Model No Sweat School Board Purchasing Policy

1. PREAMBLE

The purposes of this policy are to ensure that apparel manufactured for the ______ 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 _______ 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.

The _______ School Board shall undertake to consult extensively with teachers, staff, students, parents, other educational institutions and relevant labour, human rights and non-governmental organizations regarding the Policy and its implementation. The Policy shall be reviewed on a regular basis.

2. DEFINITIONS

"Board" means the 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 a 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 entitled "Labour Standards Provisions."

"Policy" means this document in its entirety.

"Product" means any article of clothing, head-wear or footwear, or any item made of fabric or by knitting, weaving or felting manufactured for the Board or any of its schools.

"Supplier" means an entity who sells a 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 a product, or any school uniform supplier that 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 a product.

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" should 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.

3. LABOUR STANDARDS PROVISIONS

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 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's International Labour Organization. Furthermore, all suppliers and their subcontractors shall ensure that:

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.

Child Labour
No employer shall use child labour. Adequate transitional economic assistance and appropriate educational opportunities shall be provided to any displaced child worker. Workers under the age of 18 shall not be exposed to situations in the workplace that are hazardous, unsafe or unhealthy.

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

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.

Women's 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.

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.

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.

Wages and Compensation
Wages and benefits paid for a standard working week 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.

Health and Safety
Every employer shall provide its workers with a safe and healthy workplace, including access to clean toi- let 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 receive regular and recorded health and safety training, and such training shall be repeated for new or reassigned workers.

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.

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: (a) establishing legally binding, written purchasing contracts requiring compliance with minimum criteria (in accordance with the requirements of the Policy); (b) 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 (c) 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, rate of pay and number of hours worked each week in order to make this information available for an independent audit.

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

4. COMPLIANCE

1. Before the Board or any of its schools enters into an agreement with a supplier, the supplier must confirm that: (a) it will comply with ethical labour practices that meet or exceed the minimum labour standards in the Policy; and (b) it acquires goods and services from other entities who agree to comply with labour practices that meet or exceed the minimum labour standards.
2. In addition to the confirmation mentioned above, a supplier shall provide the Boardthe names and addresses of each subcontractor and manufacturing facility to be used in the manufacture of the product. This information shall be considered public information.
3. Every supplier is responsible for monitoring their supply factories. Preference will be given to suppliers who use the services of third-party verifiers acceptable to the Board.
4. Every supplier shall be required to submit an annual compliance report to the Board containing information on the monitoring and verification program, the name(s) of the third-party verifier(s), the findings of the monitoring and external audit(s), and corrective action taken to achieve compliance with the Policy. This report shall be considered public information.

5. VIOLATIONS AND REMEDIAL ACTION

1. If the Board receives a credible report that a supplier or an entity with whom the supplier 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 (in accordance with subsection 5.3).
3. Within 30 days from the date of the notice of violation, the supplier shall provide the Board with:
   1. supporting information 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 one year 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 a third-party audit or a Ministry of Labour audit.
5. If a third-party or Ministry of Labour audit determines that the violation 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 one year 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 a third-party audit to verify that the violation(s) has/have been rectified in accordance with the remedial program.

6. 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 a third-party audit as required by the Board; or
   3. A third-party audit of a factory where violations have been reportedly corrected (as per section 5.6) determines that the violation was not rectified in accordance with the agreed-upon remedial program.
2. If the Board terminates an agreement under this section with a supplier, it ceases to be liable to the supplier or to any other person for any unpaid amounts that would otherwise have been payable under the agreement and shall not be under any obligation to return to the supplier any product supplied by the supplier under the agreement.
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.