted the first pilot joint audit in May and is planning additional pilots to develop the most effective approach. The initial results estimate that farms could save a full day from the audit process to achieve both certifications. This joint project is similar to SAI's collaboration with Transfair USA to pilot joint SA8000-Fairtrade audits in India - where the goal is also to make the social audit process more effective, with less overlap. (See the April newsletter highlight of the SAI-Transfair project.) By addressing two frequent stumbling blocks - cost and time - the standard-setting organizations are paving the way to establish the use of SA8000 and Rainforest Alliance Certification as a best practice in agriculture. Ultimately, use of the standards benefits farm workers, managers & their communities with healthier workplace environments, stable employment, competitive productivity and sustainable natural resource use.
For more information, contact Eliza Wright, EWright@sa-intl.org.
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Building Awareness & Skills for Social Responsibility in Egypt & Dubai
SAI Conducts Seminars with Local Organizations on "Enhancing Competitiveness through Improving Social Responsibility"
[Photo above: Dubai training participants gather at the end of the seminar.
Credit: Sanjiv Singh]
 | On July 7-8 in Egypt, the Egyptian Corporate Responsibility Center, under the Ministry of Investment, hosted a two-day seminar on Enhancing Competitiveness through Improving Social Responsibility. The seminar focused on the business benefits of using management systems to improve social compliance, examining SA8000 in the context of local Egyptian law and labor practices. SAI Co-Trainer- Mohamed El-Husseiny, and Craig Moss- SAI Director of Corporate Programs and Training-- delivered the seminar to a wide array of attendees representing organizations including: Olympic Group, Egypt's largest appliance manufacturer; Giza Spinning and Weaving; the Export Development Bank of Egypt; BMW Egypt; and Metalco, one of Egypt's largest public steel fabrication and construction companies. Additionally, at the seminar, participants learned how to form an internal social compliance team, and reviewed step-by-step guides to improving social compliance in their company and in their supply chain. On July 11 in Dubai, UAE, [photo above] SAI carried out a half-day seminar hosted by the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) and arranged by WIRE, SAI's Authorized Representative in Dubai. SAI Co-Trainer and WIRE Managing Director, Sanjiv Singh teamed up with Craig Moss to deliver the seminar titled, "Introduction to Social Compliance and its Business Benefits." The seminar provided background on the elements of labor compliance and the SA8000 standard, as well as the business benefits in production, marketing and access to capital of improving labor compliance. Attendees represented organizations such as the Dubai Community Development Authority, Walmart Global Procurement, TNT, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Jumeirah Group and the Dubai Properties Group, as well as several departments from ENOC. Additionally, the seminar provided an overview of the SAI-IFC Handbook: Measure & Improve Your Labor Standards Performance. Click here to view more photos from this training. For more information, please contact Kate Critchell- SAI Assistant Manager, Corporate Programs & Training, KCritchell@sa-intl.org |
SAI Welcomes New Corporate Programs Member: Beraca The S�o Paulo-Based Natural Products Company Commits to SAI's Corporate Programs at the Explorer Level
[From left: Alice Tepper Marlin-SAI; Ulisses Matiolli Sabara-Beraca; Jane Hwang-SAI; Richard Cook-SAI; Elena Arengo- SAI; Eliza Wright-SAI]
 |  SAI welcomes Beraca as a new member of Corporate Programs at the Explorer level. As an Explorer member, Beraca aims to continue its development and implementation of management systems for improving social compliance, both in the company and throughout its supply chain. As part of the Explorer member services, both SAI headquarters and BSD, SAI's Authorized Representative Office in Brazil, will provide Beraca with advisory support, project management, and supply chain management training and tools. Beraca, a S�o Paolo-based natural products company, has four business divisions: water technologies; food ingredients; health and personal care; and animal nutrition and health. The water technologies division is one of the largest providers of chlorine-based water treatment products and services in Brazil. As one of the largest suppliers of natural and organic ingredients for pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers and brands, Beraca has customers in 47 countries for its biodiversity products. Among them are leading cosmetics brands such as L'Occitane, L'Oreal (Kiehl's), Natura, and Aveda. In all their diverse lines of business, Beraca's owners strive to focus on sustainability, which often presents significant hurdles in Brazil. Ulisses Matiolli Sabar�, Co-President of Beraca, stopped by SAI's offices on June 23, the eve of the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010, to meet SAI staff and officially pledge Beraca's continued support of SAI's mission through Explorer enrollment. Currently 6 of their factories are SA8000 certified, with one more that is seeking certification. Alice Tepper Marlin, SAI President, met with Beraca while in S�o Paolo with Beat Gruninger, Managing Director of BSD, SAI's Authorized Representative Office. Recently, Beraca, with its commitment to SA8000, received high attention at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010- as one of the 6 companies featured in the UNGC report, " From Principles to Practice: The Role of SA8000 in Implementing the UN Global Compact." The report, published on June 24 at the Summit and circulated to all 1200 attendees, features case studies of companies using SA8000 as a critical tool to improve business and sustainability. For more information about SAI Corporate Programs, please contact Assistant Manager, Kate Critchell, kcritchell@sa-intl.org. |
WE Project- International Stakeholder Conference to Initiate Scaling Up
Sumi, a worker from Bangladesh, shared her reflections and experiences with the WE project
 | At the conference, project stakeholders were presented with, and had the opportunity to discuss, the dialogue -oriented project approach, and the results of the external impact assessment. Based on that, options for scaling up were debated. Highlights of the conference included the participation of the local partners: mangers and workers from seven pilot companies and selected local trainers from China, Bangladesh and Thailand.
