This is a copy of the letter Next have sent me in response to the questions I asked them regarding ethical trade and the protection of their workers’ rights.
Our Global Code of Practice Manager was extremely interested to read your questions about the treatment of workers in developing economies and would like to take this opportunity to respond to the points you have raised.
What percentage of the retail price of a garment goes to the worker who made it?
It is difficult to provide a definitive answer to this question as there are many contributing factors which affect the retail price of a garment. Costs relating to raw materials, production costs and wage rates in relevant countries can all affect the retail price of a product and with the wide variety of products that Next sells, we are not able to provide a percentage of what an individual worker would receive.
How do you determine how much to pay workers?
As you will be aware, minimum wage rates vary from country to country and are set by governments. We always seek to ensure that employees are paid wages that at least meet or exceed national legal or industry benchmark standards, whichever is higher and be at least sufficient to meet basic needs and provide some discretionary income. As a company we are actively involved in a number of projects specifically looking at living wage rates; a key part of our commitment to ethical trade within our business is working towards providing a living wage.
Do your workers have a contract with you and know that they can rely on a steady level of income?
One of the key clauses in our Code of Practice addresses regular employment and states that employees must be provided with a labour contract or employment letter which outlines their terms and conditions of employment. Our Code also states that wages shall be paid at least monthly and should meet or exceed national legal or industry benchmark standards, whichever is higher.
Do you pay your workers in cash or through a bank; do they have the opportunity to save money in a bank account that earns interest?
The workers in our supply chain are employed and paid directly by the factory/supplier for which they work. Our responsibility is to ensure wages are paid, either by cash or direct to their bank; due to a variety of factors such as country, region, industry and access to local amenities, we do not stipulate that payment is made in a certain way. In many areas workers may not have direct access to savings opportunities; however we are involved in project work looking at managing money and earnings, including savings and insurance schemes. we continue to review this work and learning with the view to replicating and expanding it further.
Are you able to determine the conditions and pay that workers in the cotton factories are given? How about the cotton pickers?
The Code of Practice is applicable throughout the supply chain and cotton factories would fall under that definition. Cotton picking has been subject to a number of high profile investigations in recent months, as have other areas of the lower supply chain. Cotton is included in our widening scope of the lower tiers of our supply chain and vulnerable workforces. Next are committed to working with organisations such as the Ethical Trading Initiative and associated members to develop best practice and improve working conditions for all workers.
Does Next have its own factories and how often does it visit them and its sub-contractors?
Next does have its own factory in Sri Lanka. This site is monitored in line with our internal procedures. Monitoring of sub-contractors is managed individually with each factory and we expect transparency from our suppliers with regard to sub-contracting, which must be authorised by Next.
We manage the implementation of our ethical standards through a stringent monitoring programme and we have a global team of more than 30 people, who work to ensure that our Code of Practice is adhered to by our suppliers. We do not use 3rd party auditors, as we believe in the effectiveness of direct relationships with our suppliers. However, the ethical trading activities of Next are not just limited to auditing of factories in our supply base. We are involved in a number of projects through the Ethical Trading Initiative as well as internal projects working with local communities in developing countries on capacity building.
Our commitment to ethical trade will continue to be an important part of the way we do business. Support from customers such as yourself encourages us that our belief and integrity in this area is justified. You can read more about the experiences of workers in our factory on our website’s ethical trading pages:
www.next.co.uk/shopping/ethicaltrading/next
