Newsletter Issue 16 – July 2022
Welcome to the July issue of the Fast Forward Newsletter. This month’s news and signposts to helpful guidance are on:
Industry and legislative news:
- Fashion Supply Chain (Code and Adjudicator) Bill proposed in UK parliament
- Fashion Revolution – Transparency Index 2022 published
- Supreme Court ruling on holiday pay affects employers of part-year workers
- SupplyShift plan to use blockchain and artificial intelligence to trace supply chains for fashion labels in the US.
Fast Forward news:
- “Launching the new Stronger Together” webinar recording available
- Just Good Work: App and new posters available in Croatian and Serbian
We’d also like to get your feedback whether you’re a brand, supplier, factory, warehouse or other organisation. Please do get in touch.
The Fast Forward Team
LEGISLATIVE NEWS
Fashion Supply Chain (Code and Adjudicator) Bill
proposed in UK parliament
On 13 July there was a first reading of a Fashion Supply Chain (Code and Adjudicator) Bill in the House of Commons – watch the video here.
“That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for a Code of Practice to be followed by retailers of fashion clothing, footwear and accessories in their relationships with their suppliers; to set up an Adjudicator with the role of enforcing that Code of Practice and encouraging compliance with it; and for connected purposes.”
“The Government need to consult on what is included in the statutory code. It should include the principle of fair dealing to enable suppliers to act with certainty, and it should replicate the characteristics of the Groceries Code Adjudicator. These measures are necessary to break the climate of fear that has thus far prevented suppliers from challenging retailers.”
The Bill is to be read a second time on Friday 25 November, and to be printed (Bill 141).
Fashion Revolution publishes 2022
Fashion Transparency Index
The seventh annual edition of the Fashion Transparency Index is now available for download. In this edition, 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers were reviewed and ranked according to what information they disclose about their social and environmental policies, practices and impacts, in their operations and supply chain.
Supreme Court ruling on holiday pay affects
employers of part-year workers
The Guardian reports on the landmark ruling from the Supreme Court yesterday whereby thousands of teachers on term-time-only contracts, and workers with similar arrangements, could be entitled to back pay.
According to the article, the supreme court judgment on Wednesday means such employees should receive the same amount of paid annual leave as their colleagues working all year around. Read the article in full here.
At Fast Forward, we will be monitoring the impact of the ruling and updating our guidance on paid annual leave accordingly.
SupplyShift plan to use blockchain and artificial intelligence
to trace supply chains for fashion labels in the US
The Business & Human Resources Centre has reported that the fashion industry has been told it must wean itself off cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, as a new law comes into force giving US border authorities greater powers to block or seize goods linked to forced labour in China.
The ban poses big problems for the industry, Fashion Revolution said “The difficulty is that at the ginning stage [when fibres are separated from their seeds], cotton from disparate locations is mixed together, making it impossible to trace the provenance”
A number of technology companies, including Fast Forward’s partner SupplyShift, plan to use blockchain and artificial intelligence to trace supply chains for fashion labels. Read more here.
FAST FORWARD NEWS
In last month’s Newsletter we reported that from 1st June, Fast Forward transferred ownership to the not-for-profit organisation Stronger Together alongside our sister programmes the Responsible Recruitment Toolkit (RRT) and Clearview, formalising their not-for-profit status.
Stronger Together announced its relaunch with a wider mission and vision of “A world where all workers are recruited responsibly and have fair work free from exploitation”.
If you were unable to attend the “Launching the new Stronger Together” webinar you can view a recording of the webinar here. Feel free to share with colleagues and others.
Visit the Stronger Together website to access free to download guidance, resources and tools, to learn more about our collaborative programmes and the bespoke support services we offer, and to book a place on our training workshops.
Just Good Work
Just Good Work is a free, interactive mobile app giving jobseekers and workers from the UK or abroad critical information and advice on recruitment and employment. The Fast Forward audit requires businesses to display the Just Good Work poster.
Posters are available to download for free in nine languages from the Fast Forward website: Albanian, Bulgarian, English, *Croatian, Gujarati, Polish, Romanian, *Serbian and Ukrainian.
*New
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