SA8000^® Approved by Dutch Sustainable Public Procurement  

SA8000^® will be integrated into the social criteria for public procurement 

SAI is pleased to announce that the SA8000^® standard is part of the Dutch Government's social criteria program for sustainable public procurement. SAI is one of six approved initiatives. The  list includes two other ISEAL Alliance members - UTZ Certified and the Union for Ethical BioTrade- as well as Max Havelaar Foundation, Fair Flowers Fair Plants and the Fair Wear Foundation. 

The social criteria for sustainable public procurement will focus on compliance with international labour and human rights standards in the international supply chain. SAI is the first U.S.-based organization to be recognized for this social criteria, and is also the first initiative whose standard is accepted across all product groups. This is especially relevant, as the SA8000^® standard certifies decent workplaces across all industries, in any country.  

This policy  offers a great opportunity for current SA8000^® facilities. According to SAAS' certification statistics, there are an estimated 2,700 certifed facilities in the world,  employing over 1.5 million workers.  In addition, this is encouraging news for workplaces that are currently working to earn SA8000^® certfication. Certified facilities get easier access to an annual  budget of 50 billion EUR spent by Dutch central and decentral goverment agencies.

It is very promising to see governments make ethical procurement a concrete program, moving beyond the development of positive policies to provide market incentives for ethical production. Multinational, national and regional governmental bodies are key users and supporters of voluntary social standards systems. With growing recognition for the importance of sustainability, many government agencies, both at national and multilateral level, leverage their purchasing power for  sustainability and public policy objectives.

In the Netherlands, the Dutch government set targets to phase in the use of  environmental conditions in public procurement decisions. The 2010 target was to include environmental conditions in 100% of the public procurement transactions of the central government, 75% for municipalities and 50% for provinces. In 2011, social conditions were added, applying differently to different stages of the procurement process. Social conditions in public procurement decisions is not yet mandatory but are supported along the process. Social conditions apply to European tenders above specified  thresholds (EUR 133,000 for services and EUR 5,150,000 for goods) and not to national tenders. Social tender conditions are not used to select parties, but are discussed upon signing of the contracts. In the future it is likely that including social conditions in tender procedures will become mandatory.

Contracting: the process becomes more stringent in the contract phase - the  vendor must accept the social conditions. There are two types- general and additional conditions, which  be managed under one of three 'regimes.'

The general conditions, which must be accepted, are based on the core conventions of the ILO:  

• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining;
• No forced labor;
• No child labor;
• No discrimination 

The additional criteria are set for certain sectors: coffee, tea, textile and flowers. These product groups are selected due to the existence of multi-stakeholder initiatives in these sectors. 

The additional conditions set are: 

• Living wage;
• Fair or minimum prices and pre financing;
• Working hours;
• Health and safety 

Upon signing the contract,  the supplier chooses a 'regime.' The chosen regime details how the supplier proposes to manage the social conditions. There are three regimes:    

Regime 1: The supplier is a member of, or certified to, one of the program's specified  initiatives - a supplier can simply show evidence of membership or in this case a copy of a valid SA8000^® certificate to show that it meets social conditions. 

Regime 2: The supplier does not see any risks related to violations of the set social conditions - a supplier can simply state there are no risks. If the government agency or other stakeholders sees no reason to think otherwise, a supplier meets the conditions like this. If the government agency does not agree, regime 3 applies. 

Regime 3: Social risks are present or might be present -a supplier has to accept the set conditions, needs to do a risk analysis, has to show how to mitigate risks and needs to report on progress. 

Regime 1 is the fastest, most credible and cost-effective way for the supplier and government agency to verify its commitment. By simply showing a certificate, a supplier is automatically verified.

For more information, read the notification on the Dutch Procurement website (in Dutch), or contact SAI Europe Representative Edwin Koster at EKoster@sa-intl.org.

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Project Cultivar: Final Report on Impact Released 

In the challenging agricultural sector, Project Cultivar establishes a system for continuous improvement on the farm      

       

The results are in on SAI's Project Cultivar in Central America. In August 2011, SAI issued Project Cultivar's final report, chronicling its work to advance labor rights in the agricultural sector, in partnership with CIAC, INCAP, PASE and CDH, and supported by the U.S. Department of Labor.

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SAI India Update: 'Training of Trainers' in Gurgaon 

After a rigorous selection process for local trainers, the 'Training of trainers' classroom sessions begins in Gurgaon 

In Gurgaon, India outside of New Delhi, 20 trainers participated in an intense 5-day classroom "Training of trainers." This is an activity of SAI's joint Development Partnership (PPP) with GIZ and BSCI.

 On August 29 to September 2, SAI conducted the classroom 'Training of Trainers' (ToT) in Gurgaon. This 5-day intense classroom session is part of SAI's joint development partnership (PPP) "Scaling Up Responsible Business Initiatives in India." The sessions focused on the four focus areas for the India PPP: 1) Internal auditing for social performance; 2) Management systems for social performance; 3) Managing the supply chain for social performance; and 4) Workplace communications. SAI Lead Trainers Badri Gulur and Sanjiv Singh led the course, with extra support from SAI India Project Director Rishi Singh on the supply chain focus area.
 
