Um estudo sobre a norma internacional SA8000: gestão da responsabilidade social

Abstract

Abstract This study is based on a research about the effects of the SA8000 certification generally Known as Certificate of Social Responsibility in the relation capital/labour. It consists of a case study carried out at De Nadai Alimentação S.A., at the Santo André plant and the São Paulo head-office, which aims to usher in the whole state of affairs concerning the certification and to discuss the prospects of keeping the SA8000 seal. Two sustaining hypotheses are advanced along the study: the first suggests a social movement leading enterprises to ethical behaviour, which naturally includes the adoption of SA8000; the second suggests a wily manoeuvre by the capital to mask the exploitation and class domination in order to reduce dissensions, to boost competitiveness and attend to the accumulation process. In order to prove the hypotheses and limit the field research, a set of open-ended questions were asked, making for the guidelines on structured personal interview. The whole process envolving SA8000 auditing, certification, and prospects for the near future was surveyed, which brought about the rather puzzling conclusion that, strictly speaking, it only reproduces the legislation in force. Doubtless, however, the certification will, in the medium term, stand as a new reference in world business and will contribute to the balance of forces in enterprises, between labour and capital, and, perhaps, will be an instrumental tool for the civil society to monitor the social performance of enterprises. Yet, the advancement towards social development, at least so far, is, in plain words, extremely meagre.