7.5 Forced Labour
The Constitution of Greece (art. 22
par. 4) establishes in principle the
freedom of labour, through the pro-
hibition of forced or compulsory
labour. No person can be forced to un-
dertake work in general or specifical-
ly. Any form of compulsory work is
prohibited.
In MYTILINEOS Group, we oppose all
forms of forced or compulsory labour,
as we first and foremost believe that
coercion against the will of any person
who is working, relegates that person
to a means of achieving profit and
constitutes a violation of that person’s
dignity.
The business activities of our Group in
the construction of power plants,
through its subsidiary METKA S.A., are
considered to present a higher risk of
occurrence of incidents of forced
labour in certain geographical re-
gions. In these regions, METKA S.A.
takes all necessary steps to ensure
compliance with the provisions of
the laws prohibiting forced labour by
means of its internal regulations and
Professional Ethics Code, which reflect
its commitment to the protection of
Human Rights. In parallel, the com-
pany requires its Senior Executives to
undertake a binding commitment to
check and deal immediately with any
conditions which may encourage
forced labour, while all the contracts
and agreements that the company
concludes with its business partners
(Suppliers – Subcontractors) contain
clauses on the mandatory compli-
ance with the applicable national
laws, rules and regulations, in order to
rule out all likelihood of incidents in-
volving any form of forced labour.
Where a Code of Conduct on Human
Rights forms part of a contract, spe-
cific reference is made to the respect
for Human Rights, to the prohibition
of forced labour, and to the company’s
right to request the audit of its Sup-
pliers and Subcontractors by official In-
ternational Organisations for ensuring
compliance with the requirements
on the protection of Human Rights.
Furthermore, the company’s supervi-
sors at its construction sites and
plants are carrying out constant checks
of its subcontractors for adherence to
the law and compliance with the
contractual terms, to eliminate all
likelihood of incidents of forced labour,
while the company itself is subject to
supervision and to regular Quality,
Health & Safety and contractual com-
pliance audits, conducted by inde-
pendent organisations in connection
with all the projects it undertakes. Fi-
nally, during 2012 no reports were
made of incidents of forced labour in
the Group companies and in their prin-
cipal associates.
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