Nike, Nestlé, Target, MFA join the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment
10 October 2018
Today three more major multinational companies - Nestlé, Nike, and Target - have joined the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment.
Launched in May 2016, the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment is a collaboration between leading companies and expert organisations to drive positive change in the way that migrant workers are recruited. Recruiting migrant workers into global supply chains involves a range of fees and charges. The charging of these costs to workers can create situations of debt bondage and leave them vulnerable to further exploitation including forced labour.
Together, the aim of the Leadership Group is bold - the total eradication of fees being charged to workers to secure employment. Members of the Leadership Group are committed to improving global recruitment practices based on the Employer Pays Principle:
No worker should pay for a job - the costs of recruitment should be borne not by the worker but by the employer.
The three companies have all affirmed their commitment to prohibit the practice of, and help prevent, the payment of recruitment fees by workers in their own operations and in those of their global suppliers.
The addition of the three brings the total number of international companies in the Leadership Group to fourteen, including: The Coca-Cola Company, GE, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP Inc., IKEA, M&S, Mars Inc., Tesco, Unilever, Vinci, and Walmart.
The Leadership Group also welcomes civil society organisation Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) as an expert advisory organisation alongside IHRB, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), and Vérité. MFA is a regional network of NGOs, associations, and trade unions of migrant workers and individual advocates in Asia who are committed to protect and promote the rights and welfare of migrant workers.
Commenting on the addition of the new companies to the Leadership Group, IHRB's Chief Executive John Morrison said:
The strong and bold stance of Nestlé, Nike, and Target is exactly what is required, and they will be collaborating with other leading companies across sectors to turn the business model of worker recruitment on its head.
The three companies will be taking part in a range of activities including work with their suppliers and the recruitment agencies they use, advocating within their business associations, with government, and within international fora to promote the Employer Pays models of recruitment.
Further information about the Leadership Group can be found on the Responsible Recruitment Gateway at www.employerpays.org.
