On October 26, 2010, the United States Labor Attach� to Nicaragua Daniel Carroll visited two companies that are participating in SAI's Project Cultivar to witness the economic and social impacts of the project on the companies' management and production. SAI Project Cultivar Deputy Director Carlos Morales, and Project Cultivar local partner- PASE Executive Director Alberto Legal Torres and PASE Project Coordinator Alberto Legal L�pez accompanied Mr. Carroll during his visit to a sugar mill- Ingenio Monte Rosa and a medium-size banana farm- Finca Coquimba. Ingenio Monte Rosa is the second largest sugar mill in Nicaragua employing over 5,000 workers, and Finca Coquimba is a medium-size banana farm in the town of Chinandega. 

At the Monte Rosa sugar mill, Mr. Carroll toured with members of the factory's management staff, and watched a video on the sugar mill's production process and social responsibility policies. PASE has trained 12 union representatives of the Ramon Salvatierra union on Occupational Health and Safety and Complaints Management systems in order to implement a 'train the trainer' methodology so the union representatives can train other workers on occupational safety and health risks and prevention strategies.

At Finca Coquimba, proprietor Eduardo Ubilla shared the latest data on the "productivity rankings" of the banana farms that supply to Chiquita Brands in Nicaragua.  He explained that Chiquita suppliers such as Finca Coquimba periodically sit with the company to evaluate and measure how to improve production in the country's banana sector which also includes five other major farms.

Mr. Ubilla recalled that before participating in Project Cultivar's training workshops and implementing the technical advice of local partner PASE with regard to the reactivation and management of Coquimba's Joint Worker-Manager Committee on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), Coquimba's productivity vacillated between 2nd and 3rd place.  But now with a labor force trained in health and safety matters and cognizant of workplace risks and a Joint Worker-Manager Committee committed to its mandate, Coquimba rose to 1st place nationwide in the category of "production quality."  Notably, the union representatives on the farm actively supported and helped to train their peers on OHS issues, thereby strengthening labor relations more broadly.

At the conclusion of his visit, Mr. Carroll affirmed, "these figures make a clear image of the increases in productivity and benefits that [result] from good labor practices." Evidence of Project Cultivar's progress in the integration of this knowledge across banana farms and sugarcane fields through the creation of collaborative spaces for learning and worker-manager dialogue is manifested in the proliferation of first aid kits and the reduction in the incidence of grievances resolved in the countries' court systems compared to the farms' internal management systems.

A main goal of Project Cultivar has been to demonstrate that social benefits such as those experienced by Finca Coquimba far outweigh the economic costs and that better industrial relations can lead to the heightened productivity and competitiveness of a farm and potentially the sector as a whole.  The project has trained a total of 1,800 workers, 262 managers, and 208 government representatives/NGOs in the CAFTA-DR region in the agricultural sector. Additionally, 11 of the 15 medium to large-sized farms affiliated with Project Cultivar have established or reactivated Joint Worker-Manager Committees to manage Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) issues, and six Complaint Management Systems (CMS) have been instituted.  Finca Coquimba is currently working with PASE and Project Cultivar staff to brief other farm owners in the region on the benefits of dialogue-led change.

To learn more about Farm Coquimba, view SAI's 2009 Annual Report- www.sa-intl.org/AR2009
For more information, contact SAI Program Associate, Eliza Wright- EWright@sa-intl.org

The training built on the sugarcane producers' experiences with increasingly demanding global markets and offered practical steps for sugarcane producers to begin to demonstrate their commitment and efforts. The capacity building workshop was the second for the group, who finished the day committing to use the monitoring and self-evaluation tool provided through the course.

SAI Project Manager Matt Fischer-Daly facilitated the workshop, and observed- "We could sense a shift in the room - from skepticism on the applicability of international labor standards in their sector to the producers brainstorming on collective strategies."

Parallel to this technical training, which focuses on plantation-level improvements of labor relations and working conditions standards, SAI and CIAC convened regular multi-stakeholder meetings for dialogue on beyond-the-farm challenges to compliance. In this case the "Dialogue Roundtable on Labor Standards in the Dominican Sugarcane Sector" has addressed the critical issues of access to social security and the prevention of cholera. Therefore, at the end of the November 3 training workshop, producers selected their representatives to participate in the Dialogue Roundtable the following week.

Impacts of combining site-specific training and industry-wide dialogue are evident in participants' experiences. Carlos Zorilla, President of the Federation of Sugarcane Producers of the East (FECARE), commented, "I'm taking a new approach to negotiations with the companies, more engaging, and finding that dialogue really can work."

Workshop participants - sugarcane producers that supply Alcoholes Finos Dominicanos S.A. - agreed as a next step to implement a self-assessment and monitoring tool provided in the workshop.

For more information, contact SAI Project Manager, Matt Fischer-Daly- MDaly@sa-intl.org.

Amy Hall is the Director of Corporate Social Consciousness at Eileen Fisher, a women's clothing retailer based in the United States.  Eileen Fisher is a founding SAI Corporate Program member at the Signatory Level, and Ms. Hall is a member of SAI's Advisory Board. Eileen Fisher is the first company to roll out SAI's Social Fingerprint program with 6 factories in China, which will be reported in the December 2010 newsletter.

Ms. Hall spoke with us to explain more about Eileen Fisher's Social Consciousness department, discussing its best practices to engage vendors.

First, why "social consciousness" and not "corporate social responsibility?"
 
We call it 'social consciousness' because we believe that it's not just about our responsibility, but about raising awareness around all the people that we interact with- our customers, vendors, business partners- it's not only about what we are doing in our individual roles. When I think of social consciousness, it's not just about what the company can do, but what we can do all together. It begins with each individual's sense of inspiration, and where each person fits into the bigger picture. 

