September 18, 2004

POLICY STATEMENT

Fair Labour Practices

The Board is committed to witnessing to Gospel values and promoting the social teaching of the Church in all of its policies and practices.

Participation of the Holy See in international activity is primarily for the purpose of serving the human being and promoting the dignity of the person, thereby contributing to the common good of the whole human family. In the field of economic relations, and specifically as pertains to trade, the Holy See advocates an equitable system as one of the key factors in development.

Ethical Guidelines for International Trade

Holy See's Note to Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organization, September 2003

Such a commitment to the cause of justice is entirely consistent with the Board's own Mission Statement:

We shall value and promote responsible participation in our local and global communities.

The purposes of this policy is to ensure that apparel manufactured for and/or supplied to the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and the schools within its jurisdiction are made under humane working conditions in compliance with accepted international standards and local laws, and to promote greater respect for workers' rights and improved working conditions in the apparel industry worldwide.

This policy applies to all apparel purchases made by the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and the schools within its jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, student uniforms, athletics and gym wear, school spirit, club and team wear and employee uniforms.

Approved: _________________

ALGONQUIN AND LAKESHORE CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
POLICY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Fair Labour Practices

A. Policy Definitions

For the purposes of this policy, the following definitions shall be taken to mean:

"Board" means the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board.

"Child" means any person less than 15, unless local minimum age law stipulates a higher age for work or mandatory schooling, or less than 14 if the minimum age law is set at that age in accordance with developing country exceptions under ILO Convention 138.

"Employer" means an entity that employs or contracts a worker in the production of an apparel product.

"Homeworker" means any person who carries out work in his or her home or in other premises of his or her own choice, other than the workplace of the employer, for remuneration, which results in a product or service as specified by the employer, irrespective of who provides the equipment, materials and or other inputs used.

"Minimum labour standards" means the minimum labour standards set out in the following section B entitled "Fair Labour Purchasing Practices."

"Policy" means this document in its entirety.

"Apparel" means any article of clothing, head-wear or footwear manufactured for the Board or any of its schools.

"Supplier" means an entity that sells an apparel product to the Board or any of its schools. It also includes any licensee that enters into an agreement with the Board or any of its schools to use a trademark on an apparel product, or any school uniform supplier who enters into an agreement with the Board or any of its schools to provide school uniforms to students.

"Subcontractor" means any person who directly or indirectly provides the supplier with goods and/or services integral to the manufacture of apparel products for the Board or any of its schools.

"Trademark" means a trademark, logo or other symbol associated with the Board or a school under its jurisdiction.

"Worker" means a person involved in the manufacture of an apparel product.

"Wages" mean that level of wages that meet "basic needs" by local standards are most effectively determined through free collective bargaining. In the absence of free collective bargaining, wages that meet "basic needs" shall be defined as wages paid for a normal 48 hour work week that are sufficient by local standards to provide for the food, clothing, housing, health care, potable water, child care and transportation needs of the worker and his/ her dependents. In defining wages that meet basic needs, factors that should be taken into account include the average number of dependents and the average number of wage earners per family in the sector in each country, local "market basket" surveys of the cost of goods and services needed by an average family, as well as data from local governments, labour and human rights organizations, and UN agencies.

B. Fair Labour Purchasing Practices

The Board commits itself to management practices that will favour the protection and enhancement of the rights of all workers that produce apparel for use by the Board and in any of its schools or sites in ways that are consistent with the message and example of Jesus Christ and the social teachings of the Church. Where this policy and the applicable laws of the country of manufacture differ, the standard that provides the greater right, benefit or protection to the worker shall apply. Every supplier of apparel shall ensure that its manufacturing facilities, and those of its subcontractors, producing for the Board or a school under its jurisdiction comply with national and other laws applicable in each workplace and shall respect this Policy and the internationally recognized workers' rights and labour standards expressed in the conventions of the UN International Labour Organization. To this end, the Board will undertake the following actions as standard practices within this Board, applicable to those manufacturers and suppliers of apparel including, but not limited to, student uniforms, athletics and gym wear, school spirit, club and team wear and employee uniforms.

1. Forced Labour

No employer shall subject a worker to forced labour practices, whether in the form of involuntary prison labour, indentured labour, bonded labour or otherwise. Workers shall not be required to lodge financial deposits or their original identity papers with their employer.

