Although a recent report from the ETI suggests key areas still need improvement, it is important to note the significant strides made in workers’ labour conditions in the past 10 years.
It’s crucial that progress made by the Ethical Trading Initiative is acknowledged. But it’s equally important to recognise that companies cannot hide behind this initiative as a palliative to their supply chain woes, nor should they rely on it as the sole source of their inspiration and thinking on ethical sourcing.
The smarter ones already know this, and are pursuing other initiatives and collaborative efforts to complement the ETI’s own. One of the key challenges for the ETI, if it is to maintain its credibility, must be the extent to which it can genuinely build international political support and in-country capacity at local levels.
Recently announced initiatives such as that of the ILO-IFC partnership on labour standards have yet to prove themselves, but early successes in the ILO’s Better Factory Programme in Cambodia suggest that progress is possible where local actors – host governments, NGOs and trade unions are involved, and where the international initiative has political clout.
At the same time, while they may make uncomfortable bedfellows, companies must get over their posturing and mutual distrust of each other and work more collaboratively with their peers, competitors and suppliers to share what information they can on factories and audits.
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Ethical; but not good enough
Members of the Ethical Trading Initiative, including Marks & Spencer, J Sainsbury and Tesco have achieved improvements to workers’ conditions in the ten years since the ETI’s foundation, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at Sussex University concluded in a new report. But there remain some crucial areas that need to be addressed. Most notably, migrant and casual workers have so far achieved little benefit from the scheme. The IDS also observed less impact in relation to freedom of association, discrimination, regular employment and harsh treatment. Although the codes had led to some improvements for women workers, they had done little to address inequalities, such as access to employment and training.
Dan Rees, director of the ETI, welcomed the report, and noted that purchasing practices – for example, shorter lead times and lower prices for suppliers – are constraining suppliers’ ability to comply with the codes, often forcing them to reduce wages and cut corners in health and safety to satisfy consumer demand. He stated that suppliers “face much greater pressure to deliver the cheapest products in the shortest possible time”.
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