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May 2012
1. SAI Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Board Convenes in NYC
2. SA8000: Basic Needs Wage & Overtime
3. Tchibo GmbH Upgrades Corporate Membership
4. Pre-Subscribe Now: Handbook on UN Guiding Principles
5. Enroll in Global SA8000 Auditor Training Courses
6. Highlights & Announcements
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Top 3 News Stories 

 

Training Courses

 Social Fingerprint® Online Courses 

- Getting Started in Your Company

-Building Your Internal Social Performance Team

 

SA8000® Online Auditor Training Courses

 SA8000® Revision Course

 

Professional Development Series

SA8000® Introduction

Sao Paulo, Brazil

June 4 & Sept 3, 2012   

June 11-15, Shenzhen, China

 Events

     

Better Business Bureau CSR Forum 2012  

BBB, June 7 

(New York, NY)

Social Accountability International (SAI) is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established to advance the human rights of workers by promoting decent work conditions, labor rights, and corporate social responsibility through voluntary standards and capacity building. 

 

SAI is headquartered in the United States with field representation in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, India, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Switzerland, and UAE.


SAI- Human Rights at Work

For newsletter inquiries contact:
SAI Communications Manager
Joleen Ong,  
jong@sa-intl.org

top2SAI Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Board Convenes in NYC

Key meeting takeaways from Advisory Board Chair, Achim Lohrie

SAI Advisory Board convenes in NYC. Clockwise from top left: Edwin Koster, SAI; Eliza Wright, SAI; Steven Oates, SAI; David Zweibel, NCLC; Lorenz Berzau, BSCI; Bob Mitchell, HP; Luca Valli, CISE; Darryl Knudsen, Gap Inc.; Craig Moss, SAI; Syed Atif Ali, TNT; Achim Lohrie, Tchibo GmbH; Alan Spaulding; Tom DeLuca, CCI Consulting; Ivano Corraini, FILCAMS-CGIL; Federico Tani, FILCAMS-CGIL; Helio Mattar, Akatu Institute; Alice Tepper Marlin, SAI; Rochelle Zaid, SAAS; Eileen Kaufman, SAI; Amy Hall, EILEEN FISHER; Joleen Ong, SAI; Carole de Montgolfier, Carrefour; Dorianne Beyer, NCLC.

Achim Lohrie, Chair of SAI Board of Advisors: 


We made great progress towards organizing the different aspects of SAI's leadership, grounded in over 15 years of building and implementing management systems for socially responsible supply chains. During the meeting, we focused on how to scale up existing programs, as well as how to support SAI's growth.

 

One of the things we looked at during this Advisory Board meeting was how to raise the level, scope and scale of companies that are participating in the Social Fingerprint® program, which already has incredible buy-in from international retail organizations. This is an impressive tool to implement social responsibility programs because, companies may have good codes and audit systems, but be missing tools for implementing management systems. Management systems are important because they give ownership to those who are key to implementation-- both the retailers and the supplier factories. And because they continue to operate inclusively after the audit snapshots.

 

We also looked at how we can sustain the future of SAI in light of a difficult economic environment. At the meeting I think we achieved a more structured way of organizing SAI's fundraising strategy, especially with our Development Committee and discussions with the Advisory Board. We strategically focused on how to find new ways of engaging outside stakeholders, especially from the government, funding organizations, global business and retailers who may be interested in integrating SAI's programs into their current work. SAI's new website was roundly applauded. 

 

SAI also welcomes new Advisory Board member, Syed Atif Ali - Regional CSR Manager for Southern Europe, Middle East & Africa, TNT Express, and Mike Patrick, former CSR Director of TNT Express was inducted into SAI Advisory Board Founders' Committee.  

 

In Fall 2012 we will convene our next Advisory Board meeting, which will specifically focus on strategic planning and development for the next five-year plan. 

 

Achim Lohrie is the Chair of the SAI Advisory Board and the Head of Corporate Responsibility at Tchibo GmbH.  For inquiries, contact SAI Communications Manager Joleen Ong - JOng@sa-intl.org.   

