ALDI SOUTH Group graduate to full ETI membership

The ALDI SOUTH Group’s hard work in implementing human rights policies and processes has allowed the move from the foundation stage to become a full member of ETI. This full membership shows that ALDI’s efforts to trade ethically and to making a positive difference to workers' lives are being recognised.

By graduating to full membership, ALDI commits itself to adopt and implement the ETI Base Code of labour practice and to strengthen activities intended to promote workers’ rights and achieve real improvements in working conditions within its own business operations and along its supply chains. ALDI is already an active member of the ETI Italy Fresh Produce Working Group as well as engaged with the ETI/Mondiaal FNV Fruits of Peruvian Dialogue Initiative.

When awarding full membership, ETI recognised the sustainability performance of ALDI. These areas included an ambitious International Corporate Responsibility Strategy, that incorporates a clear roadmap and meaningful targets. Graduation to full membership is also a reflection of our positive collaborative work with a broad range of stakeholders and diverse development projects.

Examples of progress include:

• Being the first global discount retailer to join Tony’s Open Chain chocolate programme for slave-free chocolate supply chains.
• The publication of a gender equality policy for our global supply chains and a corresponding action plan.
• Our work on living wage bananas as part of the German Retailer Working Group, the first pre-competitive collaboration on living wages of this kind in Germany.
• Our successful work to build a better understanding of the root causes of  human rights abuses via supply chain specific Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs), of which the first three (avocado, brazil nuts, coffee) were published in 2021.
• Our Corporate Responsibility Supplier Evaluation tool, which evaluates how well our high priority supply chain business partners manage corporate responsibility practices associated with human rights. As part of this approach, we incentivise positive change by aiming to allocate 80% of our buying volume to suppliers with a good rating.

The ALDI SOUTH Group will progress its membership by developing even stronger connections with other ETI members including other companies from the retail sector, as well as trade unions and NGOs. Being part of this collective will help ALDI tackle many of the current challenges associated with human rights. Full membership also means that ALDI can promote better working and living conditions for workers and their families, empower women, clamp down on child labour and increase our transparency in every process. We aim to use our membership to share learnings of our work with our partners and all relevant stakeholders.

This partnership supports ALDI’s Vision 2030 of respecting human rights and improving living and working conditions throughout all supply chains. ALDI’s commitment encompasses any adverse impact on human rights that it might cause, contribute to, or are directly linked to.

This blog was written by ALDI SOUTH Group and originally published here.