Download the 2006 CR Review PDF 6.73MB - Tesco PLC

28 Tesco plc
economy
Ethical trading
We want ethical trading to be an integral part of
the way we do business. Our aim is to enable our
buyers, technical managers and ethical trading
team to work with our suppliers to uphold labour
standards in our supply chain. We are a founder
member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and
use the ETI Base Code as the standard for our
Ethical Trading Policy.
The ETI Base Code states:
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 practiced
Regular employment is provided
No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed
www.ethicaltrade.org
Our approach to ethical trading:
Monitoring and assessing risk within our
supply chain
Auditing against the ETI Base Code and
sharing audit data with other businesses
to avoid duplication
Working with suppliers to improve standards
and resolve issues when they arise
Training our buyers to uphold labour standards
Supporting, advising and training our suppliers
to uphold labour standards
Supporting the implementation of the
Gangmaster Licensing Act
We are working in
partnership with
WEITA to audit
standards on
fruit farms in
South Africa.
Actively participating in the ETI and other
multi-stakeholder initiatives
Engaging with NGOs working on labour
standards issues
Setting targets and reporting publicly
on our progress
Risk assessment and auditing We take a riskbased
approach to managing labour standards in
our supply chain, in addition to the due diligence
work we do on legal compliance, product safety,
quality and capability for product development.
We assess ethical risk using three criteria:
The risk inherent in the country where the
supplier is located, using a country risk matrix
developed by Tesco and verified by an
independent ethical consultancy
The risk inherent in the industry and
employment types, e.g. use of seasonal
workers, homeworkers and subcontractors
Our own knowledge of the risks posed by the
site and supplier, based on supplier history
Using these criteria, we place suppliers into high,
medium and low ethical risk categories:
High-risk suppliers – we carry out annual
reviews of the Sedex self assessment forms
of our high-risk suppliers, and require them
to have a two-three day ethical assessment by a
third-party company every year. Auditing 100%
of our high-risk suppliers is one of our Key
Performance Indicators (see page 72)
Medium-risk suppliers – we carry out annual
reviews of the Sedex self assessment forms
and require these suppliers to have a two day
ethical assessment by a third-party company
at least every two years
Low-risk suppliers – we carry out annual
reviews of the Sedex self assessment forms
of these suppliers
photo © Brian Miller, WEITA