Why company codes of conduct?
Many companies producing consumer goods for the world market of now adopted codes of conduct on labour standards. This is mainly in response to growing public awareness (citizens and consumers awareness) in North America and in Europe. Public concern has increased as the media has reported stories about representative companies selling goods made by exploited workers. One of the first was in 1992, when a public scandal followed a report in the Washington Post about the production of Levi s jeans by a Chinese prison labours in the island of Saipan. The company, Levi Strauss, reacted immediately by drawing up a code on labour standards for all its overseas suppliers. Through adopting such a code, companies hope to be able to maintain a positive image. The company codes of conduct need to be considered as a strategy and one only among a number, so that it would be part of the action for strengthening workers rights in a global economy. I think that as part of a short term strategy they ar
