Ethical trade

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The term ethical trade first gained currency in the mid-1990s, where it was used as a term for socially responsible sourcing. [1] Ethical trade addresses the ethical aspects of organisations including worker welfare, agricultural practice, natural resource conservation, and sustainability of the environment. [2] Since then, numerous multinational organisations have adopted ethical trade policies by outsourcing to auditing companies to monitor the conditions of workers in their supply chains. [2] The leading alliance of these companies, trade unions and non-governmental organisations is the Ethical Trading Initiative. [3] to support business

Contents

In many areas of India, child labour still prevails Churumuri.JPG
In many areas of India, child labour still prevails

Ethical Trading Initiative

Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) [4] is a UK-based organisation that reaches out to 9.8 million workers per year. [5] Since their inception in 1998, they have supported ethical trade in global supply chains by introducing legal protection for 600,000 migrant workers in the UK, aided movements for the increase of real wages in parts of Bangladesh, and contributed to more than 133,000 improvements to the welfare of workers worldwide. [6] ETI are committed to implementing ethical trade by enforcing corporates to implement the ETI base code in their supply chains. [7] The ETI base code reflects the commitment to ethical trade by stipulating the need for freely chosen employment, freedom of association, safe working conditions, and reasonable working hours. [5]

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

In 2011, the UN Human Rights Council endorsed a set of principles known as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights [8] in an attempt to address the issue of human rights in businesses. [9] The principles were proposed by Professor John Ruggie from Harvard University after six years of research. [9] They are based on 47 consultations and site visits in more than 20 countries, and involve governments, companies, business associations, civil society, and investors. [9] They have been considered "an authoritative global reference point for business and human rights" by Oxfam [10] and implement ethical trade by ensuring that governments and companies have a collective responsibility to protect human rights in business enterprises. [10]

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to improving the standards of living of workers throughout the world. [11] Established in 1919, the ILO have made significant contributions in addressing issues such as excessive working hours, unemployment, minimum age, and work for women. [12] The tripartite structure of the ILO is unique in that it ensures employees and workers have an equal voice alongside governments in terms of addressing ILO's policies and programs. [13] They aim to adopt international labour standards in member states regarding the ethical aspects of business practices, including the abolition of forced labour, workplace discrimination, and the protection of migrant workers. [14]

Current affairs

Cambodia

On 17 September 2014, over 500 textile workers rallied for an increase in minimum wages in the industrial suburb of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. [15] The frequent protests regarding the poor working conditions and decline in real wages have become a critical issue for the Cambodian Prime Minister, as the prolonged strikes could result in reduced orders from retail firms such as Gap Inc, Nike and H & M that outsource to Cambodian factories. [15] Recent findings gathered from workers indicate that over 33% of garment workers are medically underweight, earning around £51 per month as minimum wage, and subjected to the conditions of modern-day slavery. [16] The general secretary of the Trade Union Congress, Frances O'Grady, stated that "European-based corporations have a responsibility to ensure that workers' rights are respected in their supply chains." [17] Hence outlining the need for ethical trade practices.

Canada

The death of a temporary foreign worker, Ivan Guerrero, on a farm in Quebec once again raised questions about the working conditions of migrants. [18] Gurrerro expressed the hardships he faced through a video he recorded in 2013 with Somos Hermanos, a group dedicated to improving the conditions of migrant workers. In the video Guerrero makes reference to excessive working hours, unpaid overtime, and lack of freedom. [18] In response to the complaint, Guerrero's employer declined a formal interview. Instead stating that "they were hired to work and not to party" and that he did not call the police as he failed to realise Guerrero was missing. [18]

UK

The number of cases of human trafficking involving forced labour has increased to 42% in England and Wales, a 2011 study from The Salvation Army reported. [19] According to Karen Bradley, the minister for modern slavery and organised crime, "there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in human history." [19] Over 80% of the cases of forced labour involved men, with the majority of victims contacting the charity from parts of Eastern Europe. [19] Bradley said the move towards eliminating modern slavery would include a modern slavery bill going to Parliament, placing a weighty responsibility on large companies to ensure that their supply chains are free from slavery. [19]

Criticism

Oxfam supports small-scale farmers by providing a variety of seeds, tools and equipment to help increase the amount and quality of crops they are able to grow Small-scale farmers increase production (7536268172).jpg
Oxfam supports small-scale farmers by providing a variety of seeds, tools and equipment to help increase the amount and quality of crops they are able to grow

In 2006, findings published by the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University showed that the ETI base code, signed by some of Britain's leading companies, failed to prevent the exploitation of workers in their supply chains. [20] British and foreign workers employed by companies such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Gap Inc. and Sainsbury's were treated harshly by their employees, remained on low incomes, and had no union representation. [20] The authors of the study stated that "in general codes had almost no impact in terms of ensuring workers receive a living wage" and urged British retailers to "take responsibility for ensuring prices paid to suppliers are sufficient to cover labour costs based on a living wage." [20] Therefore, raising questions on whether ethical trade has had any impact on the conditions of workers in disadvantaged areas.