 

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SA8000 Basic Needs Wage & Overtime
Q & A with SAI Field Services Director, Doug DeRuisseau
 

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Question: In China, the issue of voluntary overtime- where workers are eager to work overtime to earn more money to send back to their hometowns - can create a challenging cycle for both workers and factory managers. This is the case sometimes even when workers are paid more than the basic needs wage (BNW). To comply with China's strict overtime laws, factory managers could put on extra shifts, hiring more workers. However that means fewer overtime pay opportunities for existing employees, who may then seek other job opportunities. How would you address this predicament?

 

Doug DeRuisseau: The problem is a familiar one and is driven by the drive to make money to support oneself and one's family. The threshold answer to the question lies in whether or not the worker is making sufficient money to support his/her family in a regular work week, before overtime, regardless of what the BNW calculation is. Most legal minimum wage levels around the world are too low, driven partly by intense globalization and the competition that it creates and also by inadequate social infrastructure, e.g. health care, unemployment insurance, pensions, education. That leads to the common quotation that 'a poor paying job is infinitely better than no job at all.'

 

Companies can do certain things to manage the overtime problem such as adding shifts, subcontracting, process redesign, etc. But that doesn't address the fundamental problem: wages are too low. Therefore, some companies (and governments, such as Thailand) increase hours to boost take-home pay rather than increase the wages. Thailand increased the weekly allowable overtime hours to 36 for the exact purpose of providing more take-home pay without raising production costs. Thus, some workers use this as leverage with a company that offers fewer work hours (thus complying with credible decent work codes and standards), saying they will go somewhere else to get the overtime to increase their take-home pay. This is not the answer.

 

One business owner said to me that excessive overtime resulted in four things for his business, all of which are bad: 1) higher cost (premium overtime pay rate); 2) higher accident rates; 3) lower production; and 4) poorer quality. This is not a good strategy for any business.

 

If the companies cannot (or will not) pay a higher base wage (and they are paying a lot more now if they are paying premium for overtime), the problem will not be solved in the long term. That is the simple answer. I truly believe that it is possible to pay people adequately and still remain competitive, because the company in more ways than one through increased loyalty, quality and productivity, plus lower staff turnover rates, overtime costs, and training costs. But one thing is for sure- workers do not love to work excessive hours for the sake of work. They do it in order to earn enough to live on or fear they will lose their jobs entirely if they do not demonstrate eagerness to work overtime. It is up to employers to find a better way-- a worthy and attainable goals. Indeed, many employers do it today.

 

Doug DeRuisseau is one of the pioneers experts in the field of social auditing, and helped to create SA8000 as the world's first management-system based social compliance standard. Additionally, as SAI's first Lead Trainer, he has trained hundreds of social auditors around the world, and has performed numerous accreditation audits.

 

Have a question? Send it to SAI Communications Manager Joleen Ong at Jong@sa-intl.org for consideration in the next newsletter.

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Tchibo GmbH Upgrades Corporate Membership
Interview with Tchibo's Head of Corporate Responsibility, Achim Lohrie

 

 

Achim Lohrie has been the head of Corporate Responsibility at Tchibo GmbH since 2006. Tchibo is a family-owned company. It is one of the largest coffee roasters in Europe, and the leading coffee brand in Germany. In addition to coffee, its also sells non-food items via a multi-channel sales system encompassing branded shops, a dense network of depots at retailers, and a thriving Internet and mail-order trade, uniquely rotating its products every week. 

 

In this interview, Mr. Lohrie talks about why Tchibo GmbH upgraded its Corporate Programs membership to the Signatory level from the Explorer level, as well as how it aligns with Tchibo's "DNA."

 

Q. Why did you upgrade from the Explorer level to the Signatory level?

 

A.  We upgraded our Corporate Program membership to the Signatory level for various reasons. It's a good opportunity to see what SAI can offer, especially with Social Fingerprint®. The new membership structure provides even more services, such as Social Fingerprint®, classroom training and online training-- it's a good cost-benefit ratio.

 

Q. Signatory members are able to design a custom project that's tailored to their supply chain needs - what is your vision for Tchibo?

 

A.  Our current supply chain management system integrates social (and environmental) standards. We have a very intensive monitoring system on one hand, and on the other a training system vis-a-vis our WE Project (Worldwide Enhancement of Social Quality). There is a great opportunity to integrate what SAI is offering with the WE Project's qualification program for our suppliers.

