Background

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The UNGPs require businesses to ensure those impacted by their operations, especially victims, have access to effective remedy. Taking measure of rights-holders concerns directly from them is fundamental to knowing how they are impacted and how to action meaningful remedy. 

 

‘Direct Worker Voice’ from smartphones can provide a channel for granular and contextual input on working conditions from workers anonymously, affordably and equitably. Bottom-up worker voice establishes clear, effective and transparent systems for gathering data at scale from supply chains. Workers can also validate and corroborate social audits which are top-down, opaque and deliver closely guarded findings. While social audits have in the past helped businesses make claims about forced labour or exploitation, there are increasingly challenged by stakeholders and regulators seeking more transparency and evidence.

 

HRDD requires data to report compliance with directives such as EU CS3D. But technology must be deployed using a rights-based approach and avoid creating fear or inequity. Key aspects include: who provides the data, is it given with consent, does the data-handling comply with GDPR? Only authentic data, legitimately obtained with respect for the providers’ rights, would avoid data-exploitation. There is a risk to workers if data is extracted unjustly; and a risk to regulators if data is selected or curated to present a particular picture to gain market access.

 

Since 2022, Direct Worker Voice has been pioneered in the supply chain of a global electronics company to gather, validate and analyze data as part of a company’s human rights due diligence process in supply chains. Using the MillionMakers platform developed by Bluenumber (US) and Be Slavery Free (Australia), data has been licensed from thousands of workers at suppliers in Malaysia and India, ensuring the voices of these rights-holders are part of a human rights due diligence (HRDD) process.

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Objectives​​

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This session will present the experience of using Direct Worker Voice to show how data at scale has provided unprecedented insights from workers themselves. The presentation will share how MillionMakersTM was used as a due diligence tool to catalyse access to remedy and work closely with its suppliers to action rapid, meaningful change in working conditions.

 

The panel will consider and discuss the role and importance of technology in enabling worker voice and facilitating access to remedy. The aim of the session is to stimulate multi-stakeholder dialogue on the topic of Direct Worker Voice as a catalyst for access to remedy.

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Key questions

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• Is Direct Worker Voice an early warning system for businesses to prevent issues arising or escalating?

• How should data bottom-up from workers compliment a top-down audit process?

• How can data from workers support business claims about supply chains?

• How can affordable mobile technology by migrant workers enable HRDD of such vulnerable groups by businesses?

• Can Direct Worker Voice verify success of any interventions or remediations?

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Session partners