Canadian CEO Spearheads Attempt to Curtail Sweatshop Suppliers
Jun 1st, 2004 • Posted in: NewsSpecial to Newsline from Canadian correspondent Errol P. Mendes
TORONTO
The Globe & Mail is reporting that George Heller, the CEO of Canada’s oldest retail company, the Hudson’s Bay Company, is attempting to spearhead a global ethical sourcing initiative that has been three years in the making.
Heller is reported to have focused on this initiative because various groups have urged him to verify and correct working conditions at factories that provide Hudson’s goods sold in Canada.
He concluded that the only effective way to deal with the allegations of sweatshop suppliers is to have a global sector-wide effort to monitor factory conditions.
To achieve this goal, Heller is hosting a meeting of the International Association of Department Stores, which includes major international retailers such as Federated Department Stores and Galeries Lafayette.
These major retail-sector players will discuss the establishment of a sector-wide approach to sharing social compliance and audit information and a central database of information on global ethical sourcing.
The aim is to prevent industry members from duplicating and overlapping information gathering on the same suppliers and to allow use of the confidential information by participating retailers to make proper decisions on which suppliers can meet their respective sourcing standards.
Heller says he hopes that major international retailers and department stores will sign on to the pact within the next six to nine months.
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