Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 52.11
Liaison Mary-Lee Townsend
Submission Date Aug. 22, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.1

Western University
OP-13: Vendor Code of Conduct

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Brandon Watson
Communications and Training Officer
Physical Plant and Capital Planning Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have and act on a vendor code of conduct or equivalent policy that sets expectations about the social and environmental responsibility of vendors with whom the institution does business?:
Yes

The website URL where the vendor code of conduct or equivalent policy is posted :
A copy of the vendor code of conduct or equivalent policy:
A brief description of programs and strategies institution has implemented to ensure the code is followed, including a brief description of instances when vendor code of conduct has changed purchasing behavior within the last five years, if applicable:

The Hospitality Services Purchasing Committee reviews current contracts and buying practices, as well as future contracts and purchasing requirements for all divisions of Hospitality Services. Hospitality Services is dedicated to reducing Western’s environmental footprint and partners who share this commitment to environmental improvements and increased sustainability are given significant weight in the RFP process.

http://www.has.uwo.ca/hospitality/purchasing/purchasing_committee.cfm

The Code of Conduct for Trademark Licensees doing business with the BookStore at Western states that “University licensees and their contractors must comply, at a minimum, with all applicable laws of the country in which products are manufactured. Where this Code and the applicable laws of the country of manufacture conflict or differ, the higher standard shall prevail. Such compliance shall include compliance with all environmental laws”.

http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/mapp/section1/bookstore.pdf

An instance when the BookStore at Western decided to change suppliers due to Vendor Code of Conduct was regarding the supplier “Russell Athletic”, approximately 3 or 4 years ago. They are a popular supplier of licensed clothing and was a supplier to the BookStore at Western. They had a serious issue of unethical labour practices regarding a factory in Honduras, which received much attention in the media. As a result, the BookStore stopped purchasing from this supplier and monitored the company’s response to the accusations before deciding to purchase again. Russell spent a significant part of the following year outlining their intent to fix the situation and move forward. The BookStore used other suppliers during that period and has never purchased from Russell since.


Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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