The GFA (Global Framework Agreement) is a first for an e-commerce brand, and will establish a framework for protecting and strengthening the rights of workers producing ASOS own-brand products in countries around the world.
IndustriALL has signed a global framework agreement with e-commerce brand ASOS, to strengthen the implementation of international labour standards across ASOS’ global supply chain.
Valter Sanches, IndustriALL General Secretary, says:
This agreement provides mechanisms and standards to empower our unions to safeguard workers’ rights across ASOS’ global supply chain. The GFA deepens our relationship with ASOS, and is an important step for supply chain industrial labour relations.
Nick Beighton, CEO, ASOS, comments:
This landmark agreement with IndustriALL is a signal of our intent to ensure that everyone working in our supply chain feels safe and respected by their employers and fellow workers. This can only be achieved if employees have the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the ability to ensure improved employment conditions are consistently implemented.
The GFA between ASOS and IndustriALL recognises the role freedom of association and collective bargaining plays in developing well-functioning industrial relations. Both parties will commit to:
- the agreement of common strategies on a country-by-country basis
- the joint development of methodologies to assess the impact of purchasing practices at the worker level of the supply chain
- the implementation of confidential worker hotlines
- and the linking of ASOS’ gender empowerment programme with IndustriALL’s worker rights training
Earlier this year, ASOS made its global factory list public, providing transparency on the 612 Tier 1 factories its uses across 25 countries.
ASOS also participates in Action, Collaboration and Transformation (ACT), an initiative designed to address the issue of living wages.
