Tags: csr, fair IT, IT products, makeITfair, purchaser, social responsibility, sr, sustainable IT, TCO Certified
Last Saturday May 7th, people all over Europe and around the world joined the European organization makeITFair’s international Make IT fair action day. The goal of the action day was to improve the lives of workers around the globe who are working long hours for poor pay to satisfy our constant demands for the latest electronic gadgets.
makeITfair is a European project focusing on the electronics industry, especially on consumer electronics like mobile phones, laptops and MP3 players. They want to let young people across Europe know about the labor abuses and environmental problems that are going on right now around the world – just to satisfy our demand for all the latest electronic gadgets.
Fair IT – a key factor for competitive advantage
It’s a very urgent issue that makeITfair is raising. But this is an issue that are relevant to all purchasers of IT products – not only young consumers. At TCO Development we daily discuss this issue with IT purchasers from private as well as public sector. Many organizations have understand that one of the key factors for their competitive advantage is to have ambitious goals on social responsibility which also includes good working conditions for the labor in the manufacturing process. The company’s policy on CSR is often reflected in their purchase specifications also for IT equipment, hence Fair IT is on the agenda for professional purchasers!
Certifications a way to influence the industry towards sustainabile IT
TCO Certified – a certification for ICT products designed for both usability and the environment, introduced in 2009 a criteria on proven commitment in social responsibility in the manufacturing process. The criteria was a first step and wasn’t particularly strict, but 1 in 4 IT brands didn’t work with these issues before and they had to start working on improving the working conditions in the manufacturing process in order to qualify for the TCO Certified certification. So by asking for TCO Certified products you can influence the industry towards sustainable IT. Next time the criteria document will be updated the SR criteria will be stricter. On TCO Development’s website you can read more about the criteria on social responsibility.
Posted by Birgitta Halvarsson
Tags: child labour, computers, developing countries, Fair Trade, Impactt, low wages, Make IT Fair, social responsibility, TCO Certified, work conditions
Fair Trade is a successful labelling organization. The number of products bearing the Fair Trade label are increasing every year. More and more consumers, companies and organizations prefer to buy Fair Trade labelled chocolate, coffee, tea etc. It’s is obvious that consumers and companies care about the work conditions for workers and farmers in developing countries. The Fair Trade label is a tool for selecting products that aligns with our conscience. The chocolate simple taste better when you know that the farmers have been reasonable paid.
What about our conscience when buying computers?
Most of the IT products sold all over the world are actually manufactured in countries such as China, the Philippines and Taiwan. The working conditions for industrial workers in these countries are often very poor, with long working days, extremely low wages and limited rights to organise themselves. Child labour is not unusual, and forced labour is known to exist. I recommend you to visit the websites of the organisations Make IT Fair and Impactt to find out more about this.
Since 2009 the TCO Certified certification program for ICT products also cover one requirement on social responsibility. The requirement means that companies who manufacture products with th TCO Certified label must demonstrate that they are proactively engaged with social responsibility as a means of improving the working conditions during the manufacturing process. This is an initial step in trying to influence the IT industry to improve working conditions for the people involved in the manufacture of IT products. Read more about the requirement on social responsibility in the TCO Certified certification.
I would definitely prefer computers that have been produced under good working conditions, that the workers in the manufacturing process have got reasonable wages. Wouldn’t you?
Posted by Birgitta Halvarsson
Tags: public procurement, social responsibility
As you might be aware, we have added a criterion on social responsibility to TCO certified. To qualify for TCO certified the producer (brand owner) of the product must work actively with improving the working conditions throughout the production chain of the product. This is, as we see it, an important first step for us to try to influence the industry towards more sustainable products.
Another way to influence the industry is by asking for sustainable products when buying new ones. As a consumer this might be quite a difficult task (although it will become easier as more and more displays, projectors and computers are TCO certified). But for example public procurers can, just by thinking about what they buy, have great influence. Why should our tax money go towards buying non-environmental products possibly produced by underpaid workers in poor working conditions?
Last week I was at a round table meeting in Prague organized by the project ProcureITfair (www.procureitfair.org). They try, by information, campaigns and good examples, to influence public procurers in Europe to use their buying power and ask for IT-products that have been produced under fair conditions. We’re happy to be able to say that one step in the right direction is by asking for TCO certified products.
