2017 Executive Summary, Nestlé, Balsu & Olam Shared Hazelnut Supply Chain, Turkey

In August 2017, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) conducted independent assessments in the Turkish hazelnut supply chain shared by three FLA members – Nestlé, and its two strategic first-tier suppliers, Balsu and Olam Progida, which together account for 100 percent of Nestlé’s hazelnut volume in Turkey.

The FLA has been assessing working conditions in the Turkish hazelnut supply chain since 2013. The report below summarizes the FLA’s findings for its 2017 assessments, the companies’ responses to the 2017 findings, and notes the progress and remaining gaps after the 2017 round of assessments in comparison with 2016 findings.

All three companies are FLA members and have monitoring and remediation programs in place. Based on both internal and external monitoring results, members must develop and implement remediation actions leading to sustainable changes. In Turkey, the three companies closely collaborate to implement monitoring and remediation activities, with Balsu and Olam Progıda having a more direct implementation role at field level. Both suppliers are working on progressively tracing their hazelnut supply chain and increasing the number of farms under the scope of monitoring.

In the 2017 assessment period, the FLA found that 12 percent of workers at the visited farms were underage (younger than 16) – similar to FLA findings in 2016 (11 percent). Despite the companies’ efforts to strengthen interventions and build child labor remediation programs, the results show the challenges in improving deeply rooted systemic issues, especially with a largely migrant family workforce.  The results suggest that company efforts must continue and must be strengthened. This report also indicates the continued need for progress in other areas like hours of work, wages, discrimination against migrant workers, transportation safety, and working conditions of young workers.