California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that asks apparel and footwear makers and retailers with more than $100 million in annual sales in the state to disclose their efforts to eradicate child slavery from their supply chains.


Senate Bill 657 by Senator Darrel Steinberg and co-sponsored by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) and the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET) aims to eliminate the sale of products in California that have been made with slave labor throughout any point in their supply chain.  

 

Better known as the California Supply Chain Transparency Act, the law asks manufacturers and retailers with more than $100 million in annual gross receipts in California to disclose their voluntary efforts to eradicate slavery in their own supply chains. The objective, advocates said, is to give consumers a tool to get basic information about a company’s efforts to eradicate slave labor and human trafficking from its supply chain.

“This legislation will increase transparency, allow consumers to make better, more informed choices and motivate businesses to ensure humane practices throughout the supply chain,” Schwarzenegger said.


The California Supply Chain Transparency Act does not attempt to punish companies, but rather provide consumers and businesses alike with information they need to better know how products are made.  By providing a mechanism for concerned consumers to be able to compare company efforts on forced labor and human trafficking in their “supply chains,” people can make more informed decisions to spend their hard-earned dollars with the more responsible company.


“This is a simple measure that has the potential to change behavior in a way that will save lives and encourage humane working conditions not just here in California but throughout the world,” said Steinberg.