Social Welfare

SWEDISH CHILD LABOR DOCUMENTARY

One of the first real threats to Ikea's good name came in 1992 when a 47-minute Swedish documentary linked Ikea with child labor. In Europe, awareness of the child labor issue was just becoming popular (37). The film, called The Carpet Slaves: Stolen Children of India, was produced by film-makers Kate Blewett and Brian Woods, and focused on child slavery within the so-called Carpet Belt of Northern India. About 300,000 young children are being held as slaves and forced to work the looms to create India's most popular and desirable exports (41). The film depicted small children who were chained to carpet weaving looms in Pakistan and cited Ikea as one of the customers. It focused on how the children had to work in dim, unhygienic, and dangerous carpet factories. Blewett and Woods have made several similar films documenting child slavery in more than a dozen countries and take their films to film festivals and human rights organizations to expose inhumane conditions and influence the public to boycott goods produced by children under slave conditions (36).

Child labor is defined by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as children working in contravention of International Labour Organization (ILO) standards contained in Conventions 138 and 182. This means all children below 12 years of age working in any economic activities, those aged between 12 and 14 engaged in more than light work, and all children engaged in the worst forms of child labor (38). There is a UNICEF-backed program called Rugmark, that stamps rugs that are not produced with child slave labor but Blewett and Woods claim that not enough stores stock them because they are more expensive to purchase (36).

"RUGMARK is a global nonprofit organization working to end child labor
and offer educational opportunities for children in India, Nepal and Pakistan.
The RUGMARK label is your best assurance that no illegal child labor
was employed in the manufacture of a carpet or rug. "

According to UNICEF, an estimated 246 million children are engaged in child labor (38). UNICEF explains that building a protective environment for children requires the following (38):

--free and compulsory education services

--government insurance that children have access to this compulsory education

--changes in attitudes and practices among the communities that send their children to work

--laws that prohibit child labor

--awareness about just how many children are working

--immediate removal of children from the worst forms of child labor

--programs must take children's views into account

--donor nations need to increase the proportion of assistance

IKEA'S RESPONSE TO THE DOCUMENTARY

Upon hearing the news about the documentary, Ikea's newly hired business manager for carpets, Marianne Barner, immediately terminated the Pakistan contract. She then added a clause to all supply contracts forbidding child labor. This clause, a two-page code of conduct, is based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). It indicates that "Ikea disassociates itself from child labor, and works actively against it " (40). Barner also travelled to Pakistan, India, and Nepal to inspect Ikea's carpet suppliers for herself. Save the Children advised her to hire a company to monitor suppliers in the region, and she took that advice (37).

Ikea's South Asia children's ombudsman, Vandana Verma, frequently visits the poor and densely populated Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, one of India's least developed states. She says that " We know that child labour occurs here and in many other areas where Ikea has suppliers. We do not accept this, but we can't ignore the facts. Child labour is not a problem you can solve by boycotts. You need to tackle the underlying causes. The vicious circle of illiteracy, adult unemployment, large debts, poor health, and poverty must be broken." (11)

GERMAN CHILD LABOR DOCUMENTARY

In 1993, a year after the Swedish documentary, a German documentary claimed that children as young as 5 were making hand-woven rugs for $4 a day at a factory near Delhi that supplied Ikea for 5 years. Ikea's Marianne Barner had the same reaction as before and immediately fired the factory. However, the story turned out to be false. Nonetheless, Ikea carpet sales fell and the negative public relations effect was felt. (37)

ADDITIONAL CHILD LABOR ACCUSATIONS

In December 1997, Barner traveled to India to inspect two of Ikea's textile suppliers after more reports were made. No evidence was found but she still tightened monitoring of the minimum working age at Ikea's suppliers. Later that same month, reports linked Ikea to a wicker supplier in the Philippines who were said to have been employing children. Again, Barner was there to investigate and ended up firing the supplier because they refused to cooperate on better policies. (37)

IKEA MAKES UNICEF AN ALLY

In 1999, Ikea decided that instead of responding to allegations after they are already made, they would enlist the help of UNICEF. It was at a meeting between UNICEF and Marianne Barner that Ikea learned that the best solution to curbing child labor was to get at the root causes such as poverty and lack of education. (37)

In 2000, Ikea donated $500,000 to a 3-year project targeted at eliminating child labor in 500 villages (population of 1.3 million) of Uttar Pradesh. The project focused on introducing education facilities for children and women (11). Approximately 54,000 children benefit directly from the project. Ingvar Hjartso of UNICEF said, "We consider Ikea to be setting an excellent example for other corporations to follow. Ikea is prepared to go further than just saying 'no' to a supplier who exploits children."(39).

