Vietnam CSR News 2009
VIETNAM CSR NEWS
from GLOBAL STANDARDS
June 6, 2009 Vol. 1: 2009
New & Improved: Global Standards Vietnam CSR News
After many years and many more requests we are relaunching our online news and CSR updates from Vietnam and the region. We had to retire the old newsletter some years ago, due to technical issues, which never quite got resolved…
Now we are coming back with a better solution that will allow for regular online news updates, RSS feeds and email newsletter updates as well. Please check out the new site at GlobalStandards.net. Our main site, as always, remains Global-Standards.com.
This inaugural issue is being sent out to clients and friends who have registered or expressed interest in the past. If you you wish to subscribe to future updates please sign up here. If you wish to unsubscribe please let us know here. Last but not least we have a new update to our CSR Labor Laws Reference CD ready for release in June so please drop us an email here or give us a call at +848 3910-3868 to purchase your copy.
How are things in Vietnam?
It has been a challenging year all around, so we tend to get this question a lot. The short answer is pretty well, considering how the rest of the world is doing. Vietnam’s economy is forecast to grow between 3-6% this year, depending on whose predictions you prefer. Recently the World Bank forecast Vietnam’s GDP growth at 5.5 percent in 2009. Meanwhile Vietnam has increased garment exports to the US and seems to be gaining market share, which may help to explain fewer factory closures and job losses than most had feared. Both great potential and significant challenges remain, but from a CSR perspective a lot of exciting things are happening in Vietnam…
Better Work Project
The Better Work project got underway late last year, with the ILO and IFC looking to scale up to tackle Vietnam’s ever growing garment sector. (Recent news here.) Better Work has made available a good collection of resources on best practices, of which these are just a small sample:
- Good Practice sheets: Apparel
- Good Practice: fire safety
- Good Practice: establishing and running a proper canteen
- Good Practice: personal protective equipment
- Good Practice: spot cleaning area
A more complete list of these resources is available here and from the Better Work site here.
FLA 3.0 comes to Vietnam
The Fair Labor Association is also gearing up for a major initiative to introduce FLA 3.0 to Vietnam this year. The core of the FLA 3.0 approach is to support implementation of sustainable solutions to compliance issues faced by many factories as described here on the FLA website: A cornerstone of FLA 3.0 is a change in the traditional mindset described above to one of recognition that compliance with labor standards is not yet the reality in most factories – the factory needs to become involved in a process of which compliance will be the end result. The traditional audit involves checking for compliance against each element of a code of conduct and often leads to a long list of issues that the factory will be required to resolve in a short period of time. This inevitably leads to factories looking for quick-fix solutions that are rarely sustainable.
FLA 3.0 is grounded in the belief that requiring compliance simultaneously with an entire code of conduct is not a realistic approach. The FLA contends that in order for compliance to be effective, we must identify the root causes of that non-compliance and address them individually…
More information on FLA 3.0 can be found on the FLA website here.
H1N1 Flu comes to Vietnam
The New Flu pandemic H1N1 continues to grow, with the first confirmed cases recently identified in Vietnam. Vietnam has some good experience and a track record for controlling such outbreaks from previous experience with SARS and Bird Flu, but experts caution that absolute containment is virtually impossible in this case and that the H1N1 flu is likely to continue its global spread, which will likely include Vietnam and the rest of the region before long. Top recommendations from the CDC:
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
- Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
- Stay home if you are sick for 7 days after your symptoms begin or until you have been symptom-free for 24 hours, whichever is longer. This is to keep from infecting others and spreading the virus further.
Further detailed recommendations, resources, posters and materials from the CDC and others are listed here:
H1N1 Flu Recommentations & Resources
Patagonia Footprint Chronicles Videos
Patagonia continues to share its interesting and ongoing series of videos through its website and on YouTube. All of these make for great viewing, but we want to highlight a few in particular:
- Corporate Social Responsibility and the Supply Chain (Overview, featuring interviews with FLA and others)
- Maxport, Hanoi, Vietnam (a factory in Hanoi we know well)
- Social Auditing (featuring Global Standards own Alex Kaufman)
Recent News Highlights
Here are some recent news highlights, much more available at GlobalStandards.net.
- Industries pour toxic waste into Nhue River – Toxic waste inspections, launched after nearly 10 tonnes of dead fish were found along a 2-km stretch of the Nhue River, discovered that 100 per cent of surveyed businesses had discharged toxic waste into the river…
- South needs waste treatment facility - authorities of export processing and industrial zones in 10 provinces of the key southern economic zone have asked the ministries of natural resources-environment and construction to build a common complex for treating hazardous industrial waste…
- Hard knock life – Childhood is not always so easy in Vietnam’s resort towns, where some children work for a living.
- Labor Ministry mulls problem of work permits for foreign workers – Policies for issuing work permits to foreign workers stir great debate…
- Vietnam & UN work on gender equality – Joint cooperation programme signed with the aim of ensuring gender equality. It will help to increase the capacity of leaders of relevant agencies at both central and grassroots levels and promote the enforcement of the law on gender equality and the law on domestic violence.
- Loopholes in H1N1 flu prevention - Vietnam has detected three cases of influenza A/ H1N1 in people who returned to HCM City from the US, and the Ministry of Health has employed urgent measures to prevent the flu from spreading into the community. However, there is growing concern about loopholes in prevention work.
- Better Work & Best Practices - Childhood is not always so easy in Vietnam’s resort towns, where some children work for a living.
- ILO Better Work to improve labor standards in Vietnam- Phase 2 of Better Work will focus 80 percent of its effort on scaling up its engagement in the apparel industry and 20 percent on diversifying to new industries and extending access to Better Work tools for improving compliance with labor standards…
Please check out the new site at GlobalStandards.net. Our main site, as always, remains Global-Standards.com.
Subscribe to our monthly email newsletter here.
Subscribe to news by RSS feed here.
This inaugural issue is being sent out to clients and friends who have registered or expressed interest in our news in the past.
If you you wish to subscribe to future updates please sign up here.
If you wish to unsubscribe please let us know here.
NEW, we have a new update to our CSR Labor Laws Reference CD ready for release in June 2009 so please drop us an email here or give us a call at +848 3910-3868 to purchase your copy.
Links to other reports and resources of interest are available from the Global Standards web site at http://www.global-standards.com/Links.htm.
This newsletter is sent free of charge to clients, friends and subscribers by Global Standards. It is intended for informational use only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Should you have questions about specific situations or the application of particular laws, regulations or standards, please contact Global Standards or your legal counsel. News stories are compiled from news reports and dispatches. While the information they contain comes from published news sources, Global Standards cannot verify the accuracy of all information contained. ©2009 All rights reserved, Global Standards Consulting Inc.
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