Data ethics

Employee relations and labour rights

A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) is committed to respecting fundamental labour rights and constructive employee relations. Our commitment is based on core ILO conventions and internationally accepted frameworks from the UN and OECD, as well as compliance with applicable local legislation where we operate. Constructive employee relations can only exist by respecting the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, which means actively engaging with trade unions, works councils and/or other employee representative bodies. We manage these commitments through a rule in our central governance system, Commit, and policies for specific areas such as automation and negotiation of collective bargaining agreements. We have an Employee Relations Council that sets direction and monitors progress and a network of global, regional and local employee relations specialists. Finally, we provide training for all employees.

Postponed from 2020, due to COVID-19, this year we began roll-out of an employee relations training programme for line managers focusing on collective bargaining agreements. In addition, we developed an updated e-learning module for launch in 2022, supporting the rule on employee relations and labour rights in our governance system. This e-learning will be mandatory for all new employees, and there will be annual refresher training for all other employees.

Crew change under control

In 2021 we were able to reduce the number of colleagues who were on board our vessels longer than their contracts stipulated, compared to 2020. Out of 12,500 seafarers of 40 nationalities on 300 vessels, an average of 180 colleagues stayed on board beyond their contracts. In total, 60 crew members went beyond 11 months on board, which is the limit set in the Maritime Labour Convention. The delays were due to COVID-19-related restrictions hindering crew change, for example crew relief is not allowed for vessels in dry dock in China. All crew were disembarked at the first opportunity.

Assessing the state of labour rights

Maersk performs a company-wide labour rights self-assessment every two years to identify risk areas and to assess the level of implementation of internal policies and procedures. The selfassessment in 2021 confirmed that our labour rights issues are mainly related to working hours, discrimination and compensation. Additionally, a rise in workplace harassment cases was noted. These findings support the results from our 2021 human rights impact assessment (see p. 43). In 2022 we will continue our efforts to strengthen the labour rights due diligence process to gather actionable insights that will help address these issues in our business. 203 cases related to potential violation of HR-related laws, rules or company values were processed through our whistleblower system in 2021, 22 cases were substantiated, with 20 related to internal policies and procedures.

Investigating contractor conditions

We must ensure that our growing portfolio of warehousing and other land-based logistics services, including trucking, is managed with full respect for employee relations and labour rights. This includes the working conditions of third-party labour on our sites. In 2021, we completed four sample audits in terminals in Nigeria, Colombia and Oman. The audits show indications of issues in conflict with our Supplier Code of Conduct, for example on working hours, overtime, health and safety and workers’ accommodation. We also conducted audits at warehouses we use but do not own in Bangladesh. These audits resulted in similar findings. We have taken immediate actions to address all issues found. In addition, we will be conducting a landscape review of third-party labour agreements and practices across our terminals in 2022, with results being shared across Maersk and expected to lead to adjustments and improvements in our policies and practices.

We are also engaged in collaborative pilot initiatives on responsible trucking. It is clear to us that improvement in labour conditions for trucking need to take place at an industry level (see p. 47).

Growing and modernising responsibly

One element in our journey to integrate global logistics is the modernisation of some of our ways of working, including more extensive use of automated processes.

Since 2018, we have had a set of principles to guide how we engage with and communicate such plans and changes to employees, including a focus on re-skilling for new job types. In 2021, we added to these principles that new automation initiatives in our terminals will go through an employee relations review, before final decision-making and implementation. We began such reviews in two ports with planned automation projects.

Fair and equal wage

Our values and commitments to international labour standards obligate us to pay fair and equal wages to all employees.

We are also aware of the increasing level of attention given to the issue of living wages as part of the debate on corporate touchpoints with the issue of inequality, and also represented in the ideas for an upcoming EU social taxonomy. We follow this area closely and will seek out relevant ways to engage on the issue in the years to come. Why it matters

The way we treat our employees and their representatives is fundamental to the way we want to do business. This begins with ensuring respect for internationally recognised labour rights in all our workplaces.

Ambition

We offer decent, fair and equal working conditions and make Maersk a good place to work for all our people. We identify risks for third-party labour and implement mitigating and preventive actions and involve employees in our efforts to secure that our growth adequately considers our responsibility towards employees.

2021

• Perform four pilot audits on third-party labour to monitor risk and compliance • Secure commitment and principles for timely involvement of employee representatives as our business grows and more automation is introduced

2023

100% of employees within Maersk trained in employee labour rights

8.5 8.7 8.8 16.3

Targets