(CARE International is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative)

“High street chemist Boots is turning its back on workers by cutting back its ethical trading commitments”, according to NGO members of the Ethical Trading Initiative.After six years of membership, Boots has left the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), an organisation working to improve the pay and conditions of workers making goods sold in the UK.

56 companies, including major high street retailers, with a joint turnover exceeding £100 billion and six million workers in their supply chains, are part of ETI’s growing membership, alongside labour and human rights organisations, international development charities and trade unions.

"Any company can claim to be ethical. Membership of ETI means scrutiny of company claims, and their supply chains, by unions and non-governmental organisations [NGOs]", said Peter Williams, speaking on behalf of NGO members of Ethical Trading Initiative, including Oxfam, CAFOD, Christian Aid, CARE, Anti-Slavery International, Dalit Solidarity Network, HomeWorkers Worldwide and WIEGO.

“We would question why a major retailer like Boots is leaving ETI if it is committed to improving labour standards. We fear it is turning its back on workers in its supply chain.”

Uniquely amongst Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, ETI is "tri-partite", involving unions representing workers in supply chains in the UK and overseas, and NGOs with specialist expertise. ETI member companies make serious commitments to progressively raise conditions over time, and NGOs and unions are there to see that they honour those commitments.

“Companies need to be in this for the long haul. ETI is a forum for companies to share learning and co-ordinate action, which is essential if the more intractable labour abuses are to be tackled effectively. Now that a substantial part of its production has been outsourced to China and other developing countries, Boots needs more than ever to be a member of ETI, if it is to ensure pay and conditions of workers making its product meet international minimum standards.

“It is not the right time for major brands to be rolling back their commitments on labour standards, given it is the world's most vulnerable workers who are bearing the brunt of the global downturn. Today's ethically aware consumers have higher expectations of companies than ever before, particularly brands they trust.”

This is not the first time that a retailer which has been taken over by a private equity company has left the ETI. The UK supermarket Somerfield was bought by private equity investors in 2005 and shortly afterwards (February 2006) left the ETI. Somerfield has since been broken up, and its stores taken over by Co-op and other rivals.

For further information please contact:
Peter Williams
Co-ordinator, Ethical Trading Initiative NGO Caucus
Tel: 0777 358 2213
Email: ngos@eti.org.uk