T OBACCO ’ S H IDDEN C HILDREN 122

T OBACCO ’ S H IDDEN C HILDREN 122

According to its letter to Human Rights Watch and its website, R.J. Reynolds hired a third party group to audit the growers contracting with the company in North Carolina in 2011 and 2012. According to the auditor’s report, auditors assessed 408 growers and interviewed 922 workers (about 22 percent of the workforce). 450 R.J. Reynolds summarized the audit as “encouraging in the areas of worker treatment and safety, but revealed that further work is needed in the area of record-keeping.” 451 Concerning child labor the audit found three instances of children under 18 working for hire. 452

Farm Labor Organizing Committee and Reynolds American In 2007, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), a farmworker union based in North

Carolina, began calling on Reynolds American and R.J. Reynolds to meet with farmworker representatives concerning occupational health and safety hazards, unsafe housing, wage problems, and other human rights concerns for tobacco workers in the state. FLOC has also urged the companies to guarantee freedom of association and collective bargaining for tobacco workers in their supply chain. For many years, the company declined FLOC’s requests to meet, arguing in an open letter published on their website that they were not “the appropriate party to negotiate any collective bargaining agreement with FLOC.” 453

At a 2011 shareholder meeting, following publication of a joint report by FLOC and Oxfam America on human rights abuses on tobacco farms in North Carolina, 454 R.J. Reynolds announced it would monitor working conditions on tobacco farms from which it sourced tobacco, and participate in the multi-stakeholder Farm Labor Practices Group. In 2012,

450 Letter from Wilson ,and “Worker Welfare: Summary report of relevant findings from UL’s Good Agricultural Practices Assessment of North Carolina growers under contract to RAI Operating Companies,” 2013,

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/RAI/2763862223x0x661401/bb0693d7-a280-4599-a450- b9b73e920ed1/RAI_Summary_Report_2011-2012_Final_2May13.pdf (accessed February 5, 2014). 451 Reynolds American, “Supplier Responsibility.”

452 Two cases were in compliance with US law; the third case was not compliant, due to the absence of written parental consent, but farm management corrected the issue. “Worker Welfare: Summary report of relevant findings from UL’s Good

Agricultural Practices Assessment of North Carolina growers under contract to RAI Operating Companies.” 453 Reynolds American, “An Open Letter from the Board of Directors and Leadership Team of Reynolds American Inc.,”

undated, http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/RAI/2941276456x0x279938/72d29a9b-b75a-42e7-aee2- ff3eb6beb239/279938.pdf (accessed February 5, 2014). 454 Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) and Oxfam America,

A State of Fear: Human Rights Abuses in North Carolina’s Tobacco Industry , May 2011, http://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/a-state-of- fear-human-rights-abuses-in-north-carolinas-tobacco-industry/ (accessed February 5, 2014).

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Tobacco Leaf Merchant Companies Alliance One International Alliance One International describes itself as “a leading independent leaf tobacco merchant serving the world's largest cigarette manufacturers.” According to its website, Alliance One selects, purchases, processes, packs, stores, and ships leaf tobacco, buying tobacco in more than 45 countries. 456 Alliance One reported that in 2013 it contracted with 1,074 growers in the United States, including 446 in Tennessee, 397 in North Carolina, 226 in Kentucky, and 5 in Virginia. For the 2013 fiscal year, PMI, JTI, Imperial Tobacco Group, and China National Tobacco each accounted for more than 10 percent of Alliance One revenues. In 2013, Alliance One delivered approximately 19 percent of its tobacco sales to customers in the United States. 457

In a March 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch, Alliance One stated that its child labor policy, a component of its agricultural labor policy, is based on ILO principles. The policy states that there shall be “no employment or recruitment of child labor,” that no child under 18 is involved in hazardous work, and that 15 is the minimum age for work, unless national law sets a higher standard. Children 13 to 15 may be involved in light work on a family farm. The company did not specify whether it defines specific tasks hazardous beyond those established in national laws. 458 In its contracts with growers in the US, however, Alliance One requires that growers do not use child labor and that the grower and subcontractors “will at all times be in strict compliance with all Federal and State laws, statutes, regulations and standard[s] regarding child labor.” 459

455 Human Rights Watch interview with Justin Flores, director of Programs, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Dudley, North Carolina, May 21, 2013.

456 Alliance One, “Company Overview,” http://www.aointl.com/ and “Frequently Asked Questions,” http://www.aointl.com/au/faqs.asp (both accessed February 5, 2014).

457 Alliance One, “United States Security and Exchange Commission Form 10-K: Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2013,” http://www.aointl.com/10k.pdf (accessed

February 5, 2014). 458 Letter from J. Pieter Sikkel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alliance One, to Human Rights Watch, March 7, 2014.

459 Ibid.