2. Child Labour

No employer shall use child labour. Adequate transitional economic assistance and appropriate educational opportunities shall be provided to any displaced child worker.

3. Harassment and Abuse

No worker shall be subject to physical, sexual, or psychological abuse or harassment, verbal abuse, or any other form of abuse, including corporal punishment.

4. Discrimination

No employer shall discriminate against a worker in hiring, compensation, access to training, promotion, termination on the basis of age, race, caste, national origin, religion, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, union membership or political affiliation.

5. Reproductive Rights

No worker shall be subject to the forced use of contraceptives or pregnancy testing. Workers will be permitted to take maternity leave without facing the threat of dismissal, loss of seniority or deduction in wages, and shall be able to return to their former employment at the same rate of pay and benefits.

6. Hours of Work

No employer shall require a worker to work in excess of 48 hours per week, and shall provide each of its workers with one day off for every seven-day period. If a worker is requested to work overtime (more than 48 hours per week), such overtime shall not exceed 12 hours per week; only be requested in exceptional and short-term circumstances; and be remunerated at a premium rate.

7. Freedom of Association and the Right to Bargain Collectively

Workers shall have the right to join or form trade unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively. Workers' representatives shall not be discriminated against and shall have access to carry out their representation functions in the workplace. Where the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is restricted under law, the employer shall facilitate and will not hinder the development of parallel means for independent and free association and bargaining.

8. Wages and Compensation

Wages and benefits paid for a standard working week shall meet, at a minimum, national legal standards or industry benchmark standards, whichever is higher. In any event wages paid for a standard working week should always be enough to meet basic needs of workers and their families and to provide some discretionary income. All workers shall be provided with written and understandable information about their employment conditions with respect to their wages. Deductions from wages as a disciplinary measure shall not be permitted.

9. Health and Safety

Every employer shall provide its workers with a safe and healthy workplace, including access to clean toilet facilities, potable water and, if appropriate, sanitary facilities for the storage of food. If accommodations are provided, such accommodations shall be clean, safe, and meet the basic needs of the workers. Adequate steps shall be taken to prevent accidents and injury to health by minimizing the causes of hazards inherent in the working environment. Workers shall not be exposed to situations in the workplace that are hazardous, unsafe or unhealthy. Workers shall receive regular and recorded health and safety training, and such training shall be repeated for new or reassigned workers.

10. Employment Relationship

To every extent possible work performed must be on the basis of a recognized employment relationship established through national law and practice. Obligations to employees under labour or social security laws and regulations arising from the regular employment relationship shall not be avoided through the use of labour-only contracting, subcontracting, or homeworking arrangements, or through apprenticeship schemes where there is no real intent to impart skills or provide regular employment, nor shall any such obligations be avoided through the excessive use of fixed-term contracts of employment.

11. Homeworkers

The employer shall take special steps to ensure that homeworkers are afforded a similar level of protection as would be afforded to directly employed personnel under the requirements of this Policy. Such special steps shall include but not be limited to:

1. establishing legally binding, written purchasing contracts requiring compliance with minimum criteria (in accordance with the requirements of the Policy);
2. ensuring that the requirements of the written purchasing contract are understood and implemented by homeworkers and all other parties involved in the purchasing contract; and
3. maintaining, on the employer's premises, comprehensive records detailing the identities of homeworkers, the quantities of goods produced, and/ or hours worked by each homeworker.

Employers shall keep adequate records of their employees' names, addresses, rates of pay and number of hours worked each week in order to make this information available for an inspection/audit.

12. Awareness of Policy

Workers whose work is covered by the Policy shall be made aware of the terms of the Policy orally and through the posting of standards that accurately reflect the Policy in a prominent place in the local language(s) spoken by employees and managers.