Despite efforts made by Ikea, child labor is still encountered. Vandana Verma explains that when this occurs, Ikea cannot simply remove the child from work because they are just moved to another employer. Ikea, instead must act with caution so that the children don't suffer any further. Removing children from labor or terminating a supplier's contract solves nothing. Instead, the suppliers of Ikea have to present an action plan, making sure the child gets an education and actually attends school (37).

WORKING MOTHER AWARD

In 2004, Ikea was named in Working Mother magazine's 19th annual list of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" for its benefits, family-friendly programs, and the innovative training programs and resources available to its coworkers. This is the second year in a row that Ikea was named in this list. (42)

In 2003, president of Ikea North America, Pernille Spiers-Lopez, was honored by the magazine with the Family Champion Award. Spiers-Lopez was recognized for her support of family-friendly initiatives. Spiers-Lopez says, "In addition to focusing on creating a family-friendly shopping experience for our customers, IKEA also focuses on creating a family-friendly work experience for our coworkers. We are committed to supporting our coworkers with valued benefits that fall under the umbrella of providing opportunities for ‘a whole life.’ Depending on the diverse needs of our individual coworkers, these benefits can mean tuition assistance to help achieve educational goals, lactation rooms for nursing mothers, discounts for weight loss and smoking cessation services, as well as flextime, which makes it possible for many working mothers (and fathers) to manage their families’ busy schedules.”(42)

KEEPING THE TURNOVER TO A MINIMUM

The retail business is a highly competitive one. So keeping the employees happy is a top priority for Ikea. Their vision “to create a better everyday life for the many” not only applies to customers, but to coworkers and communities where stores are located. This has resulted in several opportunities for Ikea to succeed without requiring coworkers, especially working mothers, to make unnecessary sacrifices when it comes to their family. About half of Ikea's top earners are women. (42)

This attitude has also saved the company millions of dollars in recruiting, retention, and retraining costs. IKEA recognizes that helping its coworkers balance the most important things in their lives, while providing them the flexibility that makes it easier for them to continue their career at IKEA through different stages of their lives, fosters tremendous coworker loyalty, empowerment, confidence and drive, all of which are valuable assets in a workforce. IKEA has seen a continuous decline in its sales staff turnover, which was 36% in 2003, down from 56% in 2002 and 76% in 2000. (42)

OTHER SOCIAL WELFARE EFFORTS (11)

IKEA has supported Centre for Rural Education and Development Action (CREDA), a non-governmental organization in India. The two-year project started in September 2000 and focused on an area of 25 villages. The goal of the program was to provide educational opportunities for young girls. Also, 500 adult women were given basic literacy education. The project was implemented by United Nations Development Program.

In April 2002, in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, Ikea initiated a vaccination project in India to provide immunization to infants between 0-1 years of age against the six most common childhood diseases. All pregnant women were also vaccinated with the tetanus toxoid. A total of 290,000 women and children were immunized.

Since 2000, Ikea has supported the International Save the Children Alliance to re-establish schooling for the children in the Western part of Kosovo after the war in 1999. The goal was to re-build 49 schools, reconstruct and repair classrooms, provide support to schools with pre-school classes and teacher training. IKEA is also supporting UNICEF for the repair of eight pilot schools in Kosovo benefiting 8,000 students. The project also includes new equipment, teaching materials and the improvement of water supplies and sanitary conditions. An important part of the project is a special teacher training, building on interactive teaching with the focus being on children and their enthusiasm. The teachers will then train other colleagues to introduce the methods in 35 additional schools around the province.

PLAY FOR LIFE

Ikea is currently running a special promotion to help children in Angola and Uganda. By purchasing a Ikea PS Brum soft toy, UNICEF receives $2. Ikea's goal is to raise a total of $400,000 to provide about 80,000 children In Angola with non-formal education that focuses on learning by playing. In northern Uganda, civil conflicts have devastated the people for almost 20 years. The Ikea funds will support play-based programs for at-risk teens to strengthen awareness about the threat of HIV and AIDS. As stated on Ikea's website, "Every child has the right to playtime in a safe environment. This has been stated in the most internationally adopted treaty in the history – the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. The right to play may seem as a natural thing, but millions of children are deprived of this vital element due to conflicts, diseases and exploitation. IKEA has supported UNICEF programmes around the world for more than 10 years, including recent contributions to support immunisation and child protection programmes in Northern India."

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