Brands respond to BBC’s discovery of inhumane working conditions on tea plantations
Several of Britain’s biggest tea brands, including PG Tips, Tetleys and Twinings, have said they will work to improve the tea estates they buy from in India after a BBC investigation found dangerous and degrading living and working conditions. Harrods has stopped selling some tea products, and Rainforest Alliance has conceded the investigation has revealed flaws in its audit process. According to the BBC, living and working conditions are so bad, and wages so low, that tea workers and their families are left malnourished and vulnerable to fatal illnesses. The investigation also found a disregard for health and safety, and child labour being used on some estates. Tata, the Indian conglomerate that owns Tetley Tea, told the BBC it is addressing “a number of serious social issues” on its estates. Earlier this year, Unilever, which owns PG Tips and Liptons, released a groundbreaking human rights report, which conceded that human rights issues remain “among the toughest challenges we face”. (BBC News)
US companies ranked on compliance with conflict minerals rules
Tulane University researchers have compiled a list of US companies that ranks their compliance records on conflict minerals. The ranking is based on companies’ submissions to securities regulators, which became mandatory for public companies last year. Of the 1,262 companies that have filed disclosures, ninety percent said they might be using tainted supplies. The ranking is based on both core compliance with the rules, and on “good practice” such as engagement with smelters and refiners. Microsoft is one company achieving a perfect score, while party supply chain Party City lands near the bottom of the ranking. “Anybody with a relative interest in ethical sourcing would be interested in this list,” said Matthew Whitteker, the marketing director for Assent Compliance, which commissioned the study. “For any company that manages this well, both Wall Street and Main Street will look at their brand favorably.” (New York Times)
Community Investment
UberGiving campaign sees Uber collect donated items for refugees in 23 cities
App-based taxi firm Uber is running a campaign to collect unwanted goods from users’ homes and drive them to participating charities, where they can be sold to raise money for refugees, or to be sent to where they are most needed. On Wednesday 9 September and Thursday 10 September, Uber drivers in 23 cities across Europe will be available to pick up donated items and drive them to donation points. All users need to do is prepare the items they would like to give away and then open the Uber app and swipe the slider to “Giving”. Drivers will be able to opt-in to the campaign, with all trips paid for by the company. In the UK, Uber is working with Save the Children, which will sell donated items in its shops across the country to raise funds for child refugees. (International Business Times)
Corporate Reputation
Ex BP CEO calls for an end to CSR, praises building stakeholder relationships
The previous Chief Executive of BP, Lord Browne, has criticised corporate social responsibility (CSR) as “a prop” that “takes away the substance of being involved with your stakeholders”. His new book, Connect, argues that only by rethinking how they engage with society can businesses hope to tackle the modern collapse in public trust. “Businesses are there to co-operate, to work with society. [They] have to be engaged very radically with everybody who is affected by them – [and] tell the truth” Lord Browne says. CSR “has allowed a lot of companies to detach the activity of communicating and being involved with stakeholders almost into a side-pocket,” he says. Browne led BP from 1995-2007. His new oil business, Letter One, fell foul of official intervention earlier this year when the then UK energy secretary, Ed Davey, blocked the purchase of 12 North Sea gas fields. (BBC News)
Environment
Six island nations call for global moratorium on coalmines
Six island nations vulnerable to climate change have joined calls for a global moratorium on new coalmines. Leaders from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau and Tuvalu said their nations were already under threat from rising sea levels and changing weather patterns due to global warming. They demanded that the world limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and that countries uphold the principle of “polluter pays”. The declaration on climate change comes ahead of a broader 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ summit and retreat, which includes Australia and New Zealand, later this week. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, in announcing Australia’s controversial new climate targets last month, said the government’s policies were “the only way to protect the coal industry”, which he described as “good for humanity”. (Sydney Morning Herald)
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