More than 50 suppliers of BT have now signed contractual agreements to work towards the company’s in-house standards on human rights and workplace conditions.
Latest figures show that the telecoms group exceeded its target of having contractual agreements with 30 large suppliers by the end of March 2003 for its ‘Sourcing with human dignity’ programme.
According to BT’s latest web-based social and environmental report, by that date 55 large suppliers had signed up to the standard, first introduced into BT supplier contracts in July 2002, (EP3 issue 5).
By March 2004 all the group’s buying units, which spend £5billion ($7.9bn) a year, will have received awareness training on the standard and how to incorporate it into contracts.
The standard is based on internationally agreed conventions on human rights and social issues and says, among other things, that suppliers should not require employees to work more than 48 hours per week, and should pay wages that meet ‘basic needs’.