Burberry

Download Burberry's Submission Here (pdf)

Responded to survey: Yes

MSI involvement: no [what's this?]

Grade 2.5: Can offer concrete examples of steps to increase wages in supplier base, but pilot projects are limited in scope and have significant omissions. [what's this?]

Summary

This is the first year that Burberry has responded to the Clean Up Fashion survey and we are pleased to see one of the more luxury brands are starting to engage on this issue. The submission shows Burberry have a long way to go, but it is not a bad start. Work mentioned includes productivity improvements, a worker hotline, and consultations with workers’ rights groups.

Position on living wages

Supports a living wage and has adopted policies based on the ETI base code; says ‘Living Wage is considered a critical issue – our highest level of concern.’

Position on freedom of association

Based on the ETI base code. Implementation is being done through training programmes with local NGOs. Some work to resolve issues in partnership with a number of unions was also mentioned. Burberry also stated that ‘65% of our vendors workforce in Turkey are unionised.’

Work so far on living wages

Capacity building programmes
“Suppliers in Asia are taking part in Burberry nominated capacity building programmes that focus on addressing the root causes of non-compliances through trainings on productivity, enhancing communication, worker rights and improving management and HR systems... 3rd party consultants are working with factories to teach workers and management how to run more effective worker committees. Any productivity programme is partnered by non-profit organisations to ensure the workers are being respected.”

Worker feedback
“Workers in 14 supplier factories have been trained in the Burberry Confidential Worker Hotline run by our non-profit partner since Nov 2007... Extra attention is paid to worker complaints regarding wages.”

Consultation
Burberry ‘regularly participate in meetings with other brands, CR practioners, NGOs, nonprofit worker rights organisations, and CSR organisations’ to discuss monitoring, training and partnerships in relation to living wage issues. Meetings are held on a corporate
level and ‘in sourcing countries with local representatives’.

Plans on living wages

10 further worker trainings for the Burberry Confidential Worker Hotline.

Other significant information

It is an active member of three Business for Social Responsibility working groups. It says that it sources ‘the vast majority’ of its garments from factories within Europe where ‘the minimum wage of the country would be deemed to be a living wage.’

Our comments

Along with a number of other companies, Burberry have jumped on the productivity and capacity building band wagon to improve wages. Our main worry is that these projects offer no guarantee of improved pay for workers, and often lead to increased stress and time demands in the workplace. Burberry’s mention of nonprofit organisation partnership on the project is good, but we hope that continual monitoring of worker experience in this project will lead decisions.

We are yet to be convinced that a worker hotline is an effective method by which workers can feel able to report concerns, as these tend to focus on resolution of individual grievances rather than collective or systematic issues. A real attempt to support workers’ unions, not just committees, through genuine promotion of the right to workers and local unions would give workers a collective voice to communicate
with the company and the supplier.

Burberry make a number of mentions of consultations with NGOs and workers’ rights groups – good. A significant step, however, would see them join a multi-stakeholder initiative and stop working on these issues in isolation.