Are truck drivers part of society? They aren’t.
(This is Part 2 of the ESG-themed dispatch. To read Part 1, CLICK https://konsultramesh.medium.com/boardrooms-need-driver-support-to-comply-esg-norms-727585b1d3fa)
Recently, business dailies carried an interesting story detailing Apple Inc of the United States decision to temporarily suspend fresh order placement for critical components for its products on Chennai-based Taiwanese company Foxconn until an independent audit about inadequate worker amenities as food, accommodation, etc. is completed. It followed sudden work stoppage by aggrieved labor and the intervention by the state government requesting the company to address the issues raised.
The action was warranted due to the lack of adequate “living and working conditions for its contracted labor. A truly “social” issue. An apt illustration of the “S” element of the most-trumpeted ESG mantra reverberating in the global corporate corridors. “S” stands for social.
These Foxconn workers, mostly women, were smart enough to raise a war cry in work stoppage, thus inviting the government attention-cum-intervention. Smart is the keyword. They halted the smooth flow of components for Apple to worry about the “supply chain disruption” in reaching the marketplace. Strictly speaking, Apple’s concern was more about its business interest — nothing wrong — than righting the wrongs inflicted on Foxconn’s workforce.
The striking Foxconn workforce was not on its payroll directly but through a labor contractor. Yet, when the crisis hit the ceiling with its client (Apple) and the government breathing down its neck, the Taiwanese company had no option but to course-correct.
Unfortunately, business enterprises seldom treat their contracted transportation workforce, viz., truck drivers facilitating inbound and outbound raw materials and finished goods, respectively, in a similar manner. Like the Foxconn workforce, these truck drivers serving the business enterprises are ignored. Companies, mandated by law, spend two percent of their net profit (averaged over three years) on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
CSR is expected to address the concerns of the “S” element of ESG. One look at the gross CSR spend of India Inc will demonstrate that they spend an infinitely small amount on improving the working and living conditions of truck drivers. For instance, most of them do not have driver restroom facilities for their contracted truck drivers outside their factory premises. Hence, this weakest supply chain link “fertilizes” the area around the manufacturing site through “open defecation.” Nor are there any decent eateries to eat while they wait for the load. By the way, truck drivers are barred from entering the factory canteen! Drivers are untouchable to the workforce employed within its boundaries. Drivers are, yes, “social outcasts.”
Nonetheless, these business enterprises will adopt villages near the manufacturing sites or far away. Or build toilets for girls in high schools. Indeed, laudable. But, what’s blatantly transparent in front of them, they will ignore. There are no toilets for truck drivers waiting for load/unload in front of their materials gate of factories. This reality will escape them.
Come January-February, they would “observe” the Road Safety Week or Fortnight or Month — with photographers in tow and their corporate communication and hired public relations guns. All for publicity in all media formats: web, print, television, including local cable network. The idea is to display their “societal concern” for the weakest supply chain: truck drivers.
The divide between the white-collar and the truck drivers is not to be sidestepped. They never mingle together at the annual tamasha of Drivers Day (September 17), even at the food table. There are separate counters and enclosures for them to partake in the food. Social divide. Height of hypocrisy. One most abused logic by business enterprises is that they have “outsourced” transport, and therefore, drivers’ welfare is not their concern. Outsourcing does not mean abdication of responsibility in the entire supply chain is some basic tenet they forget.
Financial inclusion is a national topic of conversation, not societal or social inclusion. Both these objectives ought to be on the national agenda. It is a shame that the social divide persists 75 years after being freed from the British colonial yoke.
Earlier, I said that the Foxconn workforce is “smart.” They raised their voice collectively and got justice done. Truck drivers are not smart — maybe they were nomadic and dispersed and unable to come together under a single umbrella to demand better living and working conditions.
Somehow, the business enterprises cannot grasp the importance of “S” in the ESG mantra. However, the “S” goes beyond gender diversity, climate change, and better working and living conditions for its workforce for those who perform their task within prescribed physical walls. Like the Foxconn workforce, the truck drivers also contribute to their business enterprises’ top and bottom lines. A well-rested truck driver would automatically translate into safe cargo movement and fewer accidents on highways and ensure the sustainability of their businesses.
“CSR can’t feel like human resources or marketing trick. It needs to be a core value,” wrote Lea Cassar, professor at the University Regensburg, Germany, and Stephan Meier, Professor at Columbia Business School, in a paper published in the Economic Journal. Drivers’ welfare ought to figure in the overall sustainability matrix. It is possible that it does figure but not a priority, perhaps. It is never too late to address such disorders.
Human beings are social animals, it is said. We also learned that not all animals are equal. Remember George Orwell’s Animal Farm? So, not all human beings are equal. Right? There exists a class distinction between the contracted workforce inside the factory premises and the contracted workforce outside. Strange, but true.
