5th priority
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8/3/2019 5th Priority
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5th Priority Child Labour Accusation
PRIORITIZATION:
Though child labor is an ethical issue, still it may affect the reputation of the
company as a whole. We address this as this a 5 th priority because this is still not yet
proven and as a matter of fact, they are not taking advantage of any of their employees so
they should not take this as a big issue. The company must at least be aware of it.
ISSUES:
CeeCee has been informed by Local Asian Agent that a substantial number of the
Asian suppliers have been using child labour to manufacture garments for CeeCee. This
has not been made public as yet and indeed that agent thinks that the child labour issue is
so commonly reported that many newspapers have grown bored of the story.
According to Article 107-108 of the Child and Youth Welfare Code of the
Philippines, the Children below sixteen years of age may be employed to perform light
work which is not harmful to their safety, health or normal development and which is not
prejudicial to their studies, provided that the employer shall submit to the Department of
Labor a report of all children employed by him. A separate report shall be made of all such
children who are found to be handicapped after medical examination. The Secretary of
Labor shall refer such handicapped children to the proper government or private agencies
for vocational guidance, physical and vocational rehabilitation, and placement in
employment.
The agent said that some Asian suppliers are the one using child labour. One of
the criteria that CeeCee uses in the selection of its suppliers is the ethical workplaceincluding safety issues and minimum age for workers. Having that policy, they should
address this issue and find ways on how to resolve this in order to be aligned with their
company rules and restrictions.
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RECOMMENDATION:
Child labour is unethical issue, therefore they should investigate the said issue and
access how many suppliers are concerned, how many children and salary that were given
to them.
In the event that they found out that suppliers have working employees below
sixteen years old, they should do the following according to Article 109 of Child and Youth
Welfare Code of the Philippines:
Register of all children employed by him, indicating the dates of their birth;
Have a separate file for the written consent to their employment given by their parents
Have a separate file for their educational and medical certificates; and
Have a separate file for special work permits issued by the Secretary of Labor in
accordance with existing laws.
The company should also increase the number of supplier audits to ensure that all
suppliers are visited at least once each year. This could help minimize the event of having
minors qualified as workers of their suppliers.