With Tata Steel awarded the SA 8000 certification for the fourth time,there is a sense of joy among its staff.”We feel proud that we work for a company having credibility as a socially responsible corporate body”,said a junior staff of Tata Steel.
His sense of satisfaction writ large on his face is symptomatic of general opinion among cross sections of its employees in Jamshedpur.
The Social Accountability-8000 Management System Certificate was awarded by a Norwegian Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Foundation to Tata Steel for complying with best practices of management for three years. Tata Steel has gone through three cycles of certification in 2004, 2007, 2010 and now in 2013.
“Labour well-being and corporate social responsibility have been integral to Tata Steel’s business philosophy. Its continuing commitment to creation of decent working conditions is guided by our Founder’s vision and a history of pioneering practices that went on to become the law of the land, such as the 8 hour working day (1912), free medical aid (1915) and workers’ provident fund scheme (1920) to cite a few examples”,states a press stamen issued by Tata Steel.
The presentation ceremony was held at the Board Room of General Office, Tata Steel at Jamshedpur. Prakash Tikare, Country Manager, India, DNV, Prasun Kundu, Chief Auditor from DNV, presented the certificate jointly to H M Nerurkar, Managing Director, Tata Steel, P.N Singh, President, Tata Workers’ Union and Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President (Corporate Services), Tata Steel and Management Representative for SA 8000 Management Review Committee and Member, Advisory Committee, Social Accountability International, New York, U.S.A
Nerurkar in his speech congratulated the employees and the entire team of SA-8000 for helping to achieve this feat. He said that the scope and boundaries must expand and we must overcome our challenges which are posed by recent social and economic conditions prevailing in the country w.r.t industries. He announced that suggestions made by the auditing team of DNV are being considered and deliberated upon and implementations of which, will be seen over the period of time.