 

Q. You just completed the Social Fingerprint® Supply Chain Management self-assessment - tell us about your experience.

 

A. When we were first approached by SAI, we were hesitant to be the first to take it because, since it was in the development phase, we were not sure what the time commitment would be. However, we were convinced that the structure and content was valuable. It turned out that the self-assessment did not take long to do: we did it two 45 minute sessions. It was helpful to be able to take a break and come back to the assessment because we had to discuss some of the data with different departments.

 

I've not received Tchibo's evaluation score so far but am eager to get it. The most decisive advantage about using this tool is it helps improve our management systems for social compliance. Our score will help us to calibrate, and we can develop an improvement plan if appropriate

 

Q. You mentioned the WE Project earlier. It's a fantastic project that fosters the needed dialogue between your buyers, suppliers, workers and their representatives. I know it recently expanded from China, Bangladesh and Thailand to India.  How is the project going, and how did it originate?

 

A. The project was developed from my over 22 years in the social responsibility field. We saw that auditing, getting data, alone does not change anything. Although we need a reasonable number of audits, and a qualitative way of assessing progress with Tchibo, we thought we should put more emphasis on the qualification aspect of our suppliers. We needed something more than just awareness seminars to lead into the improvement process.

 

To actually drive the change, we  looked at the different qualification systems that are already in place worldwide that were more focused on dialogue and partnership, rather than policing.  From there, we developed the WE Project that aligns with Tchibo's integration strategy based on our "Company DNA".

 

Q. Can you talk more about this integration aspect?

 

A. To operationalize the WE project, we needed to start a structured dialogue integrating all parties attracted, especially buyers, suppliers, their workers and workers' representatives, to give ownership to them, orientation and identification and most of all to create win-win situations.

 

The WE Project's model consists of at least three different levels of dialogue, starting with 1) dialogue between buyers and the top management of our suppliers, 2) dialogue between buyers and the workers and their representatives and 3) dialogue between the top management of our suppliers and their workers and workers representatives, it's all about developing a common improvement program. It's important to get input and acceptance from all stakeholders through a dialogue process, and not through policing.

 

Q. We talked about Tchibo's CSR efforts externally, now let's look internally. One of Tchibo's unique qualities is that its CSR program is integrated, with a strong senior management and leadership commitment  - how does Tchibo's organization culture contribute to its CSR efforts internally?

 

A. I think Tchibo is quite unique in and of itself, with the combination of coffee bars, a section where the end consumers can buy the beans, and the weekly rotation of non-food articles in our stores. We've always thought of ways to be unique in the business model and our organization behind. The DNA of our company is based on our business strategy of "building the future on our heritage." As a family-owned company, integration of the workforce always was and will be a success factor in the future.  We follow this integrated approach all the way from top management to the people in the daily business. Let me illustrate this by our WE project:

 

Under the commitment of our top management, the WE Project and the integration of the Social Fingerprint® program are driven by a colleague of mine who moved from my CSR department to the buying department when the project was "ripe." We integrated this knowledge directly into the buying department and thus gave the buyers internal ownership and responsibility of this program. So comparably we did in several other areas of our holistic CSR program like eco-product development, sustainable packaging, logistics, CSR communication and others.

 

For more information, visit tchibo-sustainability.com. This interview was conducted by SAI Communication Manager Joleen Ong. For inquiries, contact  Jong@sa-intl.org


Pre-Subscribe Now: Handbook on UN Guiding Principles
SAI & ICCO's Handbook offers a six-step approach to help businesses implement the Principles in their supply chains

SAI and the Netherlands-based Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO) are pleased to announce that, due to high interest, its joint Handbook and Toolkit is now available for pre-subscription. It is scheduled to be published electronically July 1, 2012 and available for $50. Pre-subscribers will receive a 10% discount. They will also receive a 10% discount on the training workshops that SAI and ICCO will conduct in the fall of 2012. The training workshops will help attendees understand how to utilize the Handbook and address the challenges they face in implementing the Guiding Principles. They workshops will take place in the Netherlands, India and Brazil. Additional locations may be added later. 

