Switzerland is easing up on the lockdown but what the new normal looks like for big companies is still a work in progress.
Last week, the Swiss government announced it was taking its foot off the brakesexternal link and re-opening the economy on the condition that we all behave ourselves. But the good behaviour rules for hair salons – one of the first sectors to re-open its doors – can’t exactly be copy-pasted into a code of conduct for big multinational companies like Nestlé and LafargeHolcim.
While the government has guidelinesexternal link, there is plenty of uncharted territory.
Should you require suppliers to distribute masks? Who is going to police the coffee breaks? Do you track the movements of infected employees? Do you mandate testing of factory workers? And what happens if someone is infected?
Some companies like Novartis are releasing their own guidanceexternal link for business partners operating during the pandemic. Nestlé is providing free mealsexternal link and transport for employees in factories and distribution centres to help reduce the risk they fall ill.
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But all of the legal grey areas can create trouble. A couple of weeks ago the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported that the managing director of Glencore’s mining subsidiary in Zambia was detained leaving the countryexternal link, which the company told the paper was in response to the company’s decision to temporarily stop operating because of the coronavirus crisis. (The company has just announced it has restarted operationsexternal link for 90 days.)
They aren’t the only ones that have had to halt operations. Trafigura’s mine operator Chemaf in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had to dial back, impacting a promising project with informal miners that helped eliminate child labour on the site.
Children may indeed be one of the tragic casualties of the crisis as experts warn that the pandemic could lead to a spike in child labourexternal link in West Africa, where nearly 70% of the world’s cocoa is produced, as schools close and monitors stay away. |
