Image source: http://oubliettemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/brigate-rosse-india.jpg
Do you or your suppliers employ child slave labour to make your branded products such as Promotional Clothing or Promotional Merchandise? Are your goods manufactured in factories where workers are forced to sleep on their workbenches and live in unsanitary conditions ?
You may think you know the answer but do you really know what goes on all the way up and down your supply chain? This article sets out to explain what Ethical Trading in Promotional Products is all about and why you should seriously consider introducing Ethical practices into your supply chain.
Failure to check out your ethical credentials could cost you your business because you and your brand could be next to appear on the front pages of newspapers and on the TV screens in millions of living rooms around the globe.
Since the dawn of time man has acted unethically by enslaving his fellow man usually for reasons of profit and whilst it is fair to say that a great deal of slavery has been reduced it certainly has not by any measure been eradicated. A recent report by the Trades Union Congress estimated that there are more than 250 million children around the globe who were employed in work which jeopardised their education, health or freedom. There are two major differences now compared to 1807 when slavery was abolished in the UK. Firstly society in general has grown a social conscience and is abhorred by the thought of child or prison slave labour being used in the manufacturing of goods they purchase. Secondly communications have become so instant that when stories of unethical trading are reported they are flashed around the world in minutes.
Yet there are still many corporations that do not recognise how much damage can be inflicted upon them by not trading ethically. A simple search on Google for child slave labour in the UK brings up a plethora of related stories. It should also be recognised that these stories do not just create issues for major high street stores but very small companies who are part of any supply chain can be affected in exactly the same way. If these companies are found to be trading unethically and are unwilling to change then they will undoubtedly be dropped as preferred suppliers.
Does your Promotional Products company trade ethically now? Only a tiny fraction of companies ever set out to trade unethically. The rest, if it ever crosses their minds, probably assume that they do trade ethically and until such times as it comes to light that there may be issues in their supply chain they have no reason to think otherwise. Until a few years ago ignorance could have been used as an excuse but it is no longer acceptable. The advent of the internet and other improvements in communications means that information on any farm or factory can easily be obtained mostly within a matter of days.
When was the last time that your company really looked closely at your supply chain to see where all the components of your products are originating? Are you sure that everyone you deal with and those suppliers that they deal with are not using child or prison labour. Are all the components, Promotional Clothing or foodstuffs that you are selling produced in clean and sanitary conditions? These questions do not just apply to the major high street stores, they are relevant to every link in the supply chain both large and small.
