Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Associated British Foods (ABF) are among the few food and drink companies called to address forced labour risks in their supply chains.
Coca-Cola was one of the lowest scoring companies at 10 out of 100, while PepsiCo, ABF and Sainsbury’s scored 17, 22 and 38, respectively.
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) found businesses are failing to identify or prevent abuse against migrant workers and is calling on the food and drinks industry to “urgently improve its performance” when it comes to remedying modern slavery risks in their supply chains.”
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Tesco came second in the ranks, scoring 52 out of 100. The supermarket stated that while it is proud of its progress, it remains “committed to promoting human rights throughout our supply chain and we know there’s more work to be done.”
BHRRC said that while Tesco has “room to improve,” it added that it “provides examples of better practice in addressing forced labour risks within the sector, posting particularly stronger scores on key themes such as recruitment.
“Others in the benchmark have no excuse for not following this lead.”
The BHRRC suggests companies should adopt a “worker-centric approach to due diligence” by making sure workers and unions and civil society organisations oversee the design, implementation, and monitoring of key due diligence processes.
To address risks to migrant workers the BHRRC suggests to adopt and disclose a policy that aligns with the Employer Pays Principle, specifying that the employer must bear the costs of recruitment rather than the worker.
Furthermore, companies need to take steps to steps to ensure the effective, timely and transparent remediation of worker-paid fees across supply chains.
