Sainsbury's

Download Sainsbury's Submission here (pdf)

Responded to survey: Yes.

MSI involvement: yes, Ethical Trading Initiative [what's this?]

Grade 2: Acknowledges that minimum and industry benchmark wages are not sufficient standards, but no real efforts to apply living wage. [what's this?]

Summary

As with last year, Sainsbury’s have failed to supply any concrete information about their work.

Position on living wages

‘Sainsbury’s and its suppliers are committed to the principle of a living wage, as defined by he ETI base code. We believe the most effective way to tackle this complex issue is through  collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach - we do this via our long standing support of the Ethical Trading Initiative.’

Position on freedom of association

 Sainsbury’s Code of Conduct contains statements on freedom of association taken from ILO conventions.

Work so far on living wages

‘In addition to participation in ETI working groups, we are in active discussion with our suppliers about the best methods of approach. This engagement has helped us to understand the issues better, through a bottom up approach - for example, giving us transparency of worker lobbying and union activity. We have also more effectively analysed our supplier audit data, pinpointing issues such as overtime and subcontracting in specific regions which would indicate the immediate need for wage re-evaluation, and create the focus and direction for our project work.’

Plans on living wages

Other significant information

None

Our comments

Sainsbury’s isn’t giving much away. It’s good to see that it is planning pilot projects in China and Bangladesh, but what this entails isn’t clear. It cites involvement in ETI working groups also, but doesn’t specify what its contribution to these groups has been.

Sainsbury’s appear to have been doing some data analysis and consultation and have become aware of union activity which happens in their work force although, again, it is unclear what this means in practice. We hope that this will lead to some work on freedom of association through the coming pilot projects, but remain sceptical.