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Case Description: A Matter of Involvement – Unilever and Indian Cottonseed Cultivation

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European Business Ethics Cases in Context

Part of the book series: Issues in Business Ethics ((IBET,volume 28))

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Abstract

On 3 May 2003 a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) accused the multinational Unilever of being involved in child labour in India’s cottonseed industry. The company responded by emphatically denying any direct or indirect involvement in child labour. In the public uproar that followed, the coalition of NGOs and Unilever disputed the truth of almost any fact the opposing party produced, including facts concerning the severity and the extent of child labour; even if all parties agreed that child labour is common in the cottonseed industry and that neither Unilever nor its first tier suppliers have employed children themselves. The concrete demands being made of the multinationals and the grounds upon which these where based, almost got lost in the discussion. Upon closer inspection these revolve around four issues: the extent of Unilever’s chain responsibility; Unilever’s supposed historical blame for child labour in the cottonseed industry; The reasonableness of Unilever having to assume a positive duty to help fight child labour; And the level of precautions the company must take to prevent indirect involvement in child labour.

An important source for this paper was the master’s thesis by Iris de Wilde submitted to the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Tilburg University, August 2006.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.indianet.nl.

  2. 2.

    http://www.novib.nl.

  3. 3.

    http://www.amnesty.nl.

  4. 4.

    FNV is an important Dutch labour union; FNV Mondiaal is its international department. Its aim is to promote fair labour conditions and labour rights worldwide, among other things by supporting labour unions. (http://www.fnv.nl)

  5. 5.

    MVF is an Indian NGO located in the federal state of Andhra Pradesh. By its own account, the organisation takes an “uncompromising stance” against child labour. MVF was established as a research institute on social transformation processes, but since 1991 it has been increasingly transformed into an activist organisation whose aim is to abolish child labour. (http://www.mvfindia.org)

  6. 6.

    The data for this case were collected through various interviews and talks conducted by Iris de Wilde and the author with representatives from many of the parties, in particular representatives from Unilever, Oxfam Novib and ICN. For the sake of readability we have chosen not to keep referring to these interviews. All of the parties have explicitly endorsed the final draft of the paper, in the sense that each agrees with all statements attributed to its own organisation. All of the parties expressed doubts about the description of the facts made by other parties.

  7. 7.

    Unilever press release, dated 5 May 2003.

  8. 8.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 21 September 2005.

  9. 9.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 5 February 2005.

  10. 10.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 21 September 2005.

  11. 11.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 07 November 2009.

  12. 12.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 07 November 2009.

  13. 13.

    http://www.unilever.com, visited 07 November 2009.

  14. 14.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 22 September 2005.

  15. 15.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 22 September 2005.

  16. 16.

    In Dutch the term for CSR is “maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen”, a generic term that relates generally to the moral aspects of doing business. In other countries, such as the US, CSR often only refers to some of a company’s moral endeavours, specifically those actions related to solving public or social problems (see e.g., Boatright, 2007). We will use the term generically in this paper.

  17. 17.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 07 November 2009.

  18. 18.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 22 September 2005.

  19. 19.

    http://www.unilever.com/ourvalues, visited 22 September 2005.

  20. 20.

    http://www.unilever.com, visited 07 November 2009.

  21. 21.

    http://www.unilever.com, visited 07 November 2009.

  22. 22.

    http://www.unilever.com, visited 07 November 2009.

  23. 23.

    See http://www.unilever.nl, visited 21 September 2005, and other sources.

  24. 24.

    A strategic reorientation that resulted in the sale of virtually the complete frozen foods division put an end to all this.

  25. 25.

    http://www.unilever.nl, visited 22 September 2005.

  26. 26.

    http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang--en/index.html, visited 07 November 2007.

  27. 27.

    http://www.ilo.org, visited 14 August 2005.

  28. 28.

    http://www.ilo.org, visited 14 August 2005.

  29. 29.

    http://www.indianet.nl, visited 23 August 2005.

  30. 30.

    http://www.indianet.nl, visited 23 August 2005.

  31. 31.

    http://www.emergentgenetics.com, visited 23 September 2005.

  32. 32.

    Letter by Heleen Keep, Unilever, Corporate Relations Department, London, to Dresdner RCM Global Investors (UK) Ltd., dated 3 December 2001.

  33. 33.

    Letter by M. K. Sharma, vice president of Hindustan Lever, to Mary Cuneen, Anti Slavery International, dated 09 July 2003.

  34. 34.

    Letter by M. K. Sharma, vice president of Hindustan Lever, to Mary Cuneen, Anti Slavery International, dated 09 July 2003.

  35. 35.

    Letter by M. K. Sharma, vice president of Hindustan Lever, to Mary Cuneen, Anti Slavery International, dated 09 July 2003.

  36. 36.

    Letter by M. K. Sharma, vice president of Hindustan Lever, to Mary Cuneen, Anti Slavery International, dated 09 July 2003.

  37. 37.

    Letter by Antony Burgmans, chairman of Unilever, to M. Filbri, Oxfam Novib, dated 18 December 2001.

  38. 38.

    Shubhabrata Bhattacharya (25 June 2001).

  39. 39.

    Shubhabrata Bhattacharya (25 June 2001).

  40. 40.

    Letter by M. K. Sharma, vice president of Hindustan Lever, to Mary Cuneen, Anti Slavery International, dated 09 July 2003.

  41. 41.

    Shubhabrata Bhattacharya (25 June 2001).

  42. 42.

    Letter by Heleen Keep, Unilever, Corporate Relations Department, London, to Dresdner RCM Global Investors (UK) Ltd., dated 3 December 2001.

  43. 43.

    United Nations Economic and Social Council, Commission on human rights, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (2003) Fifty-fifth session. Agenda item 4, Norms on the responsibilities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human rights.

  44. 44.

    http://www.OECD.org.

  45. 45.

    Letter by M. K. Sharma, vice president of Hindustan Lever, to Mary Cuneen, Anti Slavery International, dated 09 July 2003.

  46. 46.

    Letter by M. K. Sharma, vice president of Hindustan Lever, to Mary Cuneen, Anti Slavery International, dated 09 July 2003.

  47. 47.

    Letter by Antony Burgmans, chairman of Unilever, to M. Filbri, Oxfam Novib, dated 18 December 2001.

  48. 48.

    http://www.novib.nl/mvo, visited 12 October 2005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Wim Dubbink

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  1. , Department of Philosophy, Tilburg University, Tilburg, 5000 LE, Netherlands

    Wim Dubbink

  2. Fac. Business & Economics, Catholic University of Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, Leuven, 3000, Belgium

    Luc van Liedekerke

  3. Michelangelostraat 62, Amsterdam, 1077 CG, Netherlands

    Henk van Luijk

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Dubbink, W. (2011). Case Description: A Matter of Involvement – Unilever and Indian Cottonseed Cultivation. In: Dubbink, W., van Liedekerke, L., van Luijk, H. (eds) European Business Ethics Cases in Context. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9334-9_19

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