As the world rang in the new year, January 1, 2012 marked the commencement into force of the Transparency in Supply Chains Act in the U.S. state of California.

“This piece of legislation applies to any company with $100 million in worldwide sales and some connection to California and requires them to make full disclosure about their supply chains and whether they regularly check them for possible slavery or trafficking conditions — and if so, what they do about it.

Companies must disclose whether they conduct audits that might protect workers — including children — from slavery, and whether they require suppliers to abide by standards of morality and decency. Companies must also attest to whether they conduct training on foreign worker abuses or whether they have installed any internal practices that could detect slavery in the production of their supplies.

Knowing they will be judged by lawmakers, peer competitors, business partners and, most importantly, their customers, most companies will adjust their behavior. Scrutiny, public protest and lost business will result if they don’t.”

While it is still too early to see how effective this mechanism will be to impact slave conditions in labour chains in other countries, previous legislation which dealt with environmental issues have proven relatively successful in encouraging corporate entities to change their business practices.

For us in the Caribbean who increasingly import household, clothing and other products from countries around the globe, legislation which requires our importers and businessmen to make inquiries of their supply chain could prove helpful in sensitising the business community as a whole to the problem of global labour trafficking.

This may be especially important for those regional companies which conduct business with countries which have been identified by the United States Departments of State and Labour and the International Labour Organisation as major offenders in terms of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation.

The shift to this form of corporate responsibility could possibly promote new opportunities for industry in this part of the world. A possible result could be one in which the Caribbean develops new or revamps previous labour intensive industries – with fair working conditions and wages – to produce quality products which are slave-free.

That way, we would build an economic culture where we shy away from the items manufactured in other parts of the world at lower costs but with a hefty price tag in terms of the extent of human misery and exploitation they cause.

Food for thought…

California’s new anti-slavery law.

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