Greene King fulfils promise to combat modern day slavery
Following Greene King’s Calling Time on Racism manifesto earlier this year, the pub operator and brewing company has fulfilled one of its pledges in it's commitment against modern day slavery and teamed up with the Slave-Free Alliance, maintained by anti-slavery charity Hope for Justice, to support businesses work towards a slave-free supply chain.
The goal is to fully analyse risks in Greene King’s business and wider supply chain around modern slavery and put a strategic plan in place to combat them.
Taking a responsible position
Greene King CEO Nick Mackenzie said: “It would be easy to assume that none of the businesses we work with or the supply chains we’re part of have any links to modern-day slavery, but that’s not a responsible position to take. It’s vital that companies and individuals look closely at all aspects of their supply chains and business to mitigate any risks to individuals and put plans in place to ensure that modern-day slavery cannot get a foothold.
“We’re proud to partner with the Slave-Free Alliance who have undertaken a gap analysis of modern slavery risks in our business. They’ve given us a number of recommendations and we’re now formulating a strategy to ensure we have robust policies, procedures and training in place to mitigate risks of modern slavery.”
The awareness week aims to highlight there are 40.3 million people worldwide trapped in slavery today, with modern slavery defined by Hope for Justice as the severe exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gain. According to Hope for Justice, 77% of business leaders who took part in a recent survey said they expected to find modern slavery in their operations or supply chains.
Strategy developed
Slave-Free Alliance director, Marc Stanton, Director of Slave-Free Alliance said: “Greene King has been an engaging partner in the mission to tackle modern slavery. It has been a pleasure to support them in developing a strategy on how they will manage the risks of modern slavery across their vast business portfolio and supply chains. They have brought their workforce on this journey with them so they can be a good neighbour in the communities they serve.”
As part of the partnership, the Slave-Free Alliance also recently delivered a bespoke webinar for all Greene King team members to provide an insight into modern-day slavery.
Slave-Free Alliance training manager Gavin Heryng said: “Working with Greene King to raise awareness about modern slavery throughout its workforce has been an excellent and collaborative venture.”
“Greene King were keen to create engaging content for its young demographic of workers and the social media styled spotlight video covering what is modern slavery and what to do about it will be a lasting informative piece on their intranet.”
