The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has charged governments, employers and workers’ groups globally to adopt a systems approach to frontally address the worrisome poor working conditions in global supply chains, cautioning that unless the approach is adopted lower-tier suppliers risk being left behind without targeted interventions.
The global labour organization, in its new policy brief titled ‘From root causes to real change: Using a Systems Approach to Foster Decent Work Deep in Supply Chains’, noted that Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) had been contending with systemic barriers such as limited access to finance, weak infrastructure and poor enforcement of labour laws, which had been preventing them from improving job quality and scaling their businesses.
According to the policy brief, the ILO reported that while first-tier suppliers were usually able to comply with regulations and benefit from direct buyer relationships, MSMEs in lower tiers remained trapped in conditions that hinder their growth and workers’ welfare.
Commenting on the report’s findings, Chief of the ILO’s MSME Branch, Dragan Radic, said: “Through a systems approach, we aim to strengthen MSME competitiveness and promote decent work by first identifying the root causes of key bottlenecks and later working with ILO constituents to address them in a long-lasting way”.
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The ILO maintained that interventions designed with this approach can foster sustainable improvements in wages, productivity, workplace safety and overall job quality. For MSMEs, meeting stricter supply chain standards on quality, sustainability and compliance could unlock new opportunities, but only if systemic issues are resolved.
In his remarks, Director of the ILO’s Action Programme on Supply Chains, Dan Rees, said: “This kind of long-term, holistic thinking is what it takes to unlock decent work opportunities where they’ve historically been out of reach.
“Supply chains can be an entry point for decent work in MSMEs when they are supported within a stronger, more coherent system, achieving real ripple effects,” he added.
The brief outlines how stakeholders, particularly national governments, employers’ organisations and workers’ groups, can apply the systems approach to design evidence-based interventions that can enhance sustainable change in global supply chains.
