Tag Archives: corporate social responsibility

Pandemic Disruption of the Textile and Apparel Value Chain

March 29, 2023Uncategorizedapparel, civil society, companies, consumers, corporate social responsibility, covid-19, CSR, disruption, exploitation, garment, global supply chains, global Value Chain, pandemicmartijn

The COVID-19 pandemic disruption has had a significant impact on the textile and apparel value chain, particularly on garment workers in the Global South. The disruption caused by the pandemic has raised questions about global justice and responsibility for these workers. This briefing paper investigates how the Australian cotton industry can influence working conditions along the textile and apparel value chain, and provides a detailed summary of the context surrounding the impact of COVID-19 on the textile and apparel value chain.

The pandemic had a calamitous effect on the lives of garment workers in the Global South. Women make up 80% of the labor force in the textile and apparel value chain, meaning that they have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in the sector. Migrant workers are important to the global textile labor force, and the exploitation of migrant workers has been an ongoing concern. The effects of COVID-19 are ongoing, and many countries are experiencing surges, different variants, and returns to lockdown, putting garment workers economically, socially, and medically at risk.

Global activism campaigns have sought to mobilise support and ignite corporate accountability. The #PayUp campaign, for example, urged consumers to hold brands accountable for paying their workers despite canceling orders. Large corporations canceling their orders had a dramatic effect on household income, leading to an increase in malnutrition and homelessness. The loss of jobs in apparel manufacturing was caused by several factors and continues to have a ripple effect on the longer-term economic security of workers.

As well as responding to the events of the pandemic, many actors are ‘future proofing’ their supply chains. The disrupted access to materials and political tensions will give some countries a notable advantage for export competitiveness. The global push for some textile industries in the Global North to ‘re-shore’ production has become a topical issue in recent policy debates. Responses to the problems faced by garment workers have focused on potential points of leverage at the endpoint of the value chain. Overall, the supply chain disruptions of the pandemic spotlight the need for stakeholders to work collaboratively to protect worker well-being.

UN report on China’s abuse of Uyghurs: What Should Australia Do in Reponse?

September 9, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, Australia, China, civil society, companies, consumers, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, exploitation, forced labour, global supply chains, government, human rights, human rights abuses, modern slavery, Uyghursmartijn

For three years, Sadam Abdusalam watched his newborn grow into a toddler through the screen of a mobile phone. He was thousands of kilometres away in Australia, and his son Lufti and his wife Nadila were stuck in China’s Xinjiang province, unable to leave.

A Uyghur originally from Xinjiang, Mr Abdusalam was separated from his family for three years after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seized Nadila’s passport in 2017. He said the CCP began taking “as many” Uyghurs’ passports as they could in that year.

Continue reading UN report on China’s abuse of Uyghurs: What Should Australia Do in Reponse? →

Envisioning Wellbeing Economies through the Australian Fashion Industry Context

September 9, 2022UncategorizedAustralia, civil society, consumers, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, ethics, fashion, forced labour, global supply chains, human rights, supply chains, Sustainability, Wellbeingmartijn

Sustainability leaders, experts, industry and innovators from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific came together to share their knowledge on sustainability challenges and opportunities in the Oceania region as part of a major international sustainability event.

Coordinated by Future Earth Australia, Australian Academia and government partners hosted the sustainability-focused event in Brisbane from 29 June – 1 July 2022.

Sessions were held over three days and covered any aspects of sustainability: climate change, Indigenous knowledges, coastal resilience, urban sustainability, synthetic biology and more. It will focus on sustainability issues and challenges unique to Oceania.

The Oceania Satellite Event built on the outcomes of the inaugural SRI2021 Congress last year in Brisbane, that featured more than 2000 attendees from over 100 countries.

Wellbeing Economies through Fashion

0:04 Welcome from Moderator : Assoc. Prof. Samantha Sharpe
2:12 Wellbeing Economy – Sufficiency – UTS/ISF – Dr.Monique Retamal
10:04 Reuse / Repair – Monash – Aleasha McCallion
18:05 Policy & Stewardship – QUT – Assoc.Prof. Alice Payne
26:30 Inclusive fashion Practices and Intersectionality – USC – Deborah Fisher
34:36 Circularity – Monash – Julie Boulton.
47:04 Modern Slavery – UNDA – Assoc.Prof. Martijn Boersma
55:33 Regenerative Business models – UTS ISF – Karina Kallio
1:04:40 Discussion

Modern Slavery Risks in the Cleaning and Security Industry

August 8, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, civil society, cleaning accountability frae, companies, consumers, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, exploitation, forced labour, governance, labour standards, modern slavery act, regulation, Reporting, Supply Chain, supply chains, trafficking, transparency, Unions, vulnerable workers, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

This briefing session brings together academic experts in the fields of modern slavery, labour law compliance, supply chain due diligence and temporary migrant workers, to share insights and advice on how universities can demonstrate leadership in promoting good labour practices. The aim of this briefing is to assist relevant stakeholders in the higher education sector to understand their role in promoting good labour practices, and provide guidance on practically how to do this. This briefing is aimed at professionals working in university procurement and contract management, university modern slavery working groups, university risk and compliance, cleaning and security contractors that currently hold contracts at university campuses.

Continue reading Modern Slavery Risks in the Cleaning and Security Industry →

Why a degree in modern slavery is a valuable addition to your CV

June 15, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, Australia, civil society, companies, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, ethics, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, forced labour, global supply chains, governance, government, human rights, human rights abuses, labour, labour standards, legislation, Martijn Boersma, migrant workers, modern slavery, modern slavery act, regulation, stakeholders, Supply Chain, supply chains, trade unions, trafficking, transparency, vulnerable workers, work, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

Modern slavery may seem a distant issue in Australia, but a new course will teach graduates why an understanding of it is increasingly important in every business

It might be easy to imagine, especially in Australia, that slavery is a thing of the past. But an estimated 15,000 people were living in conditions of modern slavery here in 2016, through forced marriage and labour, sexual exploitation, debt bondage and human trafficking – exploitation that disproportionately affects women, children, asylum seekers and migrants. Globally, in that same year, 40.3 million victims were being abused.

