The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) have joined hands on new guidance for brands on how to conduct their supplier relationships during Covid-19.

The organisations have published a handbook based on a four-part webinar series, which lays out guidance for member brands on upholding their responsibilities to workers in supply chains who were either laid off or facing reduced wages due to the pandemic.

The new document consolidates the learnings and slides from each webinar and focuses on four key areas:

  • Staying responsible and honouring obligations
  • Addressing your supply chain and identifying lost wages and jobs
  • Taking action to address lost wages and jobs
  • Forecasting, costing and responsible exit strategies

“It covers situations such as where a brand is unable to avoid cancelling an order, how to collect wage/job loss data from suppliers, and ensuring workers’ voices are listened to,” the ETI says in a blog post.

“There’s also a quick reference tool with advice on what to do in specific situations, and a framework for conducting brand-supplier conversations, with ideas on how to have open, transparent discussions, and show commitment to collaborating to find solutions.”

The materials are interactive and live links enable brands to cross-reference easily and to quickly access information on different aspects of the supplier relationship, depending on the stage they are at in the negotiation process. 

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Brands can also access FairWear’s Labour Minute Costings Calculators, which have been adapted to take into account the impact of Covid-19 and are broken down by country and region. The Calculators allow brands and factories to ringfence labour costs based on a transparent methodology for the costing and pricing of goods. 

The guidance follows documents published by the ETI and the FWF last month on how to implement occupational health and safety measures to protect garment workers during Covid-19.

Click here to download the handbook.

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