ETHICAL TRADING POLICY

Ethical trading means that retailers and suppliers take responsibility to improve the working conditions of their employees and the people involved in making the products they sell. Often workers involved in supply chains are based in poor countries, where working restrictions and labour laws are either not sufficient or are not enforced properly.

Ethical trading can take on a number of different definitions, and is often used as a generic, catch-all term for business practices that promote socially or environmentally responsible trade.

UK Manufactured and Supplied

Gogna Schoolwear is a UK manufacturer. We do not buy in any of our stock: all of it is made at one of our two bespoke facilities in either Leicester or Birmingham. Both these facilities employ people from the local community at a fair wage. We do not outsource our production to businesses in other countries with exploitative working practices and labour policies, and we ensure all our staff are paid fairly for the work that they do. 

We work very hard to implement best practice for ourselves, our employees and our partner factories, wherever they may be in the world.

The ETI Base Code

We proudly subscribe to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code. This is an internationally recognised code of labour practice that is implemented throughout Gogna Schoolwear.

The clauses of the ETI Base code

1. Employment is chosen freely
   We do not employ the services of any business, nor do we practice forced, bonded or involuntary labour. Workers are also not required to deposit any money or relinquish identify documents such as a passport or visa in order to work with us or any of our partner businesses, and workers are entitled to leave their employer given sufficient notice.
2. Freedom of Association
   Workers may join trade unions and may bargain collectively without consequence. We adopt a fair and open attitude towards trade unions, and representatives are not discriminated against and may carry out their representative duties while at work. We and our partner businesses do not hinder the development of parallel means for independent and free association and bargaining.
3. Working conditions are safe and hygienic
   Access to drinking water, clean toilet facilities and sanitary food storage are provided. We take health and safety very seriously, and responsibility for this is assigned to a member of senior management. Workers receive regular health and safety training and training is repeated for any reassigned or new worker.
4. Child Labour
   We do not use any child labour across our organisation. We do not employ anyone under the age of 18 to work at night, and all our labour policies conform to the relevant ILO standards.
5. Living Wages
   All workers are provided with a contract before entering into employment with respect to their pay. We do not deduct any money from wages as a disciplinary measure. All wages paid for a standard working week meet the national or industry benchmark standards. Wages paid by us to our workers are always enough to meet basic needs and provide some disposable income.

We ensure that all the above practices are followed not only within our own organisation, but also within any of the organisations that we work with or who are part of our supply chain.