Introduction

Every year, the Hershey Company, one of the biggest producers of chocolate in the world, creates and distributes millions of sweets. 2019 saw a Washington Post report accusing the corporation of failing to eliminate child labour from its supply chain for cocoa. In a recent case study, Dr. Bertrand Guillotin, who is an Associate Professor at Temple University's Fox School of Business, thoroughly examines these charges of child labour against the Hershey Company (Thordardottir, 2011). In accordance with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards, Hershey describes child labour as work that robs children of their childhood, their dignity, and their potential, and is detrimental to their physical along with mental development. Child labour is a complicated problem in places where cocoa is grown, brought on by a combination of poverty and diversity of thought.  A Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) were implemented by the Hershey in addition to other measures as a part of its commitment to prohibit and eliminate child labour (George, 2014). The essay will discuss the main issues develop in this situation, its key concerns and implications along with recommending solutions for the same. Furthermore, the essay will conclude by briefing what has been discussed so far.

The largest chocolate corporations in the world are being sued by eight youngsters who allege they were employed as slave labour on Ivory Coast cocoa fields. They charge the businesses with encouraging the ill-gotten enslavement of "thousands" of kids on cocoa fields throughout their supply networks. Hershey was committed to spreading "kindness to the globe," yet it was charged with breaking a 2001 promise to eliminate child labour from its cocoa supply chain. 2020 saw an increase in the pressure on the world for more supply chain transparency and adherence to human rights; in 2021, Hershey was named a defendant in a US federal class-action lawsuit alleging harms from child labour. Despite its efforts to be a role model corporation and its numerous social, humanitarian, as well as environmental initiatives, Hershey has faced ethical challenges about the labour practises in West African cocoa communities, particularly child labour. Hershey is partnered with a variety of groups that are active in cocoa villages and has created a number of programmes to better the lives of West African cocoa workers. But others contend that Hershey isn't doing enough to end slavery on cocoa plantations (Yusnaidi, 2019).

Hershey has committed to doing a number of things to help the chocolate industry and its own supply chain deal with labour challenges. Hershey works with organisations in West Africa that fight child labour in the region's cocoa farms. The business joined the WCF, ICI, and was one of the eight businesses to ratify the Harkin-Engel Protocol. Hershey is required through its participation in various initiatives and organisations to adhere to specified criteria and make a contribution to the battle against child labour. Hershey launched the "One for All Cocoa Project" in 2016 with their organic Dagoba brand chocolate. The Project's goals are to support women's advancement and the economic growth of cocoa growing communities. Women are given management training and taught specialised farming methods that support a sustainable environment. In April 2018, the "Cocoa for Good" initiative from Hershey was launched for farming communities in West Africa. Hershey promised to invest $500 million by 2030 to address the problems of poverty, malnutrition, child labour, at-risk youth, and sustainable ecosystems in the cocoa community (Deam, 2020).

However, some critics claim that Hershey is not doing enough to help West African communities and stop labour abuses. The past few years have seen competitors like Mars, Nestlé, Mondelez, Cargill, as well as others try to adopt fair trade certification and/or provide information about their suppliers. Hershey continues to refuse to reveal the names of its cocoa suppliers in the public despite several demands. It is commonly known that the majority of Hershey's cocoa comes from West Africa, although it can be challenging to pinpoint the exact suppliers. Despite having a market share of more than 40% in the United States, Oasis USA charged Hershey with not supporting fair trade practises. Additionally, it charged Hershey with "green washing," or fabricating an image of its eco-friendly behaviour, by making donations to a number of initiatives without actually altering its procedures to guarantee that it’s chocolate is produced ethically. In order to pressure the firm to address child labour and human trafficking in the supply chain, Green America even formed a coalition called "Raise the Bar, Hershey!"( Manza, 2014).

