Workers themselves and others report on the labour situation and where codes and national labour standards are violated.

• The Garment Industry in Turkey
  From almost nothing, in two decades Turkey has become one of the world's top ten clothing exporters. Its products go largely to Western Europe and the US. It is strong in knitted and woven apparel and also produces goods made from cotton grown in the country.
  From CCC Newsletter Oct 2006
  Read more >>
  
  
• Asian Garment Producers Expand in Africa

  Workfloor Experiences Highlight Problems
  African governments, under intense competition to attract foreign investment, offer investors incentives such as duty-free imports, tax breaks, and relaxed labour laws. Companies have also been encouraged to set up there by the US Government's African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) which gives dutyfree access to the US market for goods produced in the continent.
  From CCC Newsletter May 2006.
  Read more >>

• Country Profile:Tunisia

  In March 2005 Clean Clothes Campaign International Secretariat staff visited Tunisia to meet with unions and other civil society organisations, share the work of the Clean Clothes Campaign and hear about the situation in the garment industry in Tunisia. As an important production country for European retailers, there is a need for stronger relationships with organisations in Tunisia. CCC newsletter, Dec 2005
  Read more >>

• Race to the Bottom in the garment industry and Burmese Migrant Workers

  The Race to the Bottom: Exploitation of Workers in the Global Garment Industry was published by Norwegian Church Aid in January 2005 and written by Junya Yimprasert of the Thai Labour Campaign and Petter Hveem, former advisor to NCA. The paper explores the race to the bottom in garment producing countries and examines in particular the exploitation of Burmese migrant workers in the export-processing zone in Mae Sot, Thailand. The paper demonstrates that the constellation of strong employers and weak employees in the context of extreme competition for contracts, combined with non-enforcement and corruption on the part of the Thai authorities, provides the foundation for extreme worker exploitation by factory owners, which in turn is exploited by agents and brands to keep production costs low. The authors argue that this is clearly evident in Mae Sot.

  Available at www.thailabour.org/docs/index.html

• Workers’ Voices
  The situation of women in the Eastern European and Turkish garment industries

  Clean Clothes Campaign - Nov 2005

  The conclusion from 256 interviews with garment workers from 55 workplaces is that all basic labour standards continue to be violated in Eastern Europe and Turkey.

  886kb) Download the report >>

• Sewing for the world market:

  Women's work in Export Processing Zones and in the informal economy.
  Country case studies China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka .
  Fashion companies under examination
  SÜDWIND Institut für Ökonomie und Ökumene, Jan 2005

  • 65kb) Conditions of Women Workers in Special Economic Zones and Labour Standards in Supplier Factories of German Garment Retailer Companies and Brands in China
    Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee
    16 September 2004

  • 56kb) Research on Working & Living Conditions of Women in Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and Sweatshops in Indonesia
    Report Sudwind and UCM Jakarta 13 July 2004

• China, Jan 2005,

  Release and sentence reductions for Stella shoe factory workers in China

  At a criminal appeal court hearing on 31 December 2004, seven Chinese shoe factory workers walked free in the southern city of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, after their original sentences of up to three-and-a-half years' imprisonment were reduced to nine-months, suspended for one year. Three under-aged workers were also released and their original suspended prison sentences dropped. They had all been in jail since April 2004.
  This reversal of the sentencing of the Stella International shoe factory workers - all of whom had been involved in mass protests at Stella's Xing Xiong and Xing Ang factories in late April 2004 - represents a significant landmark in the history of the modern labour movement in China.
  Read more >>

• Thailand , Nov 2004, The struggle of the Gina workers in Thailand: Inside a succesfull international labour solidarity campaign
  265kb) - Philip S. Robbertson Jr. & Somsak Plaiyoowong (Southeast Asia Research Centre)

• India , Aug 2004, Programme Report of the National Workers Exchange Programme
  A National Gathering of Garments and Sportswear Workers to Highlight Working Conditions in the Sector and Discuss Organising Strategies

• Thailand , Sep 2004, The Situation of Burmese Migrant Workers in Mae Sot, Thailand. (South East Asia Research Centre)

• Indonesia , Aug 2004, Tae Hwa Indonesia – a case-study of labour conditions in the sportswear industry Casestudy on a factory producing mainly for FILA Play Fair at the Olympics

• Fiji, 2004, Report on the garment industry in Fiji, calles for the New Zealand government to take urgent action to keep Fiji’s fragile garment industry alive in the face of the imminent loss of crucial trade preference arrangements with Australia. Available at
  http://www.oxfam.org.nz/media/Oxfam
  %20Fiji%20Garment%20Study.pdf

  Oxfam New Zealand - 2004

• Thailand, Jan 2004, Dignity Return - a 'sweat-free' garment operation in Thailand
  'Dignity Return' is a clothing label still on the fringe of Thailand's sprawling world of garment factories, where globally known brands like Nike and Levis dominate. But it represents hope - and more - for the Thais churning out T-shirts and headbands bearing the stamp of this new label.

• Eastern Europe, Jan 2004, Made in … Eastern Europe
  The new 'Fashion colonies'
  A Clean Clothes Campaign publication
  January 2004

• Thailand , Nov 2003, Thai government asked to ensure workers' rights
  The Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which represents 158 million workers in 231 affiliated organisations in 150 countries, is urging the Thai government to comply with international labour standards.

• Turkey , Nov 2003, Garment and textile production: focus on Turkey
  Somo bulletin on issues in garments & textiles

• China , Oct 2003, Challenges in China - Experiences from Two CCC