In January 2018 within the scope of the Ethical Trade Forums for suppliers, three Working Groups were established; one in Murcia, another in Huelva and a little later the working group of Almeria.
Each of these groups, led by their coordinators, decided to work on a specific issue and develop tools and guidelines so that in the future they could be applied by all companies in the sector. These works will be presented at the International Forums of Ethical Commerce to be held in October 2019 in Murcia and Seville.
MURCIA: Labor providers monitoring tool
ALMERÍA Small growers Guidelines
HUELVA: Temporary Workers Accommodation Guide
Since then, the Working Groups have been making a collaborative effort more than remarkable. This has achieved to provide the various Forums that have been held an activity and an indispensable content to advance in the search for the improvement of the labor conditions of the workers.
In June 2019, the main goal of the Ethical Trade Forums held in Elche, Almería and Huelva, was to highlight the activity of these three Working Groups, and explain their mission and dynamics while planning next steps. The reaction throughout the three days of work was very positive. The knowledge of the work developed, the personal involvement of its participants and the good results that are being obtained to date, has motivated the interest and the involvement in these Working Groups. This has been reflected in an increase of volunteers who joined the Groups and in the opening of new work streams to work on.
Currently, seven Working streams are operative:
MURCIA: Labor providers monitoring Tools & Communication of good practices
ALMERÍA: Small growers Guidelines & Workers Survey in the field
HUELVA: Temporary Workers Accommodation Guide, Anti-harassment Protocol & Tool for improving communication on expectations between producers and customers
The 59 total current participants at the Working Groups, are splitted in 15 from Murcia (15 companies), 20 from Almeria (16 companies) and 24 from Huelva (22 companies).
From here we wish to encourage each member of the Working Groups to maintain the spirit of collaboration, and we appreciate the important work that you are doing, contributing with your effort and time for the common benefit of the sector.
June, 2019