Today is International Workers’ Day but celebrations will be tempered by the downturn in the global economy with many jobs lost, at least temporarily. According to Kim Carstensen of FSC International it is good that countries are taking measures to save lives by imposing restrictions on our daily lives, but the consequences for workers around the world are very serious. Source: Timberbiz
Covid-19 is putting the world economy under great pressure but it is also offering a great, global lesson on how to work together to manage crises. And crises are likely to reoccur because of new zoonosis, or because of the slower but equally dangerous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss from over-exploitation of natural resources like forests.
Part of the necessary response to crises is to uphold occupational health and safety measures for workers in the forest products sector. FSC´s standards mandate that worker´s rights must be upheld and protected.
Therefore, the FSC has defined a set of core labour requirements that cover the fundamental principles of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Core Conventions. These are freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; elimination of all forms of forced labour or compulsory labour; effective abolition of child labour, and the elimination of discrimination in respect to employment and occupation.
FSC has begun adding these core labour requirements into the key chain of custody standard used by over 40,000 companies worldwide, a first and bold move in the forest products sector.
As with all FSC standards, a public consultation process took place in March and April 2020, with a second round prepared for mid-year.
Some important key considerations are being consulted. One of these is that companies maintain up-to-date self-assessments to describe how the company applies the FSC core labour requirements in its operations. Self-assessment will enable the companies to measure their performance against our core requirements, hence enabling important continuous improvements for workers in chain of custody operations.
