Nestle Company: Ethical Dilemma and Arbitration

Ethical Dilemma: Nestlé Company

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An ethical dilemma refers to a situation where moral principles can’t adequately determine whether an action taken is morally right or wrong (Kopala & Burkhart, 2005, p. 04). Nestle is one of the multinational companies that has found itself in numerous ethical dilemmas. Nestle is a worldwide renowned brand that has a substantial market share in chocolate products. The company also has a significant market share in infant baby formula (Nestle 1904). In the recent past, the company has been under scrutiny based on the ethics employed in the production, marketing, and distribution of their infant formula.

In the 1990s Nestle company was accused of human rights violation based on their means of marketing their infant formula in third world countries. According to Kumar et al., (2011), the company took advantage of the low literacy levels in these third-world countries. The company used a deceptive marketing technique where it deceived the less literate mothers that the infant formula had the same nutritional value as breast milk, The deceptive marketing technique worked marvelously for the company as it was able to increase its market share and earn profits in these developing economies. However, ethical issues arose as these less informed mothers replaced breastfeeding with infant formula (Galalae & George, 2017, p. 03). The substitution of breastmilk with Nestles infant formula exposed many children to malnutrition (Kumar et al., 2011),

The advertising ethical issues facing Nestle have a long history since the 1970s. In 1981, the WHO (World Health Organization) imposed a ban on advertising baby formula as being in any way comparable to breastmilk the technique was untrue. The company changed its advertising technique and included aspects as the “closest” to breastmilk.

Nestle’s manufacturing process was also greatly criticized as it differed from country to country as some of the branches such as that in South Africa using sucrose in their mixture (Boyd, 2011, p. 282). The company’s production process and ingredients were considered harmful to the infants. This was a great breach of the global health guidelines (Westing et al., 1986, p. 286).

Nestle company in response to the allegations of using harmful ingredients and unethical advertising agreed to lay down all these practices after a warning from the World Health organization (Galalae & George, 2017, p. 05). The company also took measures to change its advertising method in conformity with the worldwide guidelines. The Swiss giant has since then managed to retain its reputation as a global leading product in chocolate products and also infant formula.

National Labour Relations Board

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The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that is responsible for the enforcement of the National labor relations Act (NLRB, 2021). The agency works tirelessly to manage both private and public organization’s in managing wages and also improving the workers working conditions.

The NLRB conducts the following activities;

1. Conduct elections,

Individuals who wish to join a particular union or deregister have to file for an election petition.

2. Instigate charges,

The NLRB assists members to make charges where individuals feel there has been a violation of the NLRA (NLRB, 2021).

3. Facilitate settlements,

The NLRB facilitates outside-of-court labor settlement to avoid possible litigations as much as possible.

4. Decide cases,

Unfair labor treatments are presented to the NLRB administrative judge law who decides whether there has been a violation per the NLRA (NLRB, 2021).

5. Enforce orders, and

The NLRB assists in enforcing orders as they enter into a judicial decree commanding affected parties to follow set orders (NLRB, 2021).

6. Make laws about the NLRB

The NLRB is involved in making various laws in many important areas on labor laws.

 

2. Resolving Canada and Russia Dispute

One of the key strategies to resolve disputes especially in neighboring countries is the use of diplomacy. Canada and Russia should first exhaust all the diplomatic measures to ensure the two nations maintain a strong bond that will further foster trade (Cull, 2008, p. 32). When diplomacy fails, the two countries may turn to more stern and violent measures. These measures may include sanctions and numerous restrictions, especially in trade. The two countries may also be at war as the marine forces try to prevent fishing within their borders. Countries may also see the detention of individuals who have seen trespassing into the other country's borders. Generally, failure of diplomacy may affect the two countries' peace and fishing trade as they will be in constant conflict which may escalate to war.

Definition of words

Taft-Hartley Act is also referred to as the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 and prohibits certain union practices requiring disclosure of political and financial activities by unions (Reilly, 1948).

The Landrum-Griffin Act is also referred to as the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (Etelson & Smith, 1969). The act protects employee’s union membership rights from unfair treatment by the unions.

 

The National Labor Relations Act This law provides rights to private employees to organize into trade unions and thereby participate in collective action to request better actions and fair treatment (NLRB, 2021).

A closed shop is a union-management relation where the employers agree to retain employees.

GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) is a general agreement between nations to eliminate barriers to trade such as tariffs, quotas, and eliminating significant regulations (Wolfgang, 2015).

WTO (World trade organization) deals with international rules between countries that govern trade. The body is mainly concerned with facilitating international trade.

International Laws are set guidelines and policies that govern how one country relates with another.

Arbitration is an alternative conflict resolving process that entails resolving disputes outside the judiciary courts.