5th Priority Child Labour Accusation PRIORITIZATION: Though child labor is an ethical issue, still it may affect the

e reputation of the company as a whole. We address this as this a 5th priority because this is still not yet proven and as a matter of fact, they are not taking advantage of any of their employees so they should not take this as a big issue. The company must at least be aware of it.

ISSUES: CeeCee has been informed by Local Asian Agent that a substantial number of the Asian suppliers have been using child labour to manufacture garments for CeeCee. This has not been made public as yet and indeed that agent thinks that the child labour issue is so commonly reported that many newspapers have grown bored of the story. According to Article 107-108 of the Child and Youth Welfare Code of the Philippines, the Children below sixteen years of age may be employed to perform light work which is not harmful to their safety, health or normal development and which is not prejudicial to their studies, provided that the employer shall submit to the Department of Labor a report of all children employed by him. A separate report shall be made of all such children who are found to be handicapped after medical examination. The Secretary of Labor shall refer such handicapped children to the proper government or private agencies for vocational guidance, physical and vocational rehabilitation, and placement in employment. The agent said that some Asian suppliers are the one using child labour. One of the criteria that CeeCee uses in the selection of its suppliers is the ethical workplace including safety issues and minimum age for workers. Having that policy, they should address this issue and find ways on how to resolve this in order to be aligned with their company rules and restrictions.

RECOMMENDATION: Child labour is unethical issue, therefore they should investigate the said issue and access how many suppliers are concerned, how many children and salary that were given to them. In the event that they found out that suppliers have working employees below sixteen years old, they should do the following according to Article 109 of Child and Youth Welfare Code of the Philippines:

Register of all children employed by him, indicating the dates of their birth; Have a separate file for the written consent to their employment given by their parents Have a separate file for their educational and medical certificates; and Have a separate file for special work permits issued by the Secretary of Labor in
accordance with existing laws. The company should also increase the number of supplier audits to ensure that all suppliers are visited at least once each year. This could help minimize the event of having minors qualified as workers of their suppliers.