Company profile: E5 Mode
Headquarters: Sint Niklaas
Country: Belgium
Founded in: 1979
Total points of sale in Europe: 72 (Belgium)
Owned by: n.a.
Name of CEO: n.a.
Product description: n.a.
Countries of production: n.a.
General remark: n.a.
E5 mode nv
Hoogkamerstraat 1
9100 Sint-Niklaas
Info(at)e5mode.be
Comments CCC and proposals for action
In the past CCC started several times a promising dialogue with E5 Mode but never reached the stage of a formal agreement.
This time, after several phone calls E5 Mode eventually sent some policy documents but did not fill out the questionnaire. This is disappointing.
All commercial contracts include ‘quality and supplying conditions’, including explicit reference to ILO conventions 29, 87, 98, 100, 105, 11, 138. E5 Mode claims the right to audit the production process and to cancel the contract in case of non compliance. E5 Mode does not acknowledge responsibility . And there are no examples of training or other efforts to ensure implementation of these labour standards that are part of the commercial contract.
Taking into account the long history of owning production factories and social dialogue, there seems to be a lot of space for progress in terms of implementing a CSR policy at different levels and using different instruments.
The following evaluation of the company’s performance in terms of transparency, code implementation and monitoring of labour standards is based on the company’s response to the questionnaire from the CCC and on an additional desk study conducted by the CCC in 2007. In the section “Recent developments” you can find additional information gathered after 2007.
Transparency
The company is in regular dialogue with NGOs and/or trade unions, including the CCC. The amount of salaries of the top management is not known. E5 mode nv provides neither the results of factory audits nor information about verification activities.
Formal commitment to labour standards
E5 Mode has adopted a code of conduct. The code of conduct does not include all provisions from the ILO Core Conventions. These include the right to organise, bargain collectively and prohibit child labour, discrimination, and forced labour.
Code implementation and purchasing practices
E5 mode did not indicate the steps it is taking to effectively implement minimum labour standards in its supply chain. The company has not disclosed whether its code of conduct has been translated into the languages of any of the countries it is sourcing from. There is no evidence that training on labour rights issues is promoted by E5 mode nv. According to the information given E5 mode nv has no intention to implement the payment of living wages to workers. E5 mode nv has not shown that it is aware of the fact that part of its production sites are located in countries or zones where freedom of association is not guaranteed by law. There are no provisions to give buyers positive incentives to reward better working conditions. There are no measures that show how to improve planning and prevent excessive overtime.
Monitoring and Verification
E5 Mode is not a member of any business initiative. There is nothing known to CCC about monitoring results. The company is not involved in independent verification by a multi-stakeholder approach.
Violations of labour rights and public conflicts
There are no public urgent appeals from CCC calling on E5 Mode to take responsibility for workers’ rights violations in its supply chain.
Recent developments
n.a.