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Driving Continuous Improvement - Primark Cares

OUR STANDARDS

Driving Continuous Improvement

It’s important to us that we can monitor the coverage and effectiveness of the steps we take to maintain respect for workers’ rights and the environment in our supply chains.

It’s important to us that we can monitor the coverage and effectiveness of the steps we take to maintain respect for workers’ rights and the environment in our supply chains. That’s why we have a range of measures in place to hold our business and sites in our supply chains to high standards and drive continuous improvement.

Reporting back and measuring progress

Following any audit, our team gives the factory a Corrective Action Plan. This plan details any non-compliance issues with our Code of Conduct and lays out a mutually agreed, time-specific action plan to resolve the issues identified. This plan is signed off by the factory at the end of the audit.

We know that many workers depend on our business for a living. That’s why we prefer to work with suppliers and their factories to help them address any issues identified in an audit. But, if we find anything critical, we take swift action. We’ll stop placing new orders until we’re confident the changes have been made.

We always seek to remedy issues of non-compliance with our Code of Conduct in a way that will benefit the workers. We do everything we can to support factories to improve, but in the most extreme cases, where we feel our trust has been misplaced and a supplier is unwilling to make the necessary changes, we will walk away.

We listen and take grievances seriously

Direct engagement with workers is fundamental to supporting our commitment to decent and safe workplaces for workers in our supply chain. Our goal is that any and all workers anywhere in our supply chains, and any other relevant stakeholders, can report grievances and receive effective remedy through effective workplace grievance mechanisms.

Our approach must be fully comprehensive and go beyond using access points, such as hotlines and suggestion boxes. Grievance mechanisms (GM) can be government or industry lead or may be focused on improving communication to help develop a more formal, factory-level GM. They can be managed internally by the factory, provided by a third party. Whatever the GM model, we’ve developed tools to help implement our approach across our supply chains.

Where possible, we seek to support workers to access existing grievance mechanisms, often by raising worker awareness. We may invest in an existing GM, or design and implement independent GMs if workers can’t access effective factory or independent mechanisms.

Our approach is driven by the following principles:

  1. Adherence to best practice frameworks, particularly the UNGPs.

  2. Appropriate response to supply chain risks.

  3. Interventions should not undermine effective factory grievance mechanisms but support their development and implementation.

  4. Interventions are sensitive to, and appropriately engage with, existing dialogue structures.

Taking a tailored approach

Our methodology is tailored to meet country specific needs and circumstances, for example we prioritise access to remedies for more vulnerable groups.

As factories’ abilities to build GMs and their willingness to deliver interventions varies, depending on business leverage, factory capacity and willingness to implement interventions, and the presence/efficacy of legally required grievance mechanisms, where necessary we will help to develop solutions to address workers’ grievances.

Bangladesh

We’re already embedded into the grievance procedures of the Accord (RSC) in Bangladesh, established following collapse of Rana Plaza. In 2020 we also signed up to the Amader Kotha hotline, which covers 68 factories in our supply chains and we’re working to train and support factories to use this service. To date, twelve grievances have been escalated to us via this channel, most of which relate to harassment and bullying.

Turkey

We’re part of a collective hotline run by the Turkish NGO, MUDEM, set up to support Syrian workers. All our Turkish suppliers have been made aware of this hotline and we’ve delivered training to 24 factories where refugees are recruited. To-date we have had one case raised to us via this channel, which involved discrimination.

Taking action. Resolving issues.

For any potentially critical issues we take immediate action to investigate thoroughly. And if we find a problem we take steps to solve it, while protecting the confidentiality of victims and those affected. Our team of local experts is critical to ensuring remediation is effective and appropriate. We also work with specialist organisations and civil society partners who are experts in their field. Because we have built trusted relationships with our partners over many years, we can draw on their expertise and support quickly.

Wherever possible, we seek to ensure that the any provision of remedy is satisfactory to those affected. We regularly share information on our experiences and the challenges of providing effective remedies within our sector. These can be found on our website, through reports to stakeholders and via industry forums such as the ETI and the OECD.

Partnerships and Capacity Building

We run a global portfolio of programmes, projects and collaborations to help build the capacity of factories in the supply chains to provide a better environment and experience for workers. We believe that if we help workers better understand what they can and should expect from their employer, we can help empower workers and further improve working conditions in factories. These projects are often developed and implemented with a range of external partners. Some examples are listed below

In Bangladesh we’ve partnered with the Ethical Trading Initiative on its Social Dialogue Programme. Bangladeshi law requires all factories with more than 50 employees to have a Participation Committee made up of elected worker representatives. The project helps factories set up these Committees. We also work to ensure that the workers who sit on these committees are chosen by their peers and able to communicate between colleagues and management. The programme trains committee members on key aspects of their role, including understanding labour law, handling grievances and effective communication.

Alongside this we run a number of other worker empowerment programmes to help strengthen workers’ understanding of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace and address workers’ needs, particularly those groups who may be more vulnerable.

We’ve learned that the most effective way to deliver these programmes is through strong partnerships. Many of our partnerships are with grassroots civil society and development organisations as they bring many years of experience and build trusted relationships with factories and workers through our teams on the ground. Our partners are critical to ensuring our programmes are meeting the needs of workers and are appropriate for the local context.

