Seminar with UNGC on Decent Work in Global Supply Chains

According to the ILO, one out of seven jobs worldwide is related to global supply chains. Companies that commit to advance decent work in their global supply chains can act as powerful change agents, working with their suppliers to make the positive impacts a reality.

In support of the achieving of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 8: ‘Decent work and economic growth’, the UNGC has developed a Decent Work in Global Supply Chains Action Platform, sponsored by Sweden, to mobilise companies to improve conditions for workers and respect human rights throughout global supply chains. The purpose of the seminar was to engage and encourage companies and their suppliers on how to take actions to improve decent work conditions and address possible challenges in their supply chains. Ms. Lisette Lindahl, Consul General of Sweden in Shanghai, Ms Meng Liu, Head of UNGC Asian Pacific Networks and Ms Claire Courteill-Mulder, Country Director of ILO China, delivered keynote speeches and shared their observations on the topic.

Ms Lotta Liljelund, Counsellor and Head of the Centre for CSR moderated a panel discussion on how business can promote decent work in supply chains and how to deal with practical challenges they might face and how to share best practices. Participants in the panel were from Swedish companies H&M, QuizRR and Volvo CE and China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) and SAP Ariba. The variety of their sectors enabled them brought ideas from different angles.

In a following workshop facilitated by UNGC, IKEA and Volvo Cars shared their experiences and the participants were given different scenarios and dilemmas to discuss based on the Decent Work Engagement Toolkit for Procurement Staff developed by UNGC.