C. Compliance

1. The following terms of compliance will be applied to those purchases of apparel in excess of $500 on any single occasion or multiple purchases of the same item(s) over the course of a fiscal year anticipated to be in excess of $500.
2. Before the Board or any of its schools enters into an agreement with a supplier, the supplier must confirm in writing that:
   1. it shall comply with ethical labour practices that meet or exceed the minimum labour standards in the Policy;
   2. it acquires goods and services from other entities who agree to comply with labour practices that meet or exceed the minimum labour standards; and
   3. that it shall provide written confirmation of such compliance through the use of its internal inspection audit process or an independent, third-party inspector/auditor contracted by the manufacturer or supplier for such purposes.
3. Where the origin of such purchases is at the level of an individual school or other Board site, the Principal or Manager of that site will insure that the manufacturer or supplier is aware of the terms of this Policy, with the assistance of the Manager of Purchasing Services of the Board as may be required.
   1. The Manager of Purchasing, with the support of Principals and Managers, annually shall compile and review a list of apparel suppliers with whom their site(s) is/are presently conducting business.
   2. The Manager of Purchasing, with the support of the Social Justice Committee of the Board, annually shall compile and review a list of apparel suppliers whose business practices are consistent with this policy. Such a list will be provided to all sites within the Board.
4. In addition to the confirmation mentioned above, a supplier shall provide the Board, on a confidential basis, the names and addresses of each subcontractor and manufacturing facility to be used in the manufacture of the apparel product.
5. Every supplier is responsible for monitoring their own as well as their supplier's factories. Preference will be given to suppliers who use the services of independent, third-party verifiers.
6. Every supplier shall be required to submit an annual compliance report to the Board containing information on their monitoring and verification programs, the name(s) of any independent, third-party verifier(s), the findings of the monitoring and audit(s), and corrective action taken to achieve compliance with the Policy. This report shall be considered public information.

D. Violations and Remedial Action

1. If the Board receives a credible report that a supplier or an entity with whom the supplier has entered into an agreement to manufacture a product has violated the minimum labour standards of the Policy, the Board shall send a notice of the violation(s) to the supplier.
2. A notice of violation shall:
   1. describe the alleged violation, including which minimum labour standard(s) in the Policy has/have allegedly been violated;
   2. specify the entity which the Board believes may have violated the minimum labour standard(s) in the Policy; and
   3. set out the supplier's requirement to respond to a notice of violation within 30 days of receipt of such notice.
3. Within 30 days from the date of receipt of the notice of violation, the supplier shall provide the Board with:
   1. supporting documentation to demonstrate that the violation described in the notice did not occur; or
   2. a detailed remedial program to demonstrate how the violation described in the notice shall be rectified within a period not to exceed six months of the date of the notice.
4. If the supplier responds to the notice of violation with documentation that the violation did not occur, the Board may require the supplier to co-operate with an independent, third-party audit or a Ministry of Labour audit.
5. If an independent, third-party or Ministry of Labour audit determines that the violation(s) of the minimum labour standard(s) set out in the notice of violation did occur, the supplier shall submit a detailed program to demonstrate how the violation(s) described in the notice shall be rectified within six months of the date of the notice.
6. If a remedial program has been submitted in response to a notice of violation, the Board may require the supplier to co-operate with an independent, third-party audit or Ministry of Labour audit to verify that the violation(s) has/have been rectified in accordance with the remedial program.

E. Termination

1. The Board has the authority to terminate any contract with a supplier without notice or penalty if:
   1. a supplier who has been sent a notice of violation has failed to make an adequate response within 30 days;
   2. the supplier refuses to submit or fails to cooperate with an independent, third-party audit as required by the Board; or
   3. an independent, third-party audit of a factory where violations have been reportedly corrected determines that the violation was not rectified in accordance with the agreed-upon remedial program.
2. The Board must disclose to the vendor that failure to comply with this policy may result in cancellation of the agreement with the Board and that the Board will not be liable for any inventory the vendor may have on hand. Furthermore, the Board shall suspend ordering from any vendor under review for a period of 30 days or until the review has been completed to the satisfaction of the Board.
3. The Board, at its discretion, may terminate a contract or prohibit a vendor from holding contracts with the Board for filing false information or for failing to file information required under this policy.
4. The Board, at its discretion, may share information related to the termination of an agreement with a supplier.

F. Education

1. The Board will provide, in appropriate fashion, information about this policy to members of all school communities and employer groups.
2. The Board will seek to support efforts beyond its jurisdiction that are consistent with the goals of this policy, particularly as it relates to apparel purchasing practices in other school boards.

Approval: __________________

For more information contact:

Bronek Korczynski
Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic School Board
613-654-2255 / korczyns AT alcdsb DOT on DOT ca