 

This Handbook is based on the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, written by UN Special Representative John Ruggie and his team, which were endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in June 2011. It is designed to help companies operationalize the UN Guiding Principles, which include the "Protect, Respect and Remedy" framework. The Handbook was developed in response to the growing need of companies who struggle with transforming the principles into daily practice. The Handbook and Toolkit will help companies address questions concerning the scope, their risk and the practical integration of their responsibility to respect human rights in their supply chain.

 

The Handbook is applicable to companies in any industry, country and size. It is designed for use by senior management, as well as professionals in the human resources, corporate social responsibility, compliance and sourcing departments. Companies that are just getting started can go through the Handbook's six-step approach to build up their knowledge, policies and procedures. More experienced companies can use the Handbook to adapt their existing policies and codes to the Guiding Principles. In addition, the Handbook is also intended for CSR and sustainable supply chain management experts and consultants who train or advise companies, as well as for NGO and trade union representatives to learn about the implications of the Guiding Principles on their work.

 

The Handbook uses a six-step method to help companies implement a supply chain management system that integrated the respect for human rights. The six-steps are:

 

1.              Embedding human rights via a policy commitment

2.              Assessing human rights impact

3.              Integrating human rights in policies, procedures and responsibilities

4.              Tracking human rights implementation

5.              Communicating human rights impact

6.              Remediating human rights impact

 

The Handbook offers more than just an overview of the policies and procedures needed, it also offers practical knowledge with its section on the main human rights problems typically encountered in the supply chain. Based on over a decade of global experience, the Handbook describes common problems, but more importantly, it provides possible ways to address them.

 

For inquiries and to pre-subscribe, please contact SAI Europe Representative Edwin Koster (EKoster@sa-intl.org).

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Enroll in Global SA8000 Auditor Training Courses   
International Locations & Online Courses Available

Participants at the Advanced SA8000 Auditor Training in Sao Paulo, Brazil - April 23-25, 2012. Photo credit: Adriano Diniz Costa

  

Upcoming:    

SA8000® Basic Auditor Training

Location: Surabaya, Indonesia  

Date: July 16-20 

 

SA8000® Advanced Auditor Training

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam  

Date:  July 23-25

 

 

 

SAI training courses are designed to encourage proficiency in social compliance issues and emphasize the implementation of management systems. Learn about a management-system approach to social compliance auditing and supply chain management. These courses are required for all SA8000® and BSCI auditors, and are just as valuable to internal auditors, buyers, managers and workers for auditing to any labor code or standard. The courses are open to all.

 

For more information, contact SAI Training Coordinator, Stephanie Wilson at SWilson@sa-intl.org.

 

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Highlights & Announcements 

Snapshot from the ISEAL Alliance Conference in Bonn - Martin Ma, SAI Lead Trainer and Solidaridad China Director & Joleen Ong, SAI Communications Manager.  
SAI Turns 15! May 2012 marks the 15 year anniversary of SAI's establishment to advance the human rights of workers around the world.

 

SAI Unveils its Website Check it out and let us know what you think @www.sa-intl.org. Thanks to Tchibo GmbH for its crucial support towards it development.    
 
"Certifier Certainty"- Editorial in Corporate Responsibility Magazine SAI Executive Director Eileen Kaufman responded to the article, "What Price Assurance" citing that claims about sustainability verification are untrue. Read it @ow.ly/bg4ZT

 

Participate in the GSCP Reference Tools Review Process The GSCP Reference Tools aim to describe the best existing practice and provide a common interpretation of fair labor and environmental requirements and their implementation in global supply chains. The consultation process is open until June 15. Read it @bit.ly/L43b4b
 
International Labor Rights Forum- May Day Spring Forum SAI Communications Manager Joleen Ong attended the forum, "Democracy and an Economy for All: Protests and Strategies for Change" in Washington D.C. on May 1. Learn more @bit.ly/JOMPxh.

 

ISEAL Alliance Conference 2012 On May 29-31, SAI Communications Manager Joleen Ong and SAAS Executive Director Rochelle Zaid, attended the conference in Bonn, Germany, which focused on ISEAL's 10 years of impact, and its new government sustainable public procurement program. Learn more @bit.ly/JBwM4w.

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