The article in the url below features a website designed to highlight the extent to which slavery is still a component of the supply chain of many products we take for granted (http://www.slaveryfootprint.org/). In particular, the website is designed to address one question:
“Do you know how many slaves work on your behalf? While many people may assume the answer to that provocative and unsettling question is zero, the creators of a new Web site want to demonstrate how forced labor, especially overseas, is tantamount to slavery.”
The goal of the website is two-fold: first, to raise awareness of this issue and second, to mobilize a response:
“Ideally, they hope to get consumers engaged enough in the issue to do something about it, primarily hoping people demand that companies carefully audit supply chains to ensure, as best as they can determine, that no “slave labor” was used to manufacture its products.”
Using a set of eleven questions, the website calculates the role forced labor plays in manufacturing the products you use (“the average is 55”). As you progress through the survey, the website also generates specific facts to reinforce its message:
“There are at least 27 million slaves worldwide. That’s roughly the combined population of Australia and New Zealand. Crikey!”
More information about the Slavery Footprint website is at: http://www.ethicalcorp.com/supply-chains/ngowatch-november-2011
Have a good weekend
David
Instructor Teaching Site: http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: http://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/
Slavery Becomes a Personal Question Online
By Andrew Martin
September 22, 2011
The New York Times
Late Edition - Final
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