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Typhoo's strategy of combining advice on improving workers' conditions with commercial skill-transfer has transformed a Malawian tea supplier's initial uncertainty about ethical trade into a firm commitment to providing decent conditions for its workers.
Dealing with issues before they become problems
Typhoo has been sourcing from with Eastern Produce Malawi (EPM) since the early 1990s. It carries out inspections of EPM every three or four years, and uses the visits to provide practical advice and training on how to implement the ETI Base Code.
Regular training sessions for managers and supervisors are provided on the ETI Base Code, using ETI's awareness-raising posters to help kick-start debate. One of the issues that often arises in the sessions is health and safety.
It's not enough for the company to simply have a health and safety committee.
Shah Khan, Technical & Ethical Manager at Typhoo, says: "We've worked hard to get the message across that it's not enough for the company to just have a health and safety committee. To manage health and safety effectively, the committee needs to meet regularly, minutes of meetings need to be formally issued and copied to union representatives, and there must be clear accountability for closing off any matters arising".
"People also need to understand that they don't need to wait for the health and safety committee to meet before they resolve issues. "If a supervisor sees a puddle on a floor that someone could slip on, they need to take responsibility for making sure it gets mopped up!"
"The overall approach," he says, is "to encourage suppliers to develop internal systems for managing workers' issues so that they can be dealt with as they arise, before they become a problem."
Quality improvements free up time to focus on workers' issues
Building management commitment to ethical trade has also involved combining advice on meeting labour standards with practical support on how to improve quality. "It's extremely important that we get the right quality of tea and we therefore also have worked with EPM to improve handling and efficiency to produce a better quality tea with food safety. In turn, this has helped freeing up management time and resource to spend on addressing workers issues", says Shah.
Improving conditions for women workers
As well as developing a functioning health and safety committee, EPM has developed new policies covering employment, housing, maternity medical issues as well as a harassment policy and specifically a sexual harassment policy.
Gloria Botha-Zimba joined EDM in March 2001 as trainee manager and has since been promoted to Division Manager for the company's Mianga Estate. She says "When I was first employed by EPM I was single. I since married and now have two children. The company has a policy that allows women employees and managers to maternity leave. As a woman I am now able to juggle my working life and my private life without too much difficulty.''
Mukanena Machika-Zimba, Field Manager, Mianga Estate joined EPM in 2004 and got married in 2005. She has since had a son, Chimwemwe. She says "When I was pregnant I took maternity leave, after which I was able to return to my earlier duties. My fellow colleagues and managers were very supportive during that period."
The next step for EPM is to take full ownership of ethical trade.
Says Shah, "The next step for EPM is to take full ownership of ethical trade. We plan to help them introduce an ongoing self-inspection approach involving workers working together with management as a team.''
The Malawi tea sector: Key facts and figures
- 6 million: estimated total workforce
- 137,000 workers depend on the tea sector for an income
- 20% of the tea work force in Malawi are women. They are often confined in the lowest-paid jobs, with little access to training or promotion opportunities.