KCMPI Joins in the Corporate Social Responsibility Race!

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By Michelle Lizak, 2008-2009 President-Elect

Recently, five of your Board Members attended the MPI Chapter Leadership Conference in Dallas, where Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was a central topic of discussion. In an effort to keep on top of industry trends, MPI has created an international task force to help educate our chapters and the industry on the importance of this topic.

CSR will be a large part of our lives in the coming years, many already know about the green initiatives, but are not aware of the additional principles. Below is a summary of the basic principles of CSR set forth by the UN Global Compact:

• Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
• Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
• Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
• Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor;
• Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labor; and
• Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
• Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
• Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
• Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. 
• Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

For a complete listing of the CSR principles, visit the UN Global Compact's site or visit the MPI Web site.

To keep KCMPI moving in the right direction, a task force has been created to study this topic and adopt best practices for our chapter events and the local industry. The first meeting for this task force will be held Aug. 29. Additionally, CSR and the task force initiatives will become a reoccurring item in our chapter newsletter. Each issue will include a different topic surrounding CSR and highlight what our industry is doing to comply and how you can get involved.    

Finally, in an effort to recognize the strides that our local chapter members are taking to make their companies and lives more socially responsibly, in each issue we will highlight a member supplier and/or planner who stands out. Please feel free to contact the task force to nominate a member or to tell your story!

If there are any members that are interested in participating on the task force, please contact michelle.a.lizak@sprint.com.