Ethical trading: Building relationships beyond business

We can trade with businesses. We can have suppliers and manufacturers. We can measure success in profits, big dividends or good bottom line figures.
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Or we can trade with people. Make friends. Measure success in how we work together.

Dag Hvalshagen at Conor has chosen the latter option. He starts each day by hearing how his suppliers are doing, and he likes to round off the evening by chatting with them about all the little and big things that happen in ordinary life.

"I think that they are my friends. That who they are and how they feel is almost as important as what they deliver!"

And it's been like that ever since he started up in 1994. For Dag, no one works for each other, they work with.

We can't just follow the requirements, we need to care about what's actually happening out there!
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Consciously aware
Ane Haave Sveen at Factlines has worked with Dag and Conor for several years and is quite clear that they are a customer aware of their social responsibility. "Dag receives a Code of Conduct from subcontractors and has a very good insight into minimum wages and other working conditions in China. At the same time, this is something he has been working on for a long time, which is evident in the way he works - every single day."

One of the measures Conor has implemented is that they require suppliers to pay at least 10% above the minimum wage for the region in which they operate. In addition, they have a separate letter that they distribute to all their partners encouraging them to "FEEL GOOD, do the right thing". Here, Conor simply asks that you say no to orders, even from them, if someone pushes prices, delivery times or other things so hard that there is a risk of violating labor rights and ethical trade.

"Our goal has been to constantly learn and understand how we can influence in a sensible way. And one thing that has become very clear to us is that we can't use the West's view to decide how everyone else should operate."

Dag recounts an experience where one of his suppliers in Pakistan contacted him to discuss a difficult situation. An employee had become a widower and now the choice was between letting his ten-year-old son join the factory and perhaps even contribute, or letting the man go - with no hope of a new job. Should the family be allowed to perish completely or allow what we in Norway would call child labor without blinking an eye?

These dilemmas place demands on us, our knowledge and our systems.
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With Factlines on the team
Knowledge, understanding, openness and good reports lay the foundation for us to be able to maneuver in a sometimes confusing ethical landscape. Where we are used to strong trade unions, China has a completely different system and a completely different acceptance of organization. "At the same time, we must also understand that there are different rules for when you are considered an adult around the world. Mostly it's when you finish primary school, and it could be when you're 14 or 17, or like us - closer to 19. Either way, these are considerations we have to take into account."

And with all the knowledge and dedication Dag has, it might be easy to think that he can satisfy the requirements of the Norwegian Transparency Act on his own. However, he really appreciates the way he can work on all these issues together with Factlines.

"The important thing for us when we receive a report is not just to be able to send it to the customer, we also want to know what they have answered. The reports simply provide good insight into the answers the companies give, and we can clearly see the direction we're going in each year. With Factlines, we get an easy overview, and at a reasonable time and price. In short, they don't make ethical trade too difficult to work with - they make it easy!"

And in case you were wondering, the widower and his son were allowed to stay at the factory so that life could continue. Not as normal, but still pretty safe.