Getting smarter:Ethical Trading in the downturn

 

by Impactt

 

 Without having to remind you, as we all know (or perhaps ought to by now) we are in a gloomy global recession. What is interesting and positive, is that the working conditions and plight of workers throughout the world are being raised more and more. From Blood, Sweat and T shirts to Blood Sweat and Takeways, we witnessed some truly desperate and heartbreaking stories, that require urgent focus and attention.

We share  a thought for the day:

Perhaps it is time for us all to focus on the values that we cherish  and to campaign for those that deserve better working conditions, the right to be with their children and families. What is our right and what we all take for granted is after all another persons right too.

Would you agree?

The Impactt Story:

In light of this, we stumbled across a worthy document,  Getting smarter: Ethical Trading in the downturn produced by Impactt. We would like to share the Impactt story. Impactt has been working in ethical trade for 11 years, enabling companies to improve working conditions in their supply chains in a way that brings clear business benefits to both ends of the chain. Impactt’s approach is change-focused, innovative and practical.

Impactt describe themselves as a passionate team committed to delivering our clients’ needs and making real change on the ground.

Impactt bridges two different worlds - the world of the boardroom and corporate strategy and the world of workers and production sites - usually the experiences and languages of these two worlds are so far apart that they often do not ‘see’ or interact with each other.

Impactt has extensive experience and credibility in both ‘worlds’.

We work with brands and companies to develop ethical trading strategies, providing business focused advice and training. We are also globally recognised for our innovative and successful work on the ground including in-depth ethical assessments, factory manager and worker training, practical remediation projects and in-factory consultancy. Understanding and engaging with both worlds puts us in a unique position to benefit them both with valuable information and perspectives.

High energy prices, food inflation, financial turmoil, recession and consumers tightening their belts - 2008 proved to be a challenging year.  The situation poses obvious but important questions for companies: how should they tackle the challenges of ethical trade and labour standards in a downturn?  Is work on upholding labour standards an optional extra to be discarded when times are hard?  Or have ethical issues moved to a point where they are considered core to operations?

Economic hard times present difficulties to all of us, from the CEOs of corporations to buyers, suppliers and the workers along the supply chain.  It is more important than ever to ensure that work on labour standards earns its place at the table, by demonstrating that products and services delivered by workers who have decent jobs provide better quality and value to businesses and consumers than those made by workers whose rights are infringed.  The challenge for everyone working in ethical trade is to develop ingenious and cost effective solutions which achieve the win-win of better business and better jobs all along the supply chain.  The task is getting harder, we need to get smarter.

Read Impactts document: Getting smarter:Ethical Trading in the downturn..here:

http://www.impacttlimited.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/impact-report-2008_final-version_web_single-pages.pdf

Report authors: Rosey Hurst, Dr Martin Buttle, Michelle Lehrer and Jonathan Sandars

 It is an insightful read, thank you to the Impactt Team.

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