KLP’s response to the Fair Action report “Broke in Bangladesh”
On a general note KLP's guidelines for responsible investments describes how KLP works with engagement, voting and exclusions. Serious or systematic violations of human rights and other gross or systematic breaches of labor rights are part of KLP's exclusion criteria.
Labor rights is an important topic in many discussions with companies, and KLP has excluded companies in cases where workers have not had the right to organize (an important premise for being able to negotiate on wage and other working conditions) or there is documented forced labor and/or child labor. (See the exclusions under human rights and labor rights at klp.no.)With regards to H&M there was an engagement concerning labor rights were living wage was included in 2015. H&M launched a strategy in 2013 to reach a fair living wage by 2018, which was applauded at the time. However, the goal was not reached and it should be a topic for discussion with the company why that is, what they have learned and how they will work with living wage going forward. KLP is part of a collaborative project called N
ordic Engagement Cooperation. In 2017 NEC chose to focus on the textile industry. During this themed-engagement, NEC has met with several garment companies, and discussed the topic of child labor in the textile industry with both NGOs and other major investors. The next NEC-meeting will take place in March in Stockholm were we will have a meeting with H&M and the topic of living wage will be a natural part of that discussion.