The Modern Slavery Act: 1 Year On
On Tuesday 23rd May our Ethical Trade Manager Glenn Bradley gave a presentation to business leaders in Northern Ireland which was hosted by Business in the Community NI who represent 270 members and who stand for responsible business to mobilise as a force of good. The theme of the presentation was about the “Modern Slavery Act: 1 Year On” and explained the link between the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Guiding Principles, The Modern Slavery Act and the base code principles of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) which are evidenced in practice within Hardscape’s supply chain.
Glenn then presented a separate CPD to interested architects on the process of ethical quarry sourcing and factory production within our Indian Sandstone supply chain evidenced in our work within the Rajasthan Sandstone Working Group in the ETI.
Since the UK’s Modern Slavery Act came into force in 2015, it is estimated that just under 2,000 statements out of around 15,000 have thus far been published. The 13000 or so unpublished have failed to meet the basic requirements of the law, and too many are cut-and-paste jobs that don’t say anything meaningful or demonstrate efforts of ethical transparency. Most companies have not bothered to look at the Law and will, in probability, come undone when enforcement begins in 2018.
But responsible companies, like Hardscape, are using our statements to drive change in our company supply chains, and view the legislation as a ‘game changer’ in the pursuit of eradicating labour and human rights abuse within corporate supply chains, and making buyers think about the reality of why some products are “cheap”.
Hardscape, are among the 1939 statements, viewable at the Modern Slavery Act Registry managed by the Business and Human Resource Centre.
Why risk buying products made by workers whose labour or human rights have been violated to make cheap goods? Why risk buying stone from black market quarry sources? Demand an ethically transparent supply chain: insist on Hardscape products.
For more information on Hardscape’s ethical trade programme please contact Glenn Bradley on gb@hardscape.co.uk or:
For more information please visit Ethical Trading Initiative; Northern Ireland Business and Human Rights Forum; DALIT Solidarity Network UK.
