Coles Supermarkets

For eggs to be labelled free range, the Model Code of Practice says there should be a maximum of 1500 hens per hectare. In 2021 Choice updated its list of which egg brands meet the Model Code. According to the report, this company uses a stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare for its free range eggs, well in excess of the Model Code.
Source: Choice (2021)

The WWF Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard 2020 assesses 173 companies on the commitments they have made, and the actions they have taken, to ensure that there is no destruction of nature including no deforestation along their supply chains; and support a responsible and sustainable palm oil industry beyond their own supply chain. This company is rated 'lagging behind' with a score of 8.8 out of a possible total of 22.
Source: WWF (2020)

In 2020 Baptist World Aid Australia released The COVID Fashion Report, a special edition of their Ethical Fashion Report. The report is framed around six COVID Fashion Commitments that ask companies to demonstrate the steps and measures they are taking to protect and support the most vulnerable workers in their supply chains. This company showed no evidence of actions that it covered any of the COVID Fashion Commitments.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2020)

D grade in Baptist World Aid Australia's '2021 Ethical Fashion Report', which grades companies, from A to F, on the strength of their systems to mitigate against the risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation in their supply chains, as well as protect the environment from the harmful impacts of the fashion industry. Assessment criteria fall into five main categories: policy & governance, tracing & risk, auditing and supplier relationships, worker empowerment and environmental sustainability.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2021)

In recent years Coles was been repeatedly under fire for underpaying staff. In 2014 Coles was ordered to back-pay 10 trolley collectors for underpayments amounting to $220,174.69 (https://bit.ly/43V85v3). In 2016 the full bench of the Fair Work Commission found that Coles underpaid its employees and cut penalty rates in a cosy deal with the shop assistants' union that has cost low paid workers perhaps $70 million a year (https://bit.ly/3Ll6reV). In 2020 Coles admitted to $20 million in underpayments to some store staff. However, the FWO says Coles' remediation program has "significantly underestimated" amounts owed to employees by more than $107 million. In 2021 the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) commenced legal action against Coles, alleging Coles underpaid 7,805 employees a total of $113.8 million between 1 January 2017 and 31 March 2020.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman (2023)

In 2019 this company agreed to pay Norco around $5.25 million for distribution to its dairy farmer members. The payments follow an ACCC investigation into whether Coles fully passed on to Norco a 10 cents per litre price rise it charged consumers for Coles branded fresh milk, as it claimed it would do in Coles' marketing materials. The ACCC was "fully prepared to take Coles to court over what we believe was an egregious breach of the Australian Consumer Law."
Source: ACCC (2019)