Gusti Leather is actively fighting against child labor
India is one of the many countries in the world where it is extremely difficult to combat child labor.
Child labor is any work performed by a child who is either younger than 15 or has not yet reached the local minimum working age or the age of compulsory education.
In India, many children under the age of 15 go to work to earn additional income to support their families.
We take the issue of child labor seriously and do not tolerate it among our producers either.
What are our first steps in combating child labor?
We comply with 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 children under the age of 15 are employed in our tanneries. We have implemented measures designed to actively combat child labor in our production facilities.
Each of our manufacturers must sign an agreement stating that no children are employed in their company. This agreement applies to all phases of the production process. If we determine that the agreement has been violated in any way, we will terminate all further cooperation with these manufacturers for a period of at least two months starting from the time we become aware of the violation, and we will charge them a fine of €3,000.
Under Indian law, children between the ages of 14 and 15 may be employed—but only under very specific conditions.
If one of our manufacturers wishes to employ a child between the ages of 14 and 15, they must submit the child’s identification card to the Indian government without being asked. In addition, they must pay a fee of €400 per child per year. This fee doubles to €800 per child per year if the producer fails to submit the child’s identification to the government and/or fails to pay the €400 fee per child per year.
If we determine 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 3,000 € and suspend production at that facility for an initial period of 2 months. If, after this period, it is determined that the producer has once again employed a child under the age of 14, the details of the legal violation will be made public on-site, and we will terminate our contract with that manufacturer indefinitely.
Our manufacturers are strictly prohibited from exposing children or young workers to situations that pose a risk to their physical or mental health and development. This applies both inside and outside the workplace.
How can we verify that our agreement with our producers is being honored?
We have various measures in place to monitor the health and safety of our employees' workplaces and to ensure compliance with the agreement on child labor.
We have seven on-site staff members who conduct unannounced visits to our producers at least once a month. This helps us gain as realistic a picture as possible of the working conditions our producers provide. In our experience, contracts and agreements alone are sometimes not enough to ensure compliance with our standards. Since the issue of child labor is very important to us, we believe the extra effort involved in these in-person visits is well worth it. This is the only way we can meet the high ethical standards we set for ourselves.
Looking ahead, we plan to inspect all areas of the production facilities during our visits, as this is unfortunately not yet fully possible. We are constantly working to improve so that we can provide our employees with a safe work environment.
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What are we doing to ensure 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, specifically protective boots and gloves.
This requirement is of the highest priority for us, as we are determined to prevent any health risks to our employees resulting from excessive exposure to water and chemicals. Constant exposure to wet leather without protection is not good for skin health.
To help our manufacturers meet our requirements, Gusti covers 50% of the cost of all safety clothing. In this way, we help ensure that our employees receive high-quality and safe protection.
To ensure that our safety standards are not overlooked, we regularly send reminders to our producers through our official communication channels. While we trust that our producers will keep these standards in mind and adhere to them on their own, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Our employees are important to us, which is why we want to protect their health.
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How do we verify that our security standards are being met?
To ensure that all employees are protected while working, our Quality Control (QC) team conducts several unannounced visits each month. During these visits, workstations and other aspects of the work environment are documented via video and photos. This allows us to hold the respective producer accountable if they have not adequately protected their employees.
In addition, QC ensures that worn-out safety gloves are regularly replaced with new ones. After a set number of visits, a small hole is punched in each pair of used gloves. This hole is, of course, placed in such a way that it does not compromise the gloves’ protective function. Once a pair of gloves has two holes, they are replaced with new ones.
This procedure ensures that employees in the tanneries always have protective gear that is in good working order.
In this way, we hope to create safe working conditions. Unfortunately, we cannot be on-site permanently to monitor the situation at every production facility. Therefore, we trust that our producers will always act responsibly and in the best interests of all employees.
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What happens if employees don't wear protective clothing?
If, during a visit, we notice that someone is working with wet leather without wearing protective clothing, we will impose fines.
For a first violation of our requirements regarding protective clothing for employees, the manufacturer must pay a fine of 25 € per person not wearing protective clothing. For a second violation, the fine increases to 50 € per person; for a third, to 75 € per person, and so on. At first glance, this may not seem like much money, but it can quickly add up.
If such violations occur more frequently, we will also increase the number of unannounced visits.
