Is it possible to develop jointly an ‘access to remedy’ across our shared supply chains in the consumer goods sector? AIM-PROGRESS, with the help of Shift, organised an exploratory workshop on 4 February in New York, bringing together numerous leading experts in the field of grievance mechanisms to scope out possible activities and learn what has been done so far.
The participants – AIM-PROGRESS, Cahn Group, Coca-Cola, Creative Werks, Elevate, Fair Labor Association, Impactt, Labor Voices, Mars, PVH, Shift, Unilever, and Verite- quickly realised that before envisaging a common grievance mechanism some proper groundwork needed to be carried out including:
· Improving the audit methodology–around quality/effectiveness of site-level grievance mechanisms – better questions, trained auditors;
· Strengthening and re-focusing capability building– on worker/management dialogue, on effective grievance mechanisms (to reduce focus on audit);
· Introducing Worker Satisfaction Data– as an alternative to worker interviews, market driver for supplier improvements, more comprehensive indicators (to reduce focus on audit)
· 3-party complaints hotline – collaborative approach at brand-level, to identify the worst abuses that require urgent action/ brand intervention;
A holistic approach needs to be taken, combining these elements to achieve brand-level objectives: increased visibility into working conditions, additional incentives for suppliers, access to remedy for workers.
AIM-PROGRESS is working with Shift on developing a one-pager that can help members when going back to management to discuss the business case for addressing access to remedy and “what’s next”.
The workshop report from Shift is available to members on the Human rights section on the member zone.
