Promoting fair and safe workplaces: ALDI publishes ‘International Policy on Forced Labour’
The ALDI SOUTH Group and the ALDI Nord Group jointly published their ‘International Policy on Forced Labour’ in order to expand their zero-tolerance approach to any forms of slavery and forced labour.
Forced labour affects around 24.9 million people globally, which makes it a central concern for internationally operating businesses. As international companies with global supply chains, the ALDI SOUTH Group and the ALDI Nord Group are aware of their responsibility to respect human rights, and both Groups have implemented requirements and policies to address forced labour and modern slavery in their supply chains. In order to publicly communicate and formalise their commitment to ending forced labour, the ALDI Groups have now jointly published their ‘International Policy on Forced Labour’.
The ‘International Policy on Forced Labour’ expands on ALDI’s existing commitments to human rights and underlines ALDI’s stance that any forms of servitude or slavery, or forced, bonded, indentured, trafficked, or non-voluntary labour are unacceptable throughout ALDI’s supply chains. This concerns all relevant stakeholders including all suppliers, production facilities, service providers and contractors. The principles outlined include freedom of employment, the right to safe working and living conditions for all workers (including migrant workers), the prohibition of debt bondage and recruitment fees, a ban on state-imposed forced labour, and a zero-tolerance approach to the exaction of labour through coercion, fraud, retention of identity papers, or through any other forms of exploitation. The policy further outlines ongoing efforts and commitments to address and remediate forced labour in ALDI’s supply chains, commits to an approach of continuous improvement, and assigns responsibilities for implementation.
“Our ‘International Forced Labour Policy’ highlights that we take all incidences and allegations of forced labour seriously. Beyond this, we are jointly committed to address forced labour findings even stronger and proactively prevent forced labour along all our supply chains. We aim to protect all workers’ rights and we do not tolerate any form of forced labour. We want to ensure a fair and safe working environment for everyone.”
Erik Hollmann, Director Corporate Responsibility/Quality Assurance International at the ALDI Nord Group
The ‘International Policy on Forced Labour’ has been developed together with the Mekong Club and Stronger Together, two multi-stakeholder initiatives dedicated to tackling modern slavery in industrial supply chains. The Policy aligns with internationally accepted standards, including the ILO Forced Labour Conventions and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
“At ALDI we recognise our responsibility to respect the human rights of all workers in our business operations and along our supply chains. With this joint policy, we reaffirm our zero-tolerance stance on forced labour and modern slavery, and lay out a detailed commitment to fair and equitable supply chains.“
Anke Ehlers, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility International at the ALDI SOUTH Group