However, the Institute of Development Studies also concluded that there have been some major improvements for workers. [21] Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the International, Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation, stated that progress had been made "particularly with regard to the issues of health and safety and child labour." [21] In Vietnam, local communities have benefited from improvements to health and safety as well as reductions in working hours. [22] Improvements have also been made particularly in regards to fire safety, medical services, and infrastructure. [22] In South Africa two farms implemented a policy on ethical treatment due to the ETI base code, but major improvements are still yet to be made in regards to child labour, trade unions, and communication between farms and organisations. [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Labour Organization</span> Specialized agency of the United Nations

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the first and oldest specialised agencies of the UN. The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with around 40 field offices around the world, and employs some 3,381 staff across 107 nations, of whom 1,698 work in technical cooperation programmes and projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweatshop</span> Workplace that has socially unacceptable working conditions

A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor or illegal working conditions. The manual workers are poorly paid, work long hours, and experience poor working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, or uncomfortably/dangerously high or low temperatures. The work may be difficult, tiresome, dangerous, climatically challenging, or underpaid. Workers in sweatshops may work long hours with unfair wages, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage; child labor laws may also be violated. Women make up 85 to 90% of sweatshop workers and may be forced by employers to take birth control and routine pregnancy tests to avoid supporting maternity leave or providing health benefits. The Fair Labor Association's "2006 Annual Public Report" inspected factories for FLA compliance in 18 countries including Bangladesh, El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Malaysia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, China, India, Vietnam, Honduras, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and the US. The U.S. Department of Labor's "2015 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor" found that "18 countries did not meet the International Labour Organization's recommendation for an adequate number of inspectors."

Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influence working conditions in the relations of employment. One of the most prominent is the right to freedom of association, otherwise known as the right to organize. Workers organized in trade unions exercise the right to collective bargaining to improve working conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primark</span> Irish multinational fast-fashion company

Primark Stores Limited is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original Penneys brand is not used outside of Ireland because it is owned elsewhere by American retailer J. C. Penney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trafficking of children</span> Form of human trafficking

Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, and/or receipt" kidnapping of a child for the purpose of slavery, forced labour, and exploitation. This definition is substantially wider than the same document's definition of "trafficking in persons". Children may also be trafficked for adoption.

Migrant domestic workers are, according to the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 189 and the International Organization for Migration, any persons "moving to another country or region to better their material or social conditions and improve the prospect for themselves or their family," engaged in a work relationship performing "in or for a household or households." Domestic work itself can cover a "wide range of tasks and services that vary from country to country and that can be different depending on the age, gender, ethnic background and migration status of the workers concerned." These particular workers have been identified by some academics as situated within "the rapid growth of paid domestic labor, the feminization of transnational migration, and the development of new public spheres." Prominent discussions on the topic include the status of these workers, reasons behind the pursue in this labour, recruitment and employment practices in the field, and various measures being undertaken to change the conditions of domestic work among migrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Labor Rights Forum</span> Nonprofit organization

The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., U.S., that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world." ILRF, formerly the "International Labor Rights Education & Research Fund", was founded in 1986, and the organization's mission statement reads: "ILRF believes that all workers have the right to a safe working environment where they are treated with dignity and respect, and where they can organize freely to defend and promote their rights and interests. ILRF works to develop practical and effective tools to assist workers in winning enforcement of protections for their basic rights, and hold labor rights violators accountable."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair Labor Association</span>

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is a non-profit collaborative effort of universities, civil society organizations, and businesses.

Hanes Australasia, formerly Pacific Brands, is an Australian consumer products company. It is a business unit of the American company Hanesbrands.

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) is the garment industry's largest alliance of labour unions and non-governmental organizations. The civil society campaign focuses on the improvement of working conditions in the garment and sportswear industries. Formed in the Netherlands in 1989, the CCC has campaigns in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The CCC works with a partner network of more than 250 organizations around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the 21st century</span> Contemporary slavery, also known as modern slavery or neo-slavery

Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 49.6 million, depending on the method used to form the estimate and the definition of slavery being used. The estimated number of enslaved people is debated, as there is no universally agreed definition of modern slavery; those in slavery are often difficult to identify, and adequate statistics are often not available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair Wear Foundation</span> Garment industry activist organization

Fair Wear Foundation (Fair Wear) is an independent multi-stakeholder organisation that works with garment brands, garment workers and industry influencers to improve labour conditions in garment factories. Receiving the Fair Wear stamp of approval does not guarantee any existing quality of labour standards, instead only demonstrating a stated interest in working toward improvement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child labour in Cambodia</span>

Child labour refers to the full-time employment of children under a minimum legal age. In 2003, an International Labour Organization (ILO) survey reported that one in every ten children in the capital above the age of seven was engaged in child domestic labour. Children who are too young to work in the fields work as scavengers. They spend their days rummaging in dumps looking for items that can be sold for money. Children also often work in the garment and textile industry, in prostitution, and in the military.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debt bondage in India</span> Social issue in India

Debt bondage in India or Bandhua Mazdoori was legally abolished in 1976 but remains prevalent due to weak enforcement by the government. Bonded labour is a system in which lenders force their borrowers to repay loans through labor. Additionally, these debts often take a large amount of time to pay off and are unreasonably high, propagating a cycle of generational inequality. This is due to the typically high interest rates on the loans given out by employers. Although debt bondage is considered to be a voluntary form of labor, people are forced into this system by social situations.

International labour law is the body of rules spanning public and private international law which concern the rights and duties of employees, employers, trade unions and governments in regulating Work and the workplace. The International Labour Organization and the World Trade Organization have been the main international bodies involved in reforming labour markets. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have indirectly driven changes in labour policy by demanding structural adjustment conditions for receiving loans or grants. Issues regarding Conflict of laws arise, determined by national courts, when people work in more than one country, and supra-national bodies, particularly in the law of the European Union, have a growing body of rules regarding labour rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rana Plaza collapse</span> 2013 industrial building collapse in Savar, Bangladesh

The Rana Plaza collapse was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka District, Bangladesh, where an eight-storey commercial building called Rana Plaza collapsed. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,134. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building. It is considered the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history, as well as the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history and the deadliest industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh.

The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, also known as "the Alliance" or AFBWS, is a group of 28 major global retailers formed to develop and launch the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a binding, five-year undertaking with the intent of improving safety in Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) factories after the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse. Collectively, Alliance members represent the majority of North American imports of ready-made garments from Bangladesh, produced in more than 700 factories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Southeast Asia</span> Human trafficking

Human trafficking in Southeast Asia has long been a problem for the area and is still prevalent today. It has been observed that as economies continue to grow, the demand for labor is at an all-time high in the industrial sector and the sex tourism sector. A mix of impoverished individuals and the desire for more wealth creates an environment for human traffickers to benefit in the Southeast Asia region. Many nations within the region have taken preventive measures to end human trafficking within their borders and punish traffickers operating there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern Slavery Act 2015</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is designed to combat modern slavery in the UK and consolidates previous offences relating to trafficking and slavery. The act extends essentially to England and Wales, but some provisions apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is a UK-based independent body founded on 9 June 1998, which brings together companies, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to ensure compliance with international labour standards in the global supply chains of member companies. Minimum ethical standards are set out in the ETI Base Code.

References

  1. ↑ Freidberg, Susanne (2003). The Contradictions of Clean: Supermarket Ethical Trade and African Horticulture (PDF). International Institute for Environment and Development, Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods Programme. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  2. 1 2 Murray, Martin. "Ethical Trading Initiative". logistics.about. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "About ETI". Ethical Trading Initiative. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "Home | Ethical Trading Initiative". www.ethicaltrade.org. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Branch Guide to Ethical Procurement" (PDF). Unison. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "ETI's Key Achievements". Ethical Trading Initiative. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Principles of Implementation" . Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "UN Guiding Principles". Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 "New Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights endorsed by the UN Human Rights Councilf". United Nations Human Rights.
  10. 1 2 "Ethical trade". Oxfam. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  11. ↑ Mingst, Karen. International Labour Organization (ILO). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  12. ↑ "About the ILO". International Labour Organization. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  13. ↑ "International Labour Organization (ILO): Guide to Research". The University of Texas School of Law Library. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  14. ↑ "International Labour Organization - History Organization". Nobel Prize. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  15. 1 2 "Cambodia deploys troops as garment workers renew wage campaign". Reuters. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "New Research shows clothing factory workers seriously malnourished". Labour Behind the Label. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  17. ↑ Leftly, Mark (3 August 2014). "Help Cambodia's garment workers, unions urge Business Secretary". The Independent. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  18. 1 2 3 Noël, Brigitte; Dubreuil, Emilie (9 Sep 2014). "Temporary foreign worker dies in freak accident, leaves chilling testimony". CBC News. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Lydia (13 October 2014). "Human Trafficking for Forced Labour Overtakes Sexual Exploitation for First Time in UK". International Business Times. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  20. 1 2 3 Verkaik, Robert (19 October 2006). "Ethical trading agreement 'has had little impact'". The Independent. Archived from the original on April 21, 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  21. 1 2 Birch, Simon (Jan–Feb 2007). "Ethical Trading Initiative". Ethical Consumer (104). Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  22. 1 2 "Report on the ETI Impact Assessment: Vietnam" (PDF). Ethical Trading Initiative. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  23. ↑ "Report on ETI Impact Assessment 2006: South Africa" (PDF). Ethical Trading Initiative. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
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