Swisscom is committed to promoting environmental and social standards among suppliersfrom Fabian Etter
Telecommunications companies have a responsibility towards the workers who produce their devices as well as towards their customers. They want to promote both improved working conditions and compliance with environmental standards. Seven European communications companies reinforced this at the “JAC CSR Forum”.
Smartphones, tablet PCs and many other gadgets now make our lives so much easier that we can no longer imagine having to get by without them. Most of these devices are produced on behalf of well-known brands in Asia, frequently in China. In many cases, the companies producing these items are hardly known in this country, yet they employ several thousand people. There are regular reports about the working conditions in such companies – overtime, pollution, employees being exposed to hazards and discrimination of individual groups are criticised.
On 12th January 2012, the “JAC CSR Forum” took place in Shenzen, China. JAC stands for Joint Audit Cooperation and is an initiative of seven telecommunications companies (Vodafone, KPN, France Telecom, Belgacom, Deutsche Telekom, Telekom Italian and Swisscom) who have made it their goal to increase transparency within the supply chain and improve environmental and social standards in the supply chain further by standardising the requirements and exchanging of audit reports. A coordinated, joint procedure is more efficient, increases pressure on suppliers and demonstrates that the industry wants to make a difference. The initiative is also beneficial for suppliers, as it makes the audit process more efficient for them.
The focus of the JAC CSR Forum was on dialogue between NGOs, manufacturers and the JAC members. The Swisscom delegation's main findings can be summed up as follows:
Part of our responsibility: Although the participating telecommunications companies often do not manufacture devices themselves, they have a responsibility towards the workers concerned and towards their customers to promote improvements in the supply chain; the seven JAC members want to take steps in this regard and allow themselves to be judged on the progress of their suppliers, too.
Progress can be seen, but there is still a lot to do: The environmental and social conditions of many suppliers have improved over the past few years; however, there are still problem areas, such as work time regulations.
Audits alone are not sufficient: It is not sufficient to simply perform audits and demand improvements; the suppliers concerned require support, for example through training, regular dialogue and knowledge transfer.
Various causes: The problem areas are often extremely complex, as the example of working hours in China shows – many young Chinese workers want to do overtime so that they can earn more and send money to their families. Small and medium-sized companies, on the other hand, are under extreme cost pressure, which makes compliance with environmental and social standards difficult.
Keep an eye on the entire supply chain: Focusing solely on direct suppliers is often not effective. Instead, it is necessary to consider and investigate sub-suppliers, too.
Swisscom will continue to actively promote the improvement of working conditions among its suppliers and sub-suppliers and issue transparent reports regarding developments.
Source: Hallo Zukunft-Blog
More info:
JAC initiative
Swisscom activities
Apple provides transparency regarding suppliers (article in the Tages-Anzeiger)