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Develop a Revised Code of Conduct

In: Other Topics

Submitted By scheek555
Words 889
Pages 4
A corporate code of conduct is called a code of ethics or corporate compliance. A code of conduct is the core of a company’s internal foundation. It can motivate the workforce and give them a common framework and regulations on how to perform their jobs within the company’s vision.

It is valuable to have a document that speaks to a company’s values and gets all employees on the same page, so to speak. Further, in a large company with employees in different locations, maybe even different countries, a code of conduct can bridge the ethical gaps.
Wal-Mart’s own Code of Conduct was developed in 1992, arguably in reaction to the sweatshop allegations involving clothing manufactured as part of the Kathie Lee Gifford clothing line (Kenny, 457). At its beginning, the Code was to apply to all suppliers both nationally and internationally. The Code of Conduct was meant to be incorporated into its supply contracts with foreign suppliers. Although the Code has undergone numerous revisions since 1992, all of the versions claim to extend fundamental rights to workers in Wal-Mart supplier factories (Kenny, 458).

On September 13, 2005, for example, workers from China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland, and Nicaragua sued Wal-Mart in Superior Court in Los Angeles for breach of contract as third-party beneficiaries to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.’s supply contract with garment factories located in those respective countries. The suit, brought by the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), makes the novel claim that Wal-Mart’s Standards for Suppliers Agreement, also known as the Code of Conduct, created contractual obligations between it and potentially hundreds of thousands of workers employed by Wal-Mart’s foreign suppliers who had agreed to comply with the Code of Conduct. The procedure sets forth five standards relating to compliance with applicable law and practices,

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