RESILIENCE FOR ALL Redesigning Supply Chains for a Pandemic-Altered World With 20/20 hindsight, the vulnerabilities of supply chains to a global pandemic were clear to see – situated far from reach, concentrated in certain locations, and with limited visibility into operations even for major buyers. From fashion and retail to transportation, tourism, electronics, hospitality, and entertainment – buyers and suppliers were unprepared for the catastrophic disruption of shuttered businesses, locked down economies, and global trade on pause due to COVID-19. These economic impacts also involved significant human cost. The estimated 450 million people working in supply chains are often in extremely precarious situations. They typically experience poverty-level wages, unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, little to no social protections, and often hold other characteristics – such as being women, primary caregivers, or migrant workers – that make them even more vulnerable. As buyers were cancelling and postponing orders in 2020, or demanding price reductions and rebates from suppliers, it was workers who were often bearing the brunt. Countless reports arose of jobs lost en masse, non-existent state-supported severance and furlough schemes, stranded migrant workers, unpaid overdue wages, and COVID-19 being used as a guise to hamper union activity. Prior to the pandemic, many businesses were already beginning to reconfigure their approach to sourcing – diversifying suppliers, onshoring or reshoring manufacturing and production, and digitising to make supply chains more visible – in part as a response to growing trade conflicts, in particular between the US and China. So 2021 will most & Human Rights 2021 Business Top 10 Issues certainly see supply chain transformation, but now rapidly accelerated by the events of 2020. “Resilience” will be the name of the supply chain game, focused on managing market change through simplified and more responsive distribution networks, cash flow cultures, endto-end visibility, and what-if forecasting. But “resilience” must ultimately mean more than protected bottom lines. Workers’ safety, security, and stability must be at the heart of these transformed, more resilient supply chains. The lesson of 2020 is that if supply chains are at risk then supply chain workers are at risk. The opportunity of 2021 is to place worker dignity at the centre of supply chain transformation plans. This includes a social contract that reflects the modern world of work, complete with a labour protection floor for all workers safeguarding their fundamental rights, adequate minimum wage, maximum working hours, and health and safety guarantees. It is no small order, but the opportunity for truly transformational change has come with this once-in-a-generation pandemic. “ The lesson of 2020 is that if supply chains are at risk then supply chain workers are at risk. The opportunity of 2021 is to place worker dignity at the centre of supply chain transformation plans. ” Institute for Human Rights and Business 5