What are our first steps against child labor?
We are subject to the internationally recognized SA8000 Standard, which aims to improve working conditions worldwide. This standard is based on conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations (UN).
No child under the age of 15 is employed in our tanneries. We have taken measures to actively combat child labor in our production facilities.
Each of our manufacturers must sign an agreement that says that no children are employed in their company. This agreement applies to all phases of the production process. If we find that the agreement has been violated in any way, we will end any further cooperation with these manufacturers for a period of at least two months from the time of our knowledge and will invoice you for € 3000.
According to Indian law, children between the ages of 14 and 15 may be employed - but only at very specific requirements.
If one of our producers wants to employ a child between the ages of 14 and 15, he must send the ID card of this child to the Indian government without being asked. In addition, he has to pay a tax of € 400 per child and year. This levy doubles to € 800 per year per year if the producer fails to present the government's personal details and/or/or he does not pay the delivery of € 400 per year per year.
If we find that a child under the age of 14 has been employed by one of our producers, Gusti will charge the respective producer a fine of € 3000 and initially stops production for 2 months. If, after this period, the producer determines that another child under 14 years of age will be employed, the appeals of the violation of the law are made public on site and we end our contract with this manufacturer for an indefinite duration.
It is strictly forbidden to our producers to suspend children or young workers situations that pose a risk to their physical or mental health and development. This applies to both inside and outside the workplace.
How can we verify that our agreement with our producers is being respected?
We have various measures to check the health and safety of our employees' jobs and ensure that the agreement on child labor is observed.
We have seven employees on site who carry out unannounced visits to our producers at least once a month. This helps us to experience the working conditions that our producers create as realistically as possible. In our experience, contracts and agreements alone are sometimes not to comply with our standards. Since the topic of child labor is very important to us, the additional effort that personal visits bring is worth it. This is the only way we can meet our high ethical demands on ourselves.
For the future, we have planned to inspect all areas of the production facilities during our visits, since unfortunately this is currently not yet possible. We are constantly working to improve in order to be able to offer our employees a safe working environment.
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What do we do for the safety and health of our employees in the tanneries?
Protective clothing is a must.
Every one of our employees who comes into contact with wet leather as part of their duties must wear protective clothing, which means protective boots and gloves.
This requirement is of the highest priority for us because we want to avoid health impairments of our employees due to excessive contact with water and chemicals. It is not beneficial for skin health to be constantly exposed to wet leather without protection.
To assist our producers in meeting our requirement, Gusti covers 50% of the costs for any safety clothing. This way, we contribute to ensuring that our employees receive high-quality and safe protection.
To ensure that our safety standards are not forgotten, we regularly send reminders to our producers through our official communication channels. Although we trust that our producers independently think of them and comply with the standards, caution is always better than hindsight.
Our employees are important to us, which is why we want to protect their health.
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How do we check if our safety standards are being met?
To ensure that all employees are protected at work, our Quality Control (QC) team conducts several unannounced visits monthly. During these visits, workplaces and other impressions of the work environment are recorded via video and photo. This way, we can hold the respective producer accountable if they have not adequately protected their employees.
Additionally, QC ensures that especially old safety gloves are regularly replaced with new ones. After a defined number of visits, a small hole is poked in used gloves. This hole is, of course, placed so that it does not impair the protective function of the gloves. When old gloves receive two holes, they are replaced with new ones.
This procedure ensures that employees in the tanneries always have functional protective clothing.
Thus, we hope to create safe working conditions. Unfortunately, we cannot be on-site permanently to check the situation in every production facility. Therefore, we trust that our producers always act responsibly and in the best interest of all employees.
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What happens if employees do not wear protective clothing?
If we notice during a visit that someone is working with wet leather without using protective clothing, we impose fines.
For a first-time violation of our protective clothing requirements for employees, the producer must pay a fine of 25 € per person without protective clothing. For a second violation, the fine increases to 50 € per person, for the third to 75 € per person, and so on. This may not seem like a lot of money at first, but it can quickly add up.
If such violations occur more frequently, we also increase the number of unannounced visits.
