These guidelines focus on the supplier's ethical standards, legal conduct, environmental standards, and employment practices.
By now, you should have an understanding of what lengths Sara Lee has gone to so that everyone in the organization practices the same rules of ethical procedures. I am sure that you are impressed, as I was, with the fundamental believes that they have instilled in their employees. Because of this impression that I was given, the following information came as a shocking reversal of what they preach. .
In 2001, the Free Burma Coalition chastised Sara Lee for withdrawing from Burma after the Hanes underwear label had been found on sale on US university campuses with Made in Myanmar' tags. Sara Lee subsequently announced that it had forbidden its subcontractors to make products in Burma. However, it is the company's connection with Israel, which has attracted the most attention this past year.
Sara Lee has started to appear on boycott lists because of its 25% stake in Delta Galil, Israel's largest textile manufacturer. Delta Galil is one of the largest manufactures of own-brand underwear in the world, with Wal-Mart, Victoria's Secret and JC Penny amongst its major customers. Delta Galil has plants in Egypt, Israel, Scotland, Jordan, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic. .
Sara Lee and its underwear label, Bali, have been criticized by US labor rights organizations for operating sweat' factories in Mexico, along the border with the USA. It is the lax Mexican labor laws, combined with proximity to the USA, which make the region so appealing to US companies. Factories there have become notorious for low pay, poor and often dangerous working conditions, and abuse of union rights. Mexico has been criticized for not implementing health and safety standards in sweat' factories, resulting in high rates of work-related accidents and illness.
Sara Lee's Courtaulds company in the UK has also been criticized for closing down factories in Britain in order to move to areas with cheap labor and low standards, such as the Philippines, Morocco, and China.
