In May 2007, Stone Emporium was the second company in the landscaping industry to become a corporate member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).
The ETI is an organisation which has companies, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (such as charities) as members, who work together to explore and raise awareness of labour issues in the supply chain and carry out projects worldwide to improve specific areas of supply chains which supply the UK market.
Stone Emporium has committed to the ETI’s Base Code, based on ILO conventions, which covers 9 basic areas:
- EMPLOYMENT IS FREELY CHOSEN
- FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND THE RIGHT TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ARE RESPECTED
- WORKING CONDITIONS ARE SAFE AND HYGIENIC
- CHILD LABOUR SHALL NOT BE USED
- LIVING WAGES ARE PAID
- WORKING HOURS ARE NOT EXCESSIVE
- NO DISCRIMINATION IS PRACTISED
- REGULAR EMPLOYMENT IS PROVIDED
- NO HARSH OR INHUMANE TREATMENT IS ALLOWED
As a corporate member, we have committed to regularly reporting to the ETI on our own supply chain concerning this Base Code. As a company who import substantially from South East Asia, we feel it is our social responsibility to monitor our supply chain and ensure that our business is not coming at the cost of unacceptable labour conditions for workers in our supply chain.
Below is an ethical sourcing FAQ, and to find out more about the ETI you can visit their website at www.ethicaltrade.org or click on their logo above. |
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ETHICAL SOURCING FAQ
Has anything actually changed?
Yes, we have already made improvements to our supply chain and have more planned for the short term. For example, we have introduced a rule that all employees at our processing facility must present their Indian national identity card (which shows date of birth) before they are paid for any work they have carried out to ensure that they are not children.
We have also found that many of our workers are migrants who often struggle to find regular work and stay in one place long enough to send their children to school. We already provide accommodation onsite for many of these workers (free of charge to them), and have begun an initiative where the children of these workers will be sent to school locally and the school fees will be paid by us.
So is Stone Emporium now selling Indian fair trade flagstones to the UK trade?
This is slightly misleading. The Fair Trade mark is an accreditation concerning a narrow scope (namely, that a reasonable price is paid for the goods) and is nothing at all to do with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Membership of the ETI involves a much broader scope of issues following their 9-point Base Code, and it is less of a “rubber stamp” accreditation and more a case of companies, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (e.g. charities) working together to address labour issues in the supply chain for all businesses supplying the UK market and to actually achieve progress in these fields.
Ethical sourcing is about looking at your whole supply chain and working closely together to ensure all manner of supply chain labour standards are addressed, such as ensuring working conditions are safe and that workers have freedom of association in some form. Being a member of the ETI means that you commit to constantly work on getting your whole supply chain to meet and then exceed the Base Code principles, and that you regularly report on your progress to the ETI itself. See the ETI website for a more detailed definition of what they do (and what they do not!).
How does this translate into your products?
Every flag is individually hand split, cut and dressed by our skilled masons, and this is where the practical business element of sourcing ethically comes in; we have seen flags and cobbles cut by children (as you drive around certain parts of India, you see girls as young as 8 cutting cobbles from debris by the roadside – quite a distressing sight) and the quality is, unsurprisingly, terrible. Much of this stone undoubtedly makes it to the UK to be sold at suspiciously low prices.
Where can a find out more about ethical sourcing?
The ETI’s website is a treasure trove of information: www.ethicaltrade.org |
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