The inclusion of social compliance rules into voluntary sustainability standards continues to make a valuable contribution to safeguarding the rights of people in the workplace, speakers agreed at a recent industry conference.
Speaking at the recent 19th Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) Congress held in Delhi, Dr Elizabeth Bennett from Lewis & Clark College in the US suggested that improving wages – especially for low-wage earners with little wealth – is the key to improving income equality both within individual countries and globally.
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She asked that all standards, including GOTS, do more in the areas of living wage, collective bargaining, inequality, and “bring in true sustainability.”
Post-conference, she added: “The GOTS conference offered an important opportunity for supply chain actors, scholars, and sustainability advocates to discuss the most challenging problems and important opportunities in sustainability certifications for textile manufacturers. Perhaps most importantly, there was a robust discussion about the value of offering living wages to factory workers.”
Taking as its theme ‘Social Compliance Issues in the Organic Textile Supply Chain,’ the conference saw prominent players from the field of social compliance across 15 countries gather to discuss shaping a future landscape for textile supply chains.
Syam Sundar, of Indian certification body ICEA, told attendees that some of the most common issues faced by certifiers working in the field of social audits are migrant labour, seasonal work, forced overtime, adolescent workforce and fire safety.
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By GlobalDataWhile Tim Zahn, NGO coordinator in the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, analysed the motivational structures behind social audits and argued that the current system where the auditor is paid by the auditee is flawed and not well suited to reveal social non-compliances. He also identified supply chain transparency as an aspect where certification systems can add value.
Avedis Seferian, CEO of Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), countered Zahn’s remarks by pointing out the importance of certification, explaining the difference between a standard and certification.
He gave several examples of professions where payment is made by beneficiaries and contended that this is an established international practice. He also explained that certification can be performed only against a measurable and auditable standard and is not designed to address aspirations.
Seferian did, however, acknowledge that certification is essentially a “diagnostic tool but is necessary to know where we stand,” so that progress can be made and that certifications and audits would never be outdated.
The discussions did settle on some common ground, such as the need for long-term commitments within the supply chains, using constructive criticism for improvement, collaboration and encouraging trust between partners.
