Behind each cup of tea lies a much bigger picture: growing and producing tea provides a livelihood for millions of people around the world. The Ethical Tea Partnership works to make this picture transparent – to monitor living and working conditions on tea estates, with the aim of making sure that the tea you buy from the members of our Partnership has been produced in a socially responsible way. ETP member share responsibility for the social and ethical conditions involved in sourcing the tea they buy. Member activities in this area should be non competitive and apolitical. Members respect the cultural and legislative differences in tea producing countries, but aspire to international standards. Members seek to work in partnership with tea producers.
ETP's aim is that its monitoring program should be thorough and credible. Monitoring is carried out on a rolling basis, with a full monitoring visit being carried out on an estate every four years.
PricewaterhouseCoopers have been ETP's monitors since 2002. ETP monitors against six areas: Employment (including minimum age and wage levels), Education, Maternity, Health and Safety, Housing and Basic Rights, checking compliance with local laws and union agreements and some international standards.
with local laws and union agreements and some international standards.
The Following Areas are Monitored:
- Employment is freely chosen
- Freedom of association and collective bargaining rights are respected
- Working conditions are safe and hygienic
- Child labour shall not be used
- Total remuneration packages are negotiated between unions and employers
- Agreements in place regarding working hours
- No discrimination is practiced
- No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed
There are three stages of monitoring:
Questionnaire
First, estates must complete a Questionnaire which has been prepared by expert labour lawyers and asks about the estate’s compliance with local laws and union agreements. Completing the questionnaire is critical point of entry – our members cannot buy from producers who do not wish to enter the scheme and do not complete and return our questionnaire. We want producers to understand that taking part in our scheme is important and worthwhile.
Monitoring Visit
The second stage is a monitoring visit carried out by a team of monitors from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The monitors are based in the country and familiar with local customs and languages. Visits are arranged in advance with the estate and take place in the tea production season when it is fully active. To ensure that estate management fully understand how the monitoring will work, they receive a number of briefing documents including an overview of the monitoring process, several weeks ahead of the visit. At the start of the visit, monitors hold a meeting with estate management to explain the process. They then visually inspect each ‘unit’ on the estate – tea garden, workshop, factory, administration area, housing and so on.
The monitors check employment, pay and other records and talk to management. They talk to staff and union representatives, sometimes in groups, sometimes individually. Interviews cover workers from all the different units of the selling marks and interviewees are randomly chosen. Monitors will follow up any issues that are identified to seek corroborative evidence.
At the end of the visit they hold a ‘closing’ meeting with estate management to report on their findings. These findings and any comments from the estate management are included in the report that is prepared by the monitors and sent to the Ethical Tea Partnership. All information about the estate and the visit is held confidentially by the Partnership.
Grading
The third stage, grading, takes place after the monitoring visit. Once the Partnership has received the monitors’ report, it can determine the appropriate grading. An Action Plan will also be developed to address putting right any non-conformances. The Grading and Action Plan will be sent to the estate and will be followed up by the Partnership working with the estate. A follow-up visit will take place when the tea producer has corrected any non-conformances and provided the Partnership with supporting evidence, or where we wish to confirm a change in grading.
Full information about how the grading system works can be downloaded in our Listening and Learning section under Tea Producers .
For an overview of ETP monitoring process and more click here |