We work with a number of invaluable partners to implement the India Worker Empowerment Programme (IWEP). This programme consists of several projects, with a focus on female and migrant workers in South India. Through partnerships with international NGO Women Win and local implementation partners, including SAVE, St John’s Medical College, and Maitrayana we’ve created a portfolio of projects designed to train vulnerable workers on basic life skills and educate them about their rights and responsibilities in the workplace. You can find out more about these projects under People.

Gender-Based Violence & Sexual Harassment

We recognise that women face increased risks in the supply chains. We also acknowledge the important role that Primark, our industry, and business overall can play in helping to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. We’ve learnt that the pervasive nature of gender inequality requires a gender focus across all our work, from auditing factories against our Code of Conduct, to training our team on gender issues and collaborating with key stakeholders that are focused on women’s rights and women’s empowerment.

With the advent of the #MeToo movement, it became clear that gender-based violence (GBV) was prevalent in many parts of the global garment industry. We want to strengthen our approach to this serious and complex issue, which is now embodied in ILO Convention C190: Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. We partnered with Business Fights Poverty in the development of a GBV toolkit and are working with ETI, ICRW, CARE International and others to tackle Gender Based Violence and Sexual Harassment in our supply chain.

Putting a stop to sexual harassment

In 2019, we started working with international NGO and experts in GBV, CARE International, to implement the STOP project. STOP was already underway in Cambodia and, as part of our collaboration, we decided to expand to Vietnam.

The objective of STOP is to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace, allowing women workers in garment factories to feel safer at work and enjoy improved working conditions. The project takes an holistic approach, combining factory interventions and community outreach. It employs a broad range of initiatives to tackle sexual harassment including improving factory policies, management’s attitudes, and grievance mechanisms, alongside building workers’ awareness, understanding and trust.

The project delivers support and training to help factories prevent and respond to sexual harassment. The project has delivered training to sensitise factory leadership and middle management to issues of sexual harassment. It has also run worker awareness-raising campaigns, using leaflets and training and sessions to empower female workers to report sexual harassment. This year, we completed our Cambodia STOP programme in partnership with NGO Care International. Over the last year, 86% of all factory workers across five factories received training on sexual harassment and took part in awareness-raising activities such as International Women’s Day events. By the end of the programme, a sample of 26 female workers from the five factories could name at least two forms of sexual harassment behaviours – at the beginning, they could name none.

Despite challenges such as high turnover of workers on the committees and time constraints around peak production, the Sexual Harassment Prevention Committees (SHPC) have taken ownership of training and support to workers. Our team on the ground continues to engage with these factories as they continue to embed and progress change.

A Drama for Change

The Drama for Change programme in Vietnam seeks to raise awareness of GBVH by using drama and participatory techniques. The programme launched in 2022, in collaboration with Vietnamese theatre company Atelier Theatre et Art (ATH). ATH wrote and performed a play about a female worker’s experience of sexual harassment in the workplace.  The audience is made up of factory staff and workers who are then invited into the performance to take on the role of the workers in the play, to discuss the issues, and identify solutions as a group and in a safe environment. The performances create safe spaces for otherwise difficult or hidden conversations.

Since completion of the assessment, we’ve launched training in 13 factories and their four suppliers. This is supported by the provision of individual coaching based on the specific needs of the factory or supplier. Once this training is completed early next year, IFC will report on the impact of their support and recommend a methodology and tools to scale up the programme in other regions.

Respectful Workplaces

Where Drama for Change seeks to raise awareness within workplaces, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Respectful Workplaces programme provides the required technical support for suppliers to identify the risks of GBVH and other workplace violence and understand how to prevent and mitigate such risks. Launched in April 2022, Primark has partnered with the IFC to run a pilot with four suppliers across 15 factories.

The pilot stage seeks to understand what current due diligence on GVBH workplaces have, including policies, how risks are identified, and measures used to prevent and mitigate risks. During this period, 5,000 employees were surveyed, and deep dive interviews and focus group discussions were held.

IFC is now analysing the inputs and will deliver its report by the end of 2022 with analysis and recommendations. This next stage of the programme will include the delivery of technical support for suppliers and factories on implementing the recommendations to address workplace GBVH.

Spotlight on tackling GBHV in Turkey

As part of our work to help tackle GBVH in our supply chain in Turkey, we partnered with a local NGO called ACEV to help factory management understand gender inequality and how to address it. As a pilot, in November 2021, representatives from three Primark suppliers and five factories attended 28 hours of training across a range of related topics such as gender, discrimination, sexism, gender equality in the workplace and organisational change.

Participants were then given two months to develop an action plan to address gender inequality. Feedback from the training was positive with 85% of participants reporting they had identified gender equality in contexts they would not have previously considered. 81% said that they had taken steps to improve gender equality in the workplace since the training.

In the following months all the factories developed action plans, and actions taken have included changing factory signage, training workers on GBVH in the workplace with a local partner and proactive recruitment to increase female representation at the management level and in male dominant departments. Ownership and engagement of the factories has been strong, and our team continues to follow up with the participating factories.

The project, now named ‘Snowball’ continues to develop. Recently we delivered the first factory “Equality for Men Workshop” with 15 male supervisors. During the workshop specifically designed brochures were disseminated with 11 tips for gender equality.

Future plans include taking this workshop to more factories and holding a “Monitoring Workshop for Equitable Transformations” to help factories understand how to monitor and manage their action plans, including improving their data collection systems. 

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