On 21 January, VGC took part in the launch of the Supply Chain Sustainability School’s People Matter charter.
The event in Birmingham saw infrastructure companies and partners sign up to eight commitments which demonstrate their belief that People Matter. These are in the areas:
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Skills and training
- Workforce culture
- Living wage
- Due diligence
- Labour legal requirements
- Labour exploitation
- Payments
Group services director Ciara Pryce joined Samantha Ireland from Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) in the panel discussion on preventing modern slavery. Other speakers included Lady Cobham CBE of The 5% Club, Sebastian Bachelier of the Living Wage Foundation, and Ian Howard of Highways England. (Ian is pictured above.) They took part in panels discussing skills and development, wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion, and the role of the charter.
Background to the charter
You can read the People Matter charter on the Supply Chain Sustainability School website (link to pdf).
The charter is a collaborative approach to addressing people issues. It also allows companies to future-proof their business to meet labour and skills challenges.
Operations manager James Callaghan was a member of the SCSS labour group. Together with clients and fellow labour suppliers, he took part in a series of workshops in 2018 and 2019, run by Action Sustain. At these, key players within the industry worked out the commitments an organisation should have to ensure a robust approach to people issues. The group them codified these into the People Matter charter.
VGC is a partner of the Supply Chain Sustainability School and has achieved gold level membership. We have been a member of the SCSS since its inception in 2012.
