Aldi Ireland has confirmed it will join the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) as a Foundation Member.
ETI is an alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promotes respect for workers' rights around the globe. The entire Aldi South Group is joining ETI, in a development which will enable ETI to further extend its reach into the retail sector.
Aldi has made significant strides in the past 12 months, publishing a Human Rights Policy and the results of a human rights assessment of its food and agriculture supply chains, which identified several priority areas, including cocoa, nuts, tropical fruit, oils and condiments and fish and seafood.
Aldi has applied to join ETI as the leading membership organisation on ethical trade, and to collectively address human rights issues which it could not address alone, in order to increase its overall human rights impact. The Company is looking to get actively involved in ETI Working Groups related to its priority supply chain areas, and engage with ETI’s collaborative model in order to learn from and share best practice with other companies, NGOs and trades unions.
John Curtin, Group Buying Director at Aldi Ireland, said: “Aldi Ireland is delighted to become a member of the ETI, which underlines our commitment to continually operate with honesty and integrity wherever we do business. We look forward to working with and learning from other members to further improve our approach to ethical sourcing and continue to ensure that the human rights of those at all stages of our supply chain are respected and protected. Our strong belief is that a sustainable business needs a sustainable supply chain.”
Peter McAllister, Executive Director of ETI, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Aldi to foundation membership at ETI. This both recognises the work that has already been done and the need for greater collaboration to tackle some of the systemic problems we see in global supply chains. Its desire to take a leading role and commitment to improving workers’ rights sends an important signal to the retail sector as a whole. We welcome the vote of confidence in ETI’s approach and look forward to working together.”
Further details on Aldi’s approach and partnerships, including its Fairtrade commitments can be found at www.aldi.ie