"The ToT focused on a timely response to our global, fast-paced environment where challenges can be best addressed with new attitude, skills and knowledge," said Mona Gupta, a participating trainer. "To quote Darwin - 'it is not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but it is the one that is most responsive to changes.'"

The 20 trainers were selected to participate after undergoing a rigorous application process that started in April 2011. These trainers will play a key role in creating a local network of trainers to support cost effective and scalable trainings in India, as a key goal of the PPP. This is also the first step towards building the expertise for the Centre for Responsible Business. 

The event was hosted and coordinated by GIZ, which actively participated in the 5 day event. Next step is the field qualification of trainers by co-training with SAI master trainers in the upcoming supplier workshops.   

Learn more about SAI's Development Partnership (PPP) in India at www.sa-intl.org/indiappp. For more information, contact Rishi Singh, India Project Director at RSingh@sa-intl.org.

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Social Compliance: Moving from the Stick to the Carrot

 At the ISSP Conference 2011 Craig Moss led a presentation titled: Social Fingerprint^® - Practical tools to improve social performance

Photo, from left: 1) ISSP Executive Director Marsha Willard stands with SAI's Craig Moss; 2) a presentation slide from the workshop; 3) conference attendees listen to and participate in the presentation.

On September 22, 2011, SAI's Director of Corporate Programs and Training Craig Moss spoke at the ISSP Conference 2011 in Portland, Oregon.

Convening over 150 sustainability professionals from around the world, the conference focused on helping practitioners to integrate sustainability within their respective organizations.  

Mr. Moss' presentation focused on practical tools to achieve social compliance. His hour-long presentation gave an overview of SAI's work and activities to improve social performance in the supply chain, the complexities behind auditing for social compliance, and the development and impact of Social Fingerprint's^® process-based approach to improvement.

"We are seeing a new trend in supply chain management, which is to move from risk mitigation to competitive advantage," said Mr. Moss. "To achieve social compliance, you need to move from the stick to the carrot. Management systems need to be established for effective implementation."

Over 30 people attended the workshop, coming from various disciplines (including water and environment) and sectors (companies, independent consulting firms, government and NGOs). The diversity in perspective led to a rich discussion on how environmentally-focused organizations may start to widen their scope to include labor issues and workplace conditions.

After the presentation, a participant from a governmental institution commented, "I was so thrilled to learn about Social Fingerprint^® at ISSP. As I come to this discipline from the environmental side, I desperately needed assistance in learning more about the social aspects of the supply chain. Your talk was a highlight of the conference for me."

The presentation also highlighted future opportunities for individuals to get involved with SAI's Social Fingerprint^® Program through its Professional Certification Program. This program will build SAI's trainer base globally, and includes classroom, online, and field training. More information will be included in the October 2011 newsletter. 

For more information about this presentation, view the presentation slides from the event. You can also see what was tweeted through our conference hashtag, #SFatISSP or #ISSP2011. For further information, please contact SAI Director of Craig Moss cmoss@sa-intl.org. 

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Meet SAI's New Intern: Caroline Lewis 

Introducing our newest intern, Caroline Lewis, in her own words 

 

I am a qualified UK employment lawyer and moved to the U.S. 10 years ago. I branched out into the field of international labour rights and worked for two years at the ILO office for the United Nations in New York. At the ILO, I followed the work of the General Assembly and its various committees (on issues like child labour, the rights of indigenous people and discrimination against women), while at the same time pushing the ILO agenda. This was a fascinating first hand insight into the machinations of the UN.

While at the ILO, I learnt about the work of SAI and managed to land a spot on the SA8000^® auditor training course that took place in New Jersey.  I loved the course. Learning about how labour standards can be practically applied in the field was very productive. I vowed to seek SAI out again and so, two children later, I am back.

For more information, contact Caroline Lewis at clewis@sa-intl.org. 

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Highlights & Announcements   

Participants of the SA8000® Basic Auditor Training course in New Delhi, India with SAI Trainers Sanjiv Singh and Badri Gulur. 20 participants, representing auditors, local companies, and certifying bodies, attended this 5-day course on September 12-16. [Source: Sanjiv Singh]

Tchibo Receives Gold Award- Sustainable Retail Business 2011 The Verbraucher Initiative included Tchibo in its 'Sustainable Retail Business 2010' awards. It received a gold award in the textiles category, and a silver award in luxury food for its coffee. Congratulations! Read it (in German) @bit.ly/nW3Rma

ISEAL Alliance 2010 Report Published September 2011, this is ISEAL's first annual report, highlighting its work on the groundbreaking Impacts Code in 2010. Read it @bit.ly/p2H0de  

 

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