Following a meeting of BRC members under the Ethical Labour Working Group, it was agreed to survey the membership on what should be the priority focuses for BRC regarding ethical trade and labour for 2021.
We invite members to send us their top 3 issues for BRC to focus on by the 5th March. Answers should be sent in a prioritised order to peter.andrews@brc.org.uk.
Examples of issues identified by the Ethical Labour Working Group include:
- Forced labour in China
- Military coup in Myanmar
- Exploitation of migrants workers in Southern Spain
- Welfare of delivery drivers
- UK garment factories
- Existing/incoming legislation (Modern Slavery Act, Joint Responsibility, Embargoing goods)
- Future legislation (Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence)
- Enforcement Bodies (GLAA, HMRC, EASI merger)
- Investor community (ESG) / Financial sector engagement
- Human rights interconnectivity with climate change
The following actions were also agreed at the meeting.
- Almeria: Proposal to pre-empt renewed media interest by requesting the Spanish Ethical Trade Forum prepare and circulate a one pager that BRC can use in response to queries
- Myanmar: BRC to arrange call with the Myanmar UK gov rep and seek ILO position. CONFIRMED CALL FOR 26TH FEB 10:30-11:30
- Covid Impact:. BRC to engage FNET on scope expansion of their work or to leverage their model
- Delivery Drivers: BRC to reach out to Shift on 2019 research and whether a survey could be done to start further work as the risk has increased significantly with self employed delivery drivers.