The Social Partners of the European Leather industry met on 30 October 2018 for reviewing the overall results of their joint project on Due Diligence for Health & Safety at tannery workplaces.
COTANCE and industriAll-Europe are pleased with the success of their final conference held on October 9 in Brussels that brought together some 50 stakeholders of the leather value chain, including tanners, workers’ representatives, brands, sector associations and experts, as well as international organisations and NGOs.
The EU social partners are particularly satisfied with the positive impact of their initiative on the image of the European leather industry, on the perception of the importance of health & safety at tannery workplaces along the leather value chain, on the promotion of the values of the Social Dialogue at Sector level and of its fruits, such as the OiRA Tannery tool.
Both sides of the European leather industry understand that the work on health and safety needs to be continued.
“Health and safety for workers is a priority for industriAll-Europe,†says Sylvain Lefebvre. “The objective of the Due Diligence project was to identify any concern in that field and while it was achieved successfully, we must continue to develop a long-term policy of good practices to ensure a quality of life on the workplace. OECD, OSHA, the European Commission, national governements and the ILO can and should take measures to improving working conditions.â€
COTANCE’s participation in the new EU OSHA Campaign on the sound management of dangerous substances (https://healthy-workplaces.eu/en/campaign-partners/confederation-national-associations-tanners-and-dressers-european-community) is a clear reflection of that commitment. Their submission to the European Commission of a new joint project looking at Social & Environmental Reporting in Europe’s leather industry is a further positive example of their fruitful Social Dialogue.
“The follow-up on these matters will remain a priority for COTANCE and industriAll in the years to come,†concludes Gustavo Gonzalez-Quijano.
Links:
Reports in 7 languages:
http://www.euroleather.com/index.php/documents/245-due-diligence-survey-report
