Thai Union Reaffirms Commitment to Gender Parity

• Thai Union is working towards 50/50 gender parity across all levels of management
• Business and society both benefit from the inclusion of women in the workforce
• Thai Union introduced a Diversity Policy in 2018 with a focus on gender as part of a broader inclusion approach.

Caption: Dr. Darian McBain, Thai Union’s Global Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, addressing the ELEVATE CSR Asia Summit in Bangkok.

30 September 2019, BANGKOK – Thai Union Group PCL has reaffirmed its commitment to gender equality across its operations, with more women and diversity in the workplace delivering enormous benefits across the business.

Gender imbalance remains an ongoing challenge in the seafood industry, but Thai Union is working towards having 50/50 gender parity across all levels of management, Dr. Darian McBain, Thai Union’s Global Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, told the ELEVATE CSR Asia Summit.

“The inclusion of women in the workforce brings very clear benefits not just to a business recognizing the skills and talents that women can bring at every level of an organization, but also to broader society by providing additional income for families, while also playing an important role in education for children. Ensuring access to quality working conditions together with fair and equal treatment is a priority,” McBain told a forum titled “Beyond Policies and Targets: What’s Next in Gender Equality?”

Thai Union has a diverse customer base, so having a diverse workplace helps the company to better understand its target markets, she said.

The company introduced the Thai Union Group Diversity Policy last year, with gender diversity forming a key component given the large number of women working for Thai Union and within its supply chains.

Separately, McBain told a roundtable at the summit on “Children’s Rights in the Agricultural Sector” that through Thai Union’s global sustainability strategy, SeaChange®, the company has implemented change to ensure there are no children working in its supply chains.

In 2015, Thai Union introduced a new, more stringent Business Ethics and Labor Code of Conduct, built on 12 fundamental principles designed to reinforce a culture of integrity and aligned with the United Nations Global Compact principles of basic responsibilities to people and upholding their basic rights. The Code of Conduct makes it clear that child labor is forbidden in the company’s own operations and supply chains.

Thai Union also supports children in the local communities where it operates by providing regular health and nutrition workshops, as well as general skills and knowledge such as fire safety, football clinics and photography . This year, Thai Union opened its fourth preschool in Thailand’s Samut Sakhon province to help the children of migrant workers to learn Thai language and culture before they enter the formal Thai education system. The preschools not only provide the children with basic education but also ensure they are safe during the day.

About Thai Union Group
Thai Union Group PCL is the world’s seafood leader bringing high quality, healthy, tasty and innovative seafood products to customers across the world for more than 40 years.

Today, Thai Union is regarded as the world’s largest producer of shelf-stable tuna products with annual sales exceeding THB 133.3 billion (US$ 4.1 billion) and a global workforce of over 47,000 people who are dedicated to pioneering sustainable, innovative seafood products.

The company’s global brand portfolio includes market-leading international brands such as Chicken of the Sea, John West, Petit Navire, Parmentier, Mareblu, King Oscar, and Rügen Fisch and Thai-leading brands SEALECT, Fisho, Qfresh, Monori, Bellotta and Marvo.

As a company committed to innovation and globally responsible behavior, Thai Union is proud to be a member of the United Nations Global Compact, and a founding member of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF). In 2015, Thai Union introduced its SeaChange® sustainability strategy. Find out more at seachangesustainability.org. Thai Union’s on-going work on sustainability issues was recognized in 2018 and 2019 by being ranked number one in the world in the Food Products Industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, achieving a 100th percentile ranking for total sustainability score. Thai Union has now been named to the DJSI for six consecutive years. Thai Union was also named to the FTSE4Good Emerging Index for the third straight year in 2018.

Media contacts

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E: Wiriyaporn.Posayanonda@thaiunion.com

Jirawat Montreevong
External Communications Manager
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E: Jirawat.Montreevong@thaiunion.com