Martijn Boersma is an associate professor of human trafficking and modern slavery at the University of Notre Dame Australia, where a new course aims to provide the skills and knowledge that will enable people to work proactively to put an end to the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Continue reading Why a degree in modern slavery is a valuable addition to your CV →

Modern Slavery and Climate Change – Towards an Integrated Approach

July 30, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, civil society, Climate change, companies, consumers, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, environment, exploitation, forced labour, global supply chains, human rights, human rights abuses, migrant workersmartijn

Climate change has made millions vulnerable to modern slavery. Displacement and migration because of climate change creates a nexus of harm that pushes people to accept work that actively contributes to environmental destruction of forests, fisheries, waterways and land. Weak regulation and enforcement, corruption, a lack of political will and the lure of profits combined with vulnerability of people creates a vicious circle of opportunity for forced labour, child labour, debt bondage and slavery. In this webinar, speakers explored how an integrated approach to addressing modern slavery, climate change and environmental destruction can lead to impactful interventions by governments, communities, workers and business.

Hosted by: Jenny Stanger, Anti-slavery Taskforce, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Facilitated by: Dr Martijn Boersma, Associate Professor of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking at University of Notre Dame Australia

Continue reading Modern Slavery and Climate Change – Towards an Integrated Approach →

Child Labour in Hyundai’s Supply Chain

July 30, 2022Uncategorizedchild labour, companies, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, forced labour, human rights, Hyundai, labour, vulnerable workers, working conditionsmartijn

The carmaker is facing questions after serious allegations of child labour being used in one of its US subsidiary steel plants. Australia’s Hyundai Motor Company has distanced itself from serious allegations of child labour in its US company’s subsidiary steel plant.

The allegations come after an investigation from Reuters revealed that several children, one as young as 12, have missed school to work at the Korean carmaker’s subsidiary, called SMART Alabama LLC.

According to the Reuters report, local police, three underage children, eight former and current employees of SMART have all said the flagship assembly employed underage staff to work long shifts.

Continue reading Child Labour in Hyundai’s Supply Chain →

2SER Radio Interview – The Myth of the Social License to Operate

July 21, 2022UncategorizedCorporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, environment, governance, legitimising myths, myth, myths, social, social license to operate, stakeholdersmartijn

In this radio interview on 2SER, I discuss the chapter published in the “Research Handbook on the Sociology of Organizations” on “Organizational Legitimacy and Legitimizing Myths.” It suggests that companies, as an influential and dominant group, want to maintain how they are held to account for their social and environmental impacts, which is through market forces. The research contends that the social license to operate and other concepts such as corporate purpose are hierarchy-enhancing legitimizing myths that uphold this status quo in favour of companies, at the detriment of society.

martijnboersma · 2SER Razor’s Edge – The Myth of the Social License to Operate

The Myth of the Social License to Operate

June 14, 2022Uncategorizedconsumers, Corporate Governance, corporate purpose, corporate social responsibility, CSR, environment, ethics, governance, governments, legitimacy theory, legitimizing myth, Martijn Boersma, myth, regulation, Reporting, social, social dominance theory, social license to operate, stakeholders, Sustainability, transparencymartijn

Over the last two decades many of the world’s largest companies have been involved in scandals, misconduct and dubious ethics. Rather than relying on interventions by public authorities, the dominant governing rationality is informed by the belief that the market is able to balance social, environmental, and financial interests. However, the vast majority of companies that have been involved in ethical transgressions have survived – and have even thrived. Potential damage to the reputation of companies, or threats to their ‘social license to operate’, seems to have had a limited effect. There is therefore reason to believe that market forces are not adequate by themselves to correct corporate misbehaviour.

This chapter from the upcoming ‘Research Handbook on the Sociology of Organizations’ explores the reliance on market forces to correct corporate actions that are not aligned with the common good. It examines to what extent legitimacy theory adequately explains the dynamics around organizational legitimacy, and it proposes an expansion of legitimacy theory to increase its explanatory power: the use of social dominance theory and legitimizing myths expands (organizational) legitimacy as a theoretical construct. In explaining why antagonistic stakeholders continue to rely on market-based approaches, this research suggests that they have either bought into the hierarchy-enhancing myths, or they have not yet developed compelling hierarchy-attenuating myths to challenge the status quo. The chapter concludes with the suggestion that the ‘social license to operate’ and ‘corporate purpose’ are legitimizing myths that uphold the idea that the market can balance social, environmental, and financial interests.

Political investorism: Conceptualising the political participation of shareholders and investors

June 14, 2022Uncategorizedconsumers, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, disclosures, environment, ethics, governance, investors, regulation, shareholder activism, shareholders, stakeholders, transparencymartijn

This article establishes a new basis for examining the participation, mobilisation and impact of investors at a time when market-based activism for social change is rising in prominence. Existing terminology describing the expression of political values through investment decisions lacks conceptual clarity. Political participation by shareholders and other investors is variously described as shareholder activism or socially responsible investment, and currently conceptualised under the banner of political consumerism. However, this term fails to capture the unique political role and diverse actions of investors. We put forward ‘political investorism’ as a cohering term for investment-based political participation to remedy existing conceptual confusion, to distinguish between investors and consumers as political actors and to set an agenda for the future study of market-based activism. This article defines and develops the concept of political investorism, drawing upon illustrative cases from Australia to identify hallmarks, actors and tactics of this form of political participation.