Ethical trading

Progress 2007 cont...

Addressing problems

Every time we find a non-compliance with the ETI Base Code, we take action.

Our priorities on labour standards are to ensure there is no child labour, forced or bonded labour, or any form of abuse in our supply chain. We investigate any reports of such problems immediately - whether from suppliers themselves, from auditors or from other sources such as worker groups, NGOs and trade unions - and work directly with suppliers to stop them.

Such problems are rare. Our audit results (see chart*) indicate that issues in our supply chain are broadly consistent with those of other UK supermarkets. For these and other breaches of ETI standards, suppliers are required to develop corrective action plans. These are uploaded onto Sedex for review by Tesco (and other member retailers) so we can follow up these actions and make other improvements in labour standards.

We expect improvement plans to be implemented as soon as possible and require all actions to be completed within six months, although our emphasis is on assisting improvement rather than simply policing deadlines. We do not want to 'cut and run' from difficult countries or difficult industries but, wherever possible, seek to help businesses develop into strong partners and ensure that the livelihoods of workers steadily improve. However, if suppliers continually fail to meet our standards and refuse to implement corrective actions, it is important that they know we will stop working with them. In 2007 we ceased trading with 11 suppliers owing to ethical trade issues, compared with three in 2006.