A group of investors, NGOs and religious groups have teamed up to call on companies in the agriculture and apparel sectors to tackle violence and harassment in their supply chains. Led by the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), the Collective Impact Coalition (CIC) aims to drive change in companies to accelerate the recognition, prevention and redress of violence and harassment in global apparel and agricultural sectors. The group has a strong focus on women and girls, who it says disproportionately experience workplace violence and harassment. According to the WBA, around 60% of garment workers and 43% of agricultural workers were female. The CIC calls on companies in both sectors to introduce a range of practices that implement and build on existing commitments. The call to action includes setting targets, assessing risks in supply chains, and integrating and acting on the findings of risk-assessment processes. While the majority of companies have policies on violence and harassment at work, the WBI found a number of gaps on enforcement. Only 5% of companies disclosed that they identified violence and harassment as a salient risk; 10% required suppliers to provide training to their managers and workers; and only 20% required suppliers to have a remediation process to address violence and harassment grievances. Signatories of the CIC include Boston Common Asset Management, Impax Asset management, Oxfam and the Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility, and investor group representing asset owners and managers.
