The Bourbon Specialty Coffees S/A adopts measures to combat slavery and human trafficking that may exist in commodity supply chains. This is in compliance with the policy of the ECOM Group, which is aimed at conducting business with honesty and integrity and in accordance with the highest legal and ethical standards. We constantly compare our supplier database with updates from the Employer Registry of Employers who have subjected workers to conditions analogous to slavery, as well as monitor daily news related to labor violations on coffee farms. If it is identified that any Bourbon supplier is involved in labor violations, their registration is immediately deactivated, thereby preventing any type of negotiation with this supplier. The Sustainability department is responsible for monitoring updates from the Employer Registry of Employers who have subjected workers to conditions analogous to slavery, which is periodically published by the Ministry of Economy’s.
We recognize that our suppliers of specialty coffee hire temporary and seasonal workers, which heightens the risk of operating a supply chain susceptible to poor working conditions in the field. We are working closely with our business partners and customers to eradicate such situations from our supply chains.
We are committed to ensuring that modern slavery, harassment, and child labor do not exist within our supply chains or any part of our business. To this end, we are coordinating effective actions to prevent and remedy the issue, going hand-in-hand with adherence to labor laws. This policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings, relationships, and implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure that poor working conditions do not occur in any part of our supply chains.
Our policies affirm that Bourbon does not employ forced labor, defined as involuntary or compulsory labor, such as slavery, forced labor, or employment under degrading conditions. By ensuring that staff under its supervision are familiar with our policies and promoting compliance, we survey our suppliers about the possibility of such practices in their supply chains and work to eliminate them.
Together with other companies in the sector, Bourbon has the strategic ambition of improving farmers’ livelihoods and economic opportunities by boosting productivity, adding more value to the product through quality enhancement, and advancing the development of coffee-growing communities. A focus on community improvement will help reduce any occurrences of poor working conditions in the field.
Social Project Couples Cooking – Santa Alina Farm
Additionally, we aim to raise internal awareness about our activities and overall approach to eradicating poor working conditions in the field through a training program targeted at suppliers and internal staff.
The Bourbon uses the SMS management system, a globally utilized management tool within ECOM to assess compliance with environmental, occupational safety, and social issues at proprietary or third-party-operated sites, and to provide details on environmental and social issues in the supply chain. This system helps ensure that:
Negative social and environmental aspects resulting from our business are anticipated and mitigated, impacting our operations positively.
To ensure that everyone in our supply chain upholds our values, we have implemented a Supplier Code of Conduct, which highlights our commitment to eradicating poor working conditions in the field. By accepting our Supplier Code of Conduct, Bourbon is granted the right to audit a supplier’s practices to ensure compliance.
Objective: The general objective of the Policy for Approval of Specialty Coffee Suppliers is to define the procedures and respective documents used for the registration of new suppliers and the updating of active supplier records, as well as to enable the classification of suppliers through risk assessments related to poor working conditions in the field.
The following will be considered conditions analogous to slavery:
1- Any situation in which workers are subjected to forced labor or exhausting work hours.
2- Degrading working conditions for employees that jeopardize their health and safety, such as limiting or preventing access to potable water in hygienic conditions and sanitary facilities.
3- Restriction of workers’ freedom of movement due to debts owed to the employer or even the retention of documents or personal belongings to compel them to remain at the workplace.
For Bourbon, these assessments are essential to fulfilling its mission of bringing the best coffee beans produced in Brazil to the international market, preserving their quality with punctuality, economic efficiency, and environmental and social responsibility.
