ACCR Company Engagement Coles Group Ltd

Coles Group Ltd (ASX:COL) is the second largest supermarket retailer in Australia. It includes Coles Supermarkets, Coles Express and Coles Liquor. The company trades in fresh food, groceries, household goods, liquor, fuel and financial services.

Coles is one of the principal buyers of fresh fruit and vegetables in Australia. Together with Woolworths, they buy over 70% of Australia’s domestic horticulture production. Since 2015, there have been frequent reports of labour abuses, wage theft and even modern slavery in Australian fresh food supply chains. ACCR has engaged Coles on these issues since 2017, and in 2019, we filed a shareholder resolution calling on them to implement industry best-practice supply chain due diligence to protect the farm workers’ in their supply chains.