The outcomes are disastrous. Child labour can result in extreme emotional, physical, and even fatal suffering. Other forms of economic or sexual exploitation, including slavery, may follow. Almost often, it denies children access to education and medical care, violating their right to fundamental freedoms and endangering their futures. Eight former child slaves who claim they were made to work on cocoa plantations in the west African nation without compensation have filed a lawsuit in Washington, DC, against Cargill, Nestlé, Mars, Barry Callebaut, Hershey, Olam, as well as Mondelez. International Rights Advocates (IRA) is the human rights organisation that has named these companies as defendants. Additionally, Hershey and the other enormous chocolate firms have done very little to solve the inherent power disparity between the cocoa farmers of West Africa and the chocolate industry. The entire West African cocoa market is controlled by a small number of firms, and this recent consolidation of market dominance has continued to put downward pressure on the prices farmers get paid for their cocoa (Perkiss, 2020).

The company's promise to obtain all of its cocoa from sustainable sources (free of child labour) by 2020 delighted the group. The business faces numerous challenges, and Green America has rated Hershey's rivals greater than Hershey in its strategy for resolving the child labour issue. Hershey has faced various legal challenges over the years involving allegations of abuse of civil liberties, child labour, and human rights in their supply chains, especially in developing countries. The Hagens Berman law firm brought the most recent lawsuit on behalf of Massachusetts consumers in February 2018 (Hannoush, 2018). They claimed that Hershey's and Mars purposefully brought in cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast, a nation that engages in the trafficking of minors and the use of child labour, including slave labour. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that modifications to address these vulnerabilities were delayed from 2008 to 2010, and currently to 2020. A further class action lawsuit was brought by the global law firm Perkins Coie on behalf of three California individuals who claim that the Hershey Company, Nestle, and Mars Companies engaged in deceptive advertising by failing to disclose the use of child trafficking on their packaging (Newman, 2010).

Additionally, they claim that by misleading customers, these businesses are "unwittingly encouraging child labour and infringements on human rights. The lawsuit demands financial compensation for California citizens who bought the chocolate. Additionally, they are requesting that the Hershey packaging be changed to recognise that the goods was made using child slaves. Two-thirds of the world's supply of cocoa originates from West Africa, where, according to a 2015 assessment by the U.S. Labor Department, over 2 million minors were forced to perform hazardous work in cocoa-growing areas. Over 20 years after making a commitment to end child labour, chocolate manufacturers still struggle to pinpoint the farms from where all of their cocoa originates, let alone determine whether child labour was employed in its production. Only 24% of the chocolate used by Mars, the company behind M&Ms and Milky Way, Hershey, the company behind Kisses and Reese's, and 49% of the cocoa used by Nestlé can be traced back to farmers. Due to the expansion of the global economy, Americans are now accustomed to hearing about environmental and worker exploitation in other countries. However, few businesses, according to experts, have such strong proof of detestable practises, as well as such ambitious reform plans and blatant violations of those plans (Sheldon, 2020).

The Recommendations that is Suggested in Order to stop child labour in this Industry are (Peter, 2019)

Cash Transfers

It can be used early and can be used in reducing the economic insecurity in order to prevent the usage of child labour and need to work. It will help in exploring and building the existing programs such as CCT.

Education Systems

Under this, it is require improving the monetary support and infrastructure for the families. By improving education systems, the community will rebuilt and encourage the students to be in the school instead of in the farms (Lee, 2016).

In-Kind Transfers

This includes providing incentives in attending school, supporting local economy for food and builds existing structures.

Public Works

This Includes Providing Alternate Income Sources in Rebuilding the Community and Recovering Economically.

Instead of working, kids should be in education. A childhood, safety, health, or education shouldn't be denied to any youngster. Child labour has no place in society, and businesses have a responsibility to end it. It is vital to quicken the pace of change and for industry to implement effective measures to help permanently end child labour. Companies occasionally engage in child labour covertly without even realising it. In order to address existing and prospective adverse human rights consequences in their own operations, their supply chain, and other commercial ties, firms should do human rights due diligence in their supply chains. This will assist combat child labour and forced labour (Harbie, 2016).

