Responses from New Balance

Proposal A1:

Require suppliers to issue 'Right to Organize' guarantees to workers.

New Balance requires suppliers to include freedom of association provisions in factory employee handbooks, a copy of which is to be given to each worker. Policies are also to be explained verbally to workers upon hire.

Full response

"New Balance has had a policy on freedom of association in our supplier factories for five years. Freedom of association is required to be included in all supplier factory employee handbooks, a copy of which is to be given to each worker. Policies are also to be explained verbally to workers upon hire."

Proposal A4: Provide an accessible complaints process for workers.

No response given.

Proposal A9: Require suppliers to sign union access agreements.

New Balance requires supplier factories to adhere to local law regarding union access. However, they will not require that suppliers sign access agreements.

Full response

"New Balance requires supplier factories to adhere to local law regarding union access to factory workers. We are willing to undertake additional efforts to assure respect for workers’ legal rights to organize within our supplier factories."

Proposal B2: Eliminate third-party employment schemes.

No response given.

Proposal B3: Eliminate short-term contracting.

New Balance allows temporary contracts to deal with seasonal fluctuations but limits the use of temporary contracts to six months. They do require a clear plan justifying their use. They have not clarified whether contract workers receive the same benefits and salaries as regular workers.

Full response

New Balance strongly discourages the use of temporary and contract labor in our supply chain, and over the last five years has withdrawn from a number of factories where we were unable to change such employment arrangements. Our philosophy is that if a job is permanent, then the worker who does the job should have a permanent contract. We allow temporary employment contracts in specific circumstances where seasonal fluctuations merit seeking temporary help with production. Before allowing supplier factories to hire temporary workers, however, we require that they clearly quantify how many temporary positions they need to create, elaborate the reasons behind the need and why it is unavoidable, and fix the length of the contract to no longer than necessary. We allow temporary contracts for no more than 6 months.

Proposal B6: Establish long-term relationships with factories.

No response given.

Proposal C1: Adopt Responsible Transitions policies.

New Balance is currently considering the issue, but will make no commitment at this point.

Full response

"This issue is currently under consideration."

Proposal C3: Report publicly on length of factory relationships.

New Balance notes that its relationship with “key” suppliers are long-term (10-20 years), but the company does not keep data on other suppliers and will not commit to publicly reporting the data it does have.

Full response

"Relationships with our key suppliers are long term, 10 to 20 years. We do not maintain data for secondary suppliers. Turn-over of suppliers in some non-core product categories would undermine the value of such statistics."

Proposal C4: Report publicly on how suppliers are chosen and/or eliminated.

New Balance provides some general information on its selection policy, but makes no commitment on CSR performance or on managing the impact of exiting factories.

Full response

"A new supplier must be determined to meet a certain level of standard prior to producing New Balance products as part of our factory selection process. This means undergoing an audit or providing results of a recent audit from a company with standards at least equal to those of New Balance. Factories with management that show indifference to solving problems and working with our compliance teams for improvement, or violate a 'no tolerance' issue, are terminated."

Proposal D1:

Make a commitment to paying a living wage.

New Balance suppliers pay the minimum wage required by law or the prevailing industry wage, whichever is higher, but the company will not commit to incorporating a living wage in its Code.

Full response

"Suppliers must pay at least the minimum wage required by law or the prevailing industry wage, consistent with the local area statistics, whichever is higher, and shall provide legally mandated benefits. We have developed a comprehensive, detailed wage and documentation system as part of our supplier evaluation process, and provided training to workers to ensure they understand their pay. New Balance is willing to consider more detailed language in this area."

Proposal D3: Ensure prices are sufficient to pay a living wage.

New Balance does not appear to respond to the question posed to it.

Full response

“New Balance already does this as part of our factory selection process.”

Proposal D6: Take steps to improve workers’ wages.

New Balance is willing to engage in multi-brand collaboration to address living wage issues, but he company does not address the other components of the proposal.

Full response

"Multi-brand collaboration is likely to be the best way to address living wage issues. New Balance would be willing to participate in such a program"

Response Key

The brand claims to implementing all components of this proposal or has agreed to implement them within Play Fair's proposed timeframe.

The brand is currently implementing or has agreed to implement some of the essential components of the proposal but has refused to implement, has overlooked, or has raised issues with one or more important components; or, the brand agrees to implement the proposal but not within Play Fair’s proposed timeframe.

The brand has refused to implement the essential components of the proposal.

The brand has misunderstood or failed to comment on the proposal; or the brand is considering the proposal, but has yet to make a decision.