At hessnatur we believe that good citizenship is good business.  Because of this, our ecological standards are fundamental to the way we do business.  But just as important are our social standards.

As a starting point we are a member of the internationally active Fair Wear Foundation, which consists of trade union representatives, NGOs and manufacturers’ associations.  FWF monitors where and how we conduct ourselves with everyone who works for us.

For every supplier, we have a code of conduct for social standards.  These are based on the standards defined by the International Labor Organization that govern the working conditions in all supplier operations.  Simply stated, they are:

• Voluntary employment
• No discrimination in employment
• No child labor
• Respect of the freedom of association and the right to collective wage negotiations
• Payment of a living wage
• No excessive working hours
• Decent working conditions
• Employment relationship

Where there is a difference between hessnatur standards and those of the local government, the more stringent regulations always prevail.

Sometimes local laws contradict hessnatur standards.  For example, some countries impose restrictions on trade unions.  When that exists, we work closely with the Fair Wear Foundation to identify alternative solutions and work to achieve our goals.  When trade union freedom is the issue, “workers’ training” meetings are conducted by FWF experts.  The workers are informed of their rights and ways to assert those rights are explored.  We also install in-house complaint systems to encourage greater dialogue between workers and management.

Achieving the rights that every human being should be able to take for granted can be difficult and complex.  Certainly it would be easier to business without our commitment.  But it wouldn’t be right.  At hessnatur we consider ourselves citizens of the world and take very seriously our responsibility to care for each other.

Tags: eco-consciousness, Environment, Fair wear, Social responsibility, sustainability

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 4:44 am and is filed under Environment, Production, Social responsibility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.