Companies of all sizes and from all industries may take specific steps to help stop child labour in their supply chains and operations. To have a significant effect at scale, it will be essential to support academic and creating employment for the upcoming generation and work together with other businesses to guarantee sustained progress is reached. Possible actions include the following (Griek, 2010)–

Set up management processes for incorporating due diligence about child labour into commercial operations.
Create guidelines for investigation, correction, and monitoring utilising a multi-stakeholder approach's best practises.
Create an apprenticeship programme to provide a good alternative to dangerous child labour for those between the ages of 15 and 17 and lower the rate of it.
Observe industry standards, local laws, or international regulations, whatever offers the best protection for children.

Despite Big Chocolate's assertions that they have extensively invested in anti-child labour initiatives, activists have expressed concern that these initiatives may not have had much of an impact in a number of interviews over the last week (Balch, 2020).

Over the course of 18 years, the sector, which generates a projected $103 billion in sales yearly, has invested more than $150 million to solve the problem. However, according to papers and industry insiders, when the corporations first pledged to end child labour, they had no idea how to achieve it. Industry opponents claim that their future attempts have been stymied by uncertainty and a lack of appropriate funding (Aronowitz, 2019).

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the above discussion that the issues that has been identified are the breaking of the pledge of stopping child labour by the organizations. Hershey has committed to doing a number of things to help the chocolate industry and its own supply chain deal with labour challenges. Hershey works with organisations in West Africa that fight child labour in the region's cocoa farms. They show concerns and implications have also been taken by them for the same. However, nothing was done do far in order to even reduce the child labour. The recommendations and alternate solutions were also provided to stop the child labour. Furthermore, the managerial implications were discussed at the end that should be taken by the organizations which will help in eradicating the major issues of child labour.

References

Aronowitz, A.A., 2019. Regulating business involvement in labor exploitation and human trafficking.  Journal of Labor and Society ,  22 (1), pp.145-164.

Balch, O. and Labour, C., Tag Archives: child labor.

Deam, A.W., 2020. Children, Chocolate, and Profits: A Policy-Oriented Analysis of Child Labor and the Chocolate Industry Giants.  Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. ,  15 , p.257.

George, E., 2014. Incorporating Rights: Child Labor in African Agriculture and the Challenge of Changing Practices in the Cocoa Industry.  UC Davis J. Int'l L. & Pol'y ,  21 , p.59.

Griek, L., Penikett, J. and Hougee, E., 2010. Bitter harvest: Child labour in the cocoa supply chain.  Sustainalytics. Extrait de: http://www. cocoainitiative. org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Bitter-Harvest-Child-Labour-in-the-Cocoa-Supply-Chain. pdf .

Hannoush, M., The Story of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars.

Harbie, M., 2016.  Child labor in the modern era.(c2014)  (Doctoral dissertation, Lebanese American University).

Lee, K.H. and Vachon, S., 2016. Supply chain sustainability risk. In  Business value and sustainability  (pp. 245-280). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Manza, K., 2014. Making chocolate sweeter: How to encourage Hershey Company to clean up its supply chain and eliminate child labor.  BC Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. ,  37 , p.389.

Newman, T., O'Connell, E. and Exchange, G., 2010. Time to raise the bar: The real corporate social responsibility report for the Hershey Company.

Perkiss, S., Bernardi, C. and Dumay, J., 2020. Turning to Easter eggs to get through these dark times? Here’s the bitter truth about chocolate.

Peter, 2019. Cocoa’s Child Laborers. The Washington Post , p.17.

Sheldon, B.E., 2020. Commercial Law-Manufacturers' Omissions of Child Slave Labor in Chocolate Production Not Deceptive Act under Chapter 93A-Tomasella v. Nestle USA, Inc., 962 F. 3d 60 (1st Cir. 2020).  J. Health & Biomedical L. ,  17 , p.305.

Thordardottir, E.M., 2011. Combating Child Labour Through Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study of Côte d'Ivoire.

Yusnaidi, Y., 2019. Case Study of The Ethical Issues of Child Labor in Chocolate Business in The West Africa Regions.  Jurnal Bisnis Dan Kajian Strategi Manajemen ,  2 (2).

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