Sumi, a worker from Bangladesh shared her reflections on the project: "The WE dialogue approach established a good relationship between workers and management in my factory. Through this, I have become stronger myself. Today, I have the confidence to come to you here in Germany and to share my experiences directly. I never thought I would develop this kind of courage".
Different expert groups developed recommendations on a number of topics, three of which were: how to integrate trade unions and governments further; which aspects make up the business case; and, what role social audits and further initiatives can play to promote labor standard implementation. The Conference included attendees a variety of organizations: SAI, the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), ILO & Better Work, ITGWLF, Clean Clothes Campaign, governmental organizations, international brands retailers and Tchibo buyers.
This stakeholder conference is a starting point for the further roll-out of the WE approach to more suppliers of international brands and retailers and for integration of further stakeholders in this process. Interested parties are invited to contact the project managers Nanda Bergstein, |
Film Review: Nero's GuestSAI Interns Nathalie Herman, Allison Kwan & Dianne Milner review 'Nero's Guest,' and some implications of Indian farmers' suicides for CSR Initiatives
Nero's Guests  | As a Vidarbha farmer states: "Is it a sin to be a farmer? No one cares about us. No one notices. No one hears our cries." The growing inequity and poverty in India was captured in a new powerful labor rights documentary, Nero's Guests, premiering in New York during the Human Rights Watch film festival from June 10th to June 24th. The film follows Indian-native Palagummi Sainath, human rights activist and journalist for The Hindu, as he travels through the rural parts of India. Through his travels, he seeks to call attention to the thousands of suicides committed each year by farmers who are grief-stricken by their inability to pay back their debts and support their families. The film documents Sainath's visits with the families left behind in the Anantapur district of the Indian state Andhra Pradesh, in which cotton and various food crops are grown. The commonalities behind each of their stories illustrates the precarious conditions of an Indian farmer that encourage these tragedies to occur- long working hours, job instability, and high exposure to dangerous pesticides, which ultimately do not bring in enough money for themselves or their families to live. The nature of small independent farms poses many difficulties for Indian farmers, namely the guarantee of a decent standard of living and other basic human rights. The lack of a formalized management system means that it is difficult to maintain accountability for workers' rights. One way to address this issue is for companies to implement a system of corporate social responsibility that pervades its entire supply chain. Furthermore, by adopting a multi-stakeholder approach, the farmers who grow the raw materials and the factory workers who create the final products can have their interests considered and voices heard. It is clear that in order to facilitate this process we cannot employ a one-size-fits-all approach. Sainath points out that people coming out of prestigious institutions studying development, "sit as consultants in three-piece suits, making decisions for farmers whose work they know nothing about, whose lives they know nothing about..." As a result of this disconnect, development must be initiated from the bottom-up by educating and empowering local individuals on the ground. Sainath hopes, through this film, to motivate people to act- to pay attention to the needs of this historically marginalized group, close the widening gap of inequality in India, and empower the livelihoods to save lives. To learn more about this film, visit www.nerosguests.com
For more information about SAI's work in India to scale up CSR initiatives with the BSCI and GTZ, click hereContact: Nathalie Herman, NHerman@sa-intl.org; Allison Kwan, AKwan@sa-intl.org; Dianne Milner, DMilner@sa-intl.org. |
Highlights & Announcements
SAI Associate-Christine Moser, stands with SAI Advisory Board member & CSR Manager at Dole Food-Roberto Vega, at the SusCon 2010.
 | June 2010- Publication of "Measure & Improve" Your Labor Standards Performance a Handbook and Toolkit for the World Bank's International Finance Corporate (IFC) Performance Standard 2 (PS2). Download the full handbook
June 15-16- SusCon- The International Conference on Sustainable Business and Consumptionconvened its annual forum in Nuremberg, Germany to discuss relevant topics on biodiversity. The conference included participation from SAI Associate, Christine Moser.
June 22-24- ISEAL Alliance Conference 2010 convened outside London, UK to discuss the current and future developments for social and environmental standards. The conference included participation from SAI's Project Manager, Matthew Fischer-Daly, Communications & Development Associate, Joleen Ong and SAAS' Executive Director, Rochelle Zaid, & SAAS Program Manager, Lisa Bernstein. June 23-Consumers International Supermarket Conference convened a forum to focus attention on the impact of European supermarket supply chains on workers and communities in developing countries. This conference was attended by SAI Associate, Christine Moser.
July 2010- Human Rights and Business Dilemmas Forum was launched to help companies and stakeholders come together to share experiences or real-world challenges. This new online, multi-stakeholder platform for multi-national corporations was developed by Maplecroft in partnership with the UNGC and the support of the GE Foundation.
SAI Auditor Training participants in New York, 12-16 June 2010. Photo credit: Noriyuki Makiishi  |
July 2010- The Corporate Responsibility Code Book, 2nd Ed. Published by Greenleaf, author Deborah Leipziger's revised second edition is a key reference text on corporate codes of conduct. The SA8000 standard is included, along with ETI's base code, and others. Order a copy. July 14-15- "SA8000 & Trade Unions: An Alliance in the Defense of Fundamental Human Rights"- BSD Consulting, SAI's local authorized representative in Brazil, facilitated this workshop with bank workers' unions that focused on the importance of worker involvement in the SA8000 Standard, and the role of worker empowerment in sustaining compliance in general. Representatives from Bradesco, HSBC, Santander, and Ita�/Unibanco attended this workshop. |
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