Qingdao, China (ILO News) – Representatives from multinational businesses (MNEs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) attending an ILO/MOHRSS workshop have heard that respect for workers’ rights and improvement in working conditions are part of a competitive business strategy. By improving productivity, competitiveness, corporate image and brand reputation, managing risks along the supply chains and strengthening resilience, in particular in times of crisis as the current one, responsible business practices can contribute to firms’ long term sustainability.

“More and more attention has been attached to the issues of decent work in supply chains”, Ms. ZHAO Yan, Deputy Director of Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, stressed in her opening remarks, “Corporate social responsibility and responsible labour practices are of great significance for achieving sustainable development, promoting inclusive growth and building harmonious labour relations”.

The ILO-MOHRSS Workshop on Responsible Labour Practices for Enterprises in the Textiles and Electronics Supply Chains was held in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. The workshop was jointly organized by the ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia, through the RSCA programme, and the Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security, supported by Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security and Qingdao West Coast New Area Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

The two-day workshop aimed to help multinational enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) understand International Labour Standards, in particular the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW) and the Principles of the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration), the origins of the corporate social responsibility (CSR)/responsible business conduct (RBC) international frameworks, codes of conduct, what enterprises can do to improve and demonstrate their adherence to RBC international principles and compliance with national laws and corporate codes, as well as with CSR/RBC initiatives.

The training sessions focused on International labour standards and CSR guidance in global supply chains; Wages, benefits, working hours and leaves; Prevention of forced labour; Equality and prevention of harassment in the workplace; and Workers’ participation and labour-management negotiation.

The first-day training was for enterprises in the textiles supply chain. The second-day training covered the electronics supply chain. A total of sixty three Human Resources and CSR managers participated in the workshop.

Ms. WANG Suwen, the CSR and Trade Union Responsible of Qingdao Roy-Ne Knitting Co, Ltd，mentioned that “From the company perspective, raising awareness on international labour standards will help increase corporate competitiveness in the world”. She was also very interested in the topic of workers’ participation and labour-management negotiation, “I’ve learned a lot of communication and negotiation tools, hope I can help build a proactive negotiation bridge between the company and workers”.

Ms. WANG Chunling, Director of B&C (Benefits and Compensation) of Haier Smart Home, said, ” Today’s training workshop has provided detailed and visualized expertise knowledge and practices, which will be of great help to me and our company”.

This training, organised by the EU-ILO-OECD Responsible Supply Chains in Asia (RSCA) Programme, has laid down a good foundation for enterprises in the textiles and electronics supply chains to comply with international labour standards, codes of conduct and national labour laws and finally achieve sustainable and competitive business in the global market.