Aldi UK and Ireland is a signatory of the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles, a set of principles that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in their workplaces and communities. Training, professional development, measuring and publicly reporting on progress all help to achieve gender equality. The Women’s Empowerment Principles align with Aldi’s position that all businesses have a responsibility for gender equality and women’s empowerment and for addressing any form of discrimination, as expressed here in the Aldi South Group’s International Policy on Gender Equality in Aldi’s Supply Chains.
Did you know that Aldi is one of the largest retailers of Fairtrade flowers in the UK? In 2023, 90% of Aldi’s Fairtrade flowers were sourced from Herburg Roses in Ethiopia, where Aldi source more Fairtrade flowers than any other UK retailer. Herburg Roses has been producing flowers since 1974 and currently exports more than 50 million Fairtrade stems per year. Aldi has been sourcing Fairtrade flowers from here since 2014.
Herburg Roses also currently employs 1,200 workers, 64% of whom are women. Since 2019, Aldi has been working in partnership with Fairtrade to improve the working lives of women Fairtrade flower workers in the Ethiopian Flower sector. First via the Dignity for All programme and then in 2022 via an investment of £200,000 in the Fairtrade Improved Workers’ Rights in Ethiopian Flowers programme. The project, running until 2025, builds on previous efforts to improve working conditions and raise awareness of workers’ rights, gender and disability inclusion.
Aldi Fairtrade flowers from Herburg Roses also generate a Fairtrade Premium. This is a communal fund that supports social, economic and environmental projects. Herburg Roses workers democratically decide how to use this Fairtrade Premium Fund. In the past, workers at Herburg have used the Premium to invest in training, education, housing and healthcare for themselves and their families. In 2022, the Premium Committee identified that the high cost of living in Ethiopia had an impact on the education of the children of workers. In order to support additional costs of school fees, uniforms, writing materials and other provisions, part of the Fairtrade Premium has been allocated to support workers’ children to access education. This in turn means women can have more opportunities to remain and thrive in the workplace.