From your experience, what are some of Eileen Fisher's best practices for corporate social consciousness? How do you engage your vendors?

A key aspect of how we engage with vendors is that we involve organizations or NGOs that can support our work because our expertise is limited. This is part  of our strategy, and why SAI is one of the major partners that we work with.

Also, we engage other teams such as manufacturing, sourcing, and design to embrace them in this process so that we all come from the same angle and have similar ultimate goals within each of our areas of work. Earlier this morning, our department talked about the effects of air and sea shipments, and what we can do as a team to continue the discussion with the design and manufacturing team. For example, if last minute changes are made by the design team-- such as the shape of a collar-- we need to understand the ripple effects on the hours of labor, mode of shipping, and wages paid. We raise this awareness throughout the company in order for everyone to play a role in contributing to the bigger picture.

Can you elaborate more on how Eileen Fisher supports its vendors, especially with your commitment to the practices outlined in the SA8000 certification?

Our level of interaction reflects our commitment to a given factory and the amount of volume they produce for us. Even now, after doing this over 12 years, many of these concepts are still challenging because of the government and political systems that they operate in and the culture. We have to support and partner with them, and not make it about policing and punishing.

Additionally, we don't believe that you can just hang up rules on wall and walk away. One of the approaches that Eileen Fisher does is to start where the vendor is- you can't assume that they know any more than they do, you have to start at their capacity level. So part of that is achieved through training with organizations like SAI, and seeing an avenue for their needs. We try from our end to look out for opportunities to push for influence.

How do you select factories to source from and work with?

We have a checklist that our manufacturing department uses when selecting a factory, and we also issue a self assessment. Now that we are using SAI's Social Fingerprint™, we may use this instead of the checklist and self assessment because it covers the same purpose. This enables us to get a snapshot of factories to see where they currently are at this moment in time. We don't rank or grade factories, but rather see how far along they are in alignment with SA8000 values.

In your opinion, what is the potential impact of the vendor development program in China, especially as you will be the first company to utilize SAI's new Social Fingerprint program?

What I like about it is that it takes a holistic approach. In the past, we would have gone in for a workshop, and returned in 6 months for the second visit. This year, Eileen Fisher said that she sees "business as a movement," where it's not just about making clothes and getting orders out on time, but thinking holistically as to how to achieve this sustainably. I think this program lays the foundation, where we can use more tools and information to think about what everyone's place is when visualizing corporate social responsibility. With this program there is the vendor assessment and evaluation, and then they'll receive feedback on how they can take action right away to improve if needed. There's a lot of follow up with what we can support them with, while still giving the time to make changes

For more information, contact SAI Communications & Development Coordinator, Joleen Ong, Jong@sa-intl.org

I am a post graduate from the International Centre of CSR at the University of Nottingham, UK. I also have a BSc Honours in Business Administration and Sociology, obtained from Aston University and it was this degree which gave me exposure to CSR issues.  

My voluntary work and academic studies have secured my interest in international workers rights, supply chain management and reporting, especially in the apparel industry. Previously, I volunteered with the Labor behind the Label, project- Fashioning and Ethical Industry where I helped with the development of appeals and research of ethical supply chain and supply chain management across the garment and textile industry.  I also volunteered in Cambodia with the Cambodian Coalition of Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU).

Currently, at SAI I am working with Eileen Kaufman in preparing background research on Sri Lankan companies-- Globe Knitting and Shore to Shore-- that  are SA8000 certified and also participate in the UN Global Compact. The aim of the research is to produce a case study report of each of the companies similar to those published last June- 'From Principles to Practice: The role of SA800 in Implementing the UN Global Compact'.

For more information, contact Hayley Warren, HWarren@sa-intl.org

October 26-27- GRI Supply Chain Disclosure Working Group SAI Senior Manager of Corporate Programs & Training Jane Hwang attended the group's first meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Working Group members, representing 15 diverse organizations across 5 continents, will draft recommendations on how to improve the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines to support the quality of disclosure on performance with respect to supply chains.

SAI Lead Trainer Vic Thorpe convenes an SA8000 Basic Auditor Training Course in Istanbul, Turkey on November 1-5, 2010

October 27- "Microfinance: A Look and a Look Ahead"- Wharton Ethics Program and Penn Social Enterprise Speakers Series SAI Advisory Board member Joe Iarocci,Chief of Staff at CARE USA was the keynote speaker at this event, which focused on the evolution of microfinance revolution and addressed some of the issues in the microfinance debate.

November 2010- The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) publishes new SAN Standard for Sustainable Cattle Production SystemsThis is the first standard of its kind among voluntary standards systems. The standard�s criteria are only applicable to semi-confined systems where cattle are allowed access to pasture and cover issues such as land and waste management, infrastructure and the treatment and transport animals and the farm�s carbon footprint. For more information, contact Oliver Bach obach@sanstandards.org

November 2-5- BSR Conference 2010 SAI Program Director, Judy Gearhart and Senior Manager of Corporate Programs and Training, Jane Hwang participated in this annual conference in New York, whose theme was "Integrate, innovate, and inspire."

November 17- State of Sustainability Initiatives Review 2010 This publication includes a comprehensive overview of major voluntary sustainability standards and initiatives. The SA8000 standard is included in this review, along with other social environmental standards from organizations like the Rainforest Alliance, FLO, FSC, IFOAM, and UTZ Certified.

November 23-24- World Banana Forum (WBF): Certifications Working Group SAI Project Manager Matthew Fischer-Daly and member of the WBF Certifications Working Group attended this multi-stakeholder working group at FAO's head office in Rome, Italy.