Ethical trade: good practice case studies

ASDA is taking a series of practical steps to integrate ethical considerations into its buying decisions, combining training with new incentives for buyers.

A key challenge for ethical trade is how companies can enable workers in their supply chains to access effective means of redress. John Ruggie recognised this in his landmark report to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 2009.

The report acknowledged the importance of giving workers' access to grievance procedures, the barriers to judicial mechanisms and the failings of most company-level mechanisms.

It also set out a set of principles that non-judicial, company-level grievance mechanisms should follow. Tesco was one of four companies - and the only retailer - that volunteered to pilot the principles in its South African supplier farms.

Winning suppliers’ hearts and minds: Next plc's ethical trade team is supplementing a series of awareness-raising conferences for suppliers and buyers with on-going practical advice and support on ethical trading.

Three years ago, Gap Inc. embarked on a major programme of work to encourage its suppliers to engage with trade unions, so that workers' issues can be resolved swiftly and effectively.

Fashion retailer New Look is building buy-in and support for ethical trade across its business by creating a team of ethical champions. They have been pioneering new approaches to integrating ethical trade into their buying practices and supplier relationships.

The Body Shop's gift team has discovered that by keeping the construction of its gift containers constant and changing only their colour and design it could continue to purchase 80% of its entire gift offer from the same suppliers, with only 20% seasonal churn. This has allowed the company to engage much more extensively with those suppliers on ethical trade, and to help them get to the root causes of recurring workers' issues.

Marks & Spencer has introduced a range of initiatives designed to build supplier support for ethical trade, including conferences and other events, a dedicated website and awareness-raising DVDs.

A new alliance between Zara's owners Inditex and the global garments union is helping the Spanish retailer develop a strategic approach to tackling workers' rights throughout its supply chain, and to respond swiftly and effectively to major breaches of workers' rights when they occur. Workers in one Cambodian garment factory have already benefited.

Typhoo's strategy of combining advice on improving workers' conditions with commercial skill-transfer has transformed a Malawian tea supplier's initial uncertainty about ethical trade into a firm commitment to providing decent conditions for its workers.