The Sandstone Working Group of the Ethical Trading Initiative has launched a new programme to tackle unfair labour practices, especially bonded labour, in Rajasthan, India, where most of the Indian sandstone used in hard landscaping in the UK comes from.

Bonded labour in India has been illegal since 1976 but even official figures from the Indian government have accepted there are still 250,000 people in bonded labour in India. Unofficial figures estimate as many as 65million.

Bonded labour is effectively slavery. People, often children, work to pay off family debt. Interest rates are so high the debt is never repaid and people can spend a lifetime in bonded labour. Indeed, families can spend more than a lifetime in bonded labour because the debt is passed down from generation to generation.

The practice continues, particularly in rural areas, and is prevalent among the Dalits – the ‘untouchables’ of India’s cast system. Almost all the workers in Rajathan’s quarries are Dalits or immigrants.

The Ethical Trading Initiative has now embarked on a two year campaign launched in London this month (November) to improve working conditions in the quarries.

The ETI Rajasthan Sandstone Working Group consists of Beltrami, Brett, CED, DNS Stones, Hardscape, London Stone, Marshalls, Natural Paving, Pavestone, Stone Masters, Strata Stones, Anti-Slavery International, Dalit Solidarity Network and a Trade Union Caucus Representative.

The Ethical Trading Initiative was set up by the UK Government and is still partly funded by it, as well as by the companies and other parties involved in it. It is one of the few areas of Government spending that has not been subjected to budget cuts and the Government is funding the Sandstone Group initiative.

Chris Harrop, Marshalls Group Marketing Director and champion of ethical trading, chaired the launch meeting. He said the Sandstone Group was following the guidelines of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) report on human rights by Professor John Ruggie. The aim: Protect, Respect, Remedy.

ETI admits it was disappointed to have been unable to attract a speaker from the UK or Indian Governments to the launch event as it would have raised the profile of the initiative.

UK building, construction and landscaping sector leaders had been invited to the launch in the hope that more companies could be encouraged to participate in the initiative and drive it forward.

When questions were invited, it was suggested that British companies might take exception to foreigners telling them how they should treat their employees, so how were the Indians taking it?

Chris Harrop: “The good suppliers welcome and the bad suppliers definitely don’t welcome this kind of activity.”

Meena Varma from the Dalit Solidarity Network in the UK said that having Rana Alok Singh working for the Sandstone Group in Rajasthan would be vital in bringing about changes in India.

“What we say here [in London] means nothing until we take it to India,” she said.

An intermittent and distorted Skype link with Mr Singh during the launch did seem to be a metaphor for some of the difficulties the project faces.