(State Dept./D. Thompson)

可口可樂公司（Coca-Cola）想認真調查一下蔗糖的情況。2016年，一個名叫「了解供應鏈」（Know The Chain）的勞工權利團體發布了一份有關「十大」食品及飲料公司的報告，而可口可樂公司是其中最大的公司之一。報告發現這些公司中沒有一個在供應鏈方面達到了國際勞工標準，而且蔗糖是接受調查的商品中監管最差的商品之一。

為此，可口可樂公司同美國國務院結成合作夥伴，將區塊鏈技術試用於其蔗糖供應鏈，以期提高供應商的透明度及問責度。

一個名叫 FRDM 的軟體公司利用數據來評估供應鏈踐踏勞工權益的風險，並從可口可樂公司和美國國務院宣布合作之初就開始關注這一夥伴關係。該公司的負責人阿德琳·蘭伯特（Adeline Lambert）認為這看起來非常有前途。

蘭伯特說：「在我們生活的世界中，購買者能同一個供應商訂立合同，但他們所知的有關供應鏈的情況僅此而已。」供應鏈底層的勞工就算有合同，也往往看不到這些合同。而供應鏈監管人員常常在這方面發現最惡劣的侵犯勞工權益的行徑。

她認為，如果公司企業有一個系統，能讓購買者不僅知道供應商是誰，而且知道供應商的供應商以及他們與之合作的其他第三方是誰，那麼供應鏈就會變得更加透明。

美國國務院正在將可口可樂公司的蔗糖供應鏈作為應用區塊鏈的一個「試驗場」，而且有一天可能擴大其應用範圍，以增強其他勞工社區的權益。

全球夥伴關係代理特別代表（Acting Special Representative for Global Partnerships）托馬斯·迪巴斯（Thomas Debass）在聽了BanQu 的創始人及首席執行官艾希斯·蓋德尼斯（Ashish Gadnis）介紹區塊鏈如何幫助「小農戶、婦女[以及]難民」加入現代經濟後，感到深受鼓舞。

BanQu 就如何在區塊鏈上建立資料庫為金融機構、非贏利組織及政府機構提供諮詢。蓋德尼斯介紹說，當一家公司企業開始在區塊鏈上記錄交易時，勞工的情況也同時被記錄在供應鏈中。

他說：「如果你看一看一個傳統的蔗糖供應鏈，就會發現作物八次易手。損失最大的人是……權益遭受侵犯的勞工。」但有了區塊鏈，「那些勞工現在擁有能擺脫掠奪性的奴役勞工行徑的經濟護照（economic passports），因為他們可以帶走他們的數據」。

這有可能改變流動人口的生活，其中包括移民工、無家可歸者以及丟失了重要的身份證件的難民。

蓋德尼斯將於8月27日在美國駐約旦大使館的一次網路座談中介紹將敘利亞婦女難民納入區塊鏈，以使她們能夠合法地工作並獲得信貸。

他說：「每個人都試圖使其複雜化，但如果你是那名勞工，你想要做的不過是讓你的子女吃飽。這與數據權息息相關。」

What is blockchain and why should workers care?

(State Dept./D. Thompson)

Coca-Cola wants to get a better look at sugar. In 2016, a labor rights group called Know The Chain released a report on the 「Big 10」 food and beverage companies, of which Coca-Cola is among the biggest. It found that none met international labor standards in their supply chains, and sugarcane was one of the worst-regulated commodities measured.

In response, Coca-Cola has partnered with the U.S. Department of State to test blockchain technology on its sugarcane supply chain to improve supplier transparency and accountability.

FRDM, a software company that uses data to assess labor-abuse risks in supply chains, has followed the partnership between Coca-Cola and the State Department since it was announced. The company』s director, Adeline Lambert, thinks it looks very promising.

「Right now we live in world where a buyer is able to contract with a supplier, but that』s all they know about their supply chain,」 Lambert said. Workers at the bottom of the supply chain often don』t have access to their contracts, if they exist. This is where supply chain regulators often find the worst labor-rights abuse.

She thinks if companies had a system that lets buyers know not just who their supplier is, but that supplier』s suppliers and other third parties they』re working with, then supply chains will become more transparent.

The State Department is using Coca-Cola』s sugarcane supply chain as a 「test site」 for this application of blockchain, and may one day expand its uses to empower other communities of workers.

Acting Special Representative for Global Partnerships Thomas Debass was inspired to see how blockchain could help 「smallholder farmers, women [and] refugees」 join the modern economy after hearing a presentation by Ashish Gadnis, the founder and CEO of BanQu.

BanQu counsels financial institutions, nonprofits and government agencies on how to set up their databases on blockchain. When a business starts recording transactions on blockchain, Gadnis explained, it writes a workers』 existence into the supply chain.

「If you look into a traditional sugar supply chain, the crop changes hands eight times. The person that loses most is … that laborer who is being abused,」 he said. But with blockchain, 「those workers now have economic passports to get out of predatory slave-labor practices because they can take their data with them.」

This could be life-changing for transient populations like migrant workers, the homeless and refugees who may have lost important identifying records.

On August 27, Gadnis will speak through a webcast at the U.S. Embassy in Jordan about establishing Syrian refugee women in a blockchain so they can legally work and access credit.

「Everybody tries to make it complicated, but if you』re that worker, all you』re trying to do is feed your kids,」 he said. 「It』s all about data rights.」

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