Nestlé joins Fair Labor Association

On February 29, the Fair Labor Association Board of Directors approved Nestlé’s application to become a Participating Company in the FLA. Nestlé is the first company in the food industry to join FLA, following collaborations on special projects over the past several months to assess labor conditions and compliance risks throughout Nestlé’s supply chain of hazelnuts and cocoa.

As a Participating Company, Nestlé has committed to ten Principles of Fair Labor and Responsible Sourcing, and to upholding the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct throughout their supply chains, starting with farms.

“FLA has a unique model of working with companies, universities and civil society organizations to find sustainable solutions to labor issues,” said FLA President and CEO, Auret van Heerden. “We welcome Nestlé to the FLA and look forward to working with them to improve the lives of workers on farms and in factories around the world.”

FLA today also released a report of its assessment of the hazelnut supply chain in Turkey. For this special project with Nestlé, FLA assembled a team of six experts to conduct the assessment, including four from the Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work (FSWW), a local civil society organization. Assessors visited 26 farms from August 15 to 26, 2011, and conducted on and off-site interviews with 377 workers.

As with all new members, Nestlé has up to two years to bring its compliance program into alignment with FLA’s obligations. During this period, Nestlé is responsible for completing self-assessments and disclosing its suppliers; FLA will also begin its standard external assessments of Nestlé’s supply chain this year.

FLA is governed by a 19-member Board of Directors that includes an independent Chair and eighteen members equally representing leading universities, labor and human rights organizations, and companies.

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About the Fair Labor Association: The FLA combines the efforts of socially responsible companies, civil society organizations and colleges and universities to protect workers’ rights and improve working conditions worldwide by promoting adherence to international labor standards. The FLA holds companies accountable for monitoring their own supply chains and conducts independent assessments to ensure that the FLA Code of Conduct is upheld. The FLA also acts on and resolves third party complaints and special investigations about workers’ rights abuses at specific factories. Through public reporting, the FLA provides consumers with credible information to make responsible buying decisions.