Deteriorating conditions for workers around the world, exacerbated by the global economic crisis, demand radical new approaches to promoting labour rights. Our strategy for 2009-2012 focuses on tackling the root causes of poor working conditions.

Since our inception in 1998, we have made our mark by forging good practice among our members and by driving forward the international ethical trading agenda. But the truth is that conditions for most workers in global supply chains remain poor. Our combined efforts have not been good enough to arrest an alarming decline in real wages, excessive working hours and the growth in vulnerable employment relationships.

New approaches to promoting labour rights are urgently needed if we are to make a sustained and widespread difference to workers' conditions. Our strategy for 2009-12 focuses on tackling the root causes of poor working conditions. We aim to focus our activities in the following critical areas:

Promoting good workplaces. We will work with our members to support suppliers in building stronger management and human resource systems, and to find ways to facilitate more mature systems of industrial relations.

Payment of living wages. We will work with our members to develop tools for assessing what represents living wage in global supply chains and to find ways to ensure that workers are paid fairly for the work they do.

Integrating ethics in to core business practices. We will continue to encourage companies to work alongside their trade union and NGO colleagues to understand how their own purchasing practices influence workers' lives in their supply chains and to identify and implement core business practices that bring benefit.

Tackle discrimination in the workplace, for example by extending work on discrimination and sexual harassment in East African horticulture to other areas.

Focus improvements on the most vulnerable workers, building on work we have already started with homeworkers and smallholders.

Improve audit practice. We will work with our members to find ways to make audits and other assessment tools more useful and effective.