In 2011 Danwatch documented that Ramb\u00f8ll was involved in construction projects in which employees worked under slave-like conditions. The workers were not employed by Ramb\u00f8ll but one of its partners. Ramb\u00f8ll took note of this and adopted a new policy: \u201dobligation to act\u201d. And that is what they are trying to do, but it is not easy.<\/p>\n
It was Arabtec Construction and Al Habtoor Leightons that in 2011 employed migrant workers under conditions that can be characterised as forced labour: \u201dPassport confiscation increases the likelihood that migrant workers are forced into labour from which they cannot escape. And forced labour is the worst kind of labour,\u201d said Caroline O\u2019Reilly, head of ILO\u2019s programme against forced labour, to DanWatch back then. The two contractors collaborated with Ramb\u00f8ll on several construction projects in Dubai in 2011. In Dubai the so-called sponsorship system, in which a migrant worker is bound to one employer only, is widespread. The migrant workers had their passports confiscated, were lodged under inhumane conditions and were not paid what they were promised. When Ramb\u00f8ll found out how the two contractors treated their employees, Flemming Bligaard Petersen, group CEO at that time, contacted them and pointed out the problems but never got any replies.<\/p>\n
According to Ramb\u00f8ll, the reason for the lack of response was that Ramb\u00f8ll had no leverage. When Ramb\u00f8ll works as a consultant on a construction project, they have no say in who does the construction work. Therefore they have nothing with which to exert pressure on their partners, current group CEO Jens-Peter Saul explains to the newspaper Ingeni\u00f8ren: \u201dIt is a dilemma we are often in. The consultants are picked first, and then the other project partners are picked. This means that we have no contractual relation to them, and therefore we cannot push anything through.\u201d Nevertheless, the episode has had an effect on who Ramb\u00f8ll collaborates with in the future.<\/p>\n
As a result of the episode, Ramb\u00f8ll refuses to collaborate with the two contractors in the future \u2013 unless it can be verified that they have changed conduct. Furthermore, Ramb\u00f8ll try to have it written into their contracts that they can dissolve a collaboration should they discover violations of human and workers\u2019 rights on projects they are involved in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a business founded upon different sets of values, words are not always enough. Ramb\u00f8ll has several times tried to notify two contractors that their employees worked under slave-like conditions. But they were met with silence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","slim_seo":{"title":"When words are not enough","description":"In a business founded upon different sets of values, words are not always enough. 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