Sustainable and ethical sourcing
Sustainable and ethical sourcing
Sobeys sources products locally, nationally and globally. We are committed to continually evolving our processes and procedures and to working collaboratively with local governments, industries, non-governmental organizations and factories to ensure conditions that impact factory workers and the environment are in compliance with local laws, Sobeys' Code of Business Conduct & Ethics as well as the various programs and initiatives to which Sobeys is a signatory.
At a global industry level, Sobeys is a signatory of the Global Social Compliance Programme (GSCP). Through GSCP, retailers and brand manufacturers in many sectors, including food, textiles, electronics, toys, furniture and footwear, are working together to create a harmonized, global and sustainable approach to improving working conditions and environmental practices in the global supply chain.
The GSCP approach includes shared codes of conduct and monitoring systems designed to deliver real benefits, including fundamental labour rights, to workers around the world, particularly in sensitive countries. It also offers a global platform for exchanging knowledge and best practices. Sobeys continues to play a role in the development of GSCP principles and uses those principles in our global procurement practices.
This initiative is focused on ensuring fair labour practices among the suppliers of our private label products in countries which our international risk assessment sources define for us. The issues that are included in this assessment include child labour, forced labour, freedom of association, discrimination and harassment, health and safety, compensation, hours worked and overall management practices that effectively address and ensure compliance and improvement. We continue our stakeholder engagement process to ensure that criteria are defined in ways appropriate to the supplier's context.
We have reviewed social compliance audits from our private label suppliers in high risk countries, and identified improvement needs. Targets are in process of being developed with an overall focus on "capacity building – that is, helping our suppliers to have a clear visibility into what "good" looks like and helping them take ownership of the this objective and proactively manage it.
Progress
Through social compliance audits, we have determined our baseline measure of our private label suppliers from "high risk" countries. Key issues have been highlighted and plans are underway to address them.
