Putting an end to exploitation

As one of his final acts in office, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new law to provide more transparency in the supply chain.

According San Francisco-based BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) the law requires retailers and manufacturers to publicly disclose on their websites the policies and efforts in place to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their supply chains.

More than 3,000 companies doing business in California will be impacted, representing 87 percent of the economic activity in the state.

“This new law is one small step in a long journey,”
said Diane Osgood, senior advisor, BSR. “We hope it will enable a watershed in knowledge sharing and active consumer engagement to encourage pooling resources to get us closer to concrete measurable results in ending all forms of slavery.”

In her most recent blog post, Ms. Osgood noted that this issue will be addressed at the opening plenary of BSR Conference 2010 in New York this week.

Both SCMR editorial director, Frank Quinn, and I will be attending the event for the first time, and hope to share our impressions with our readers in the days ahead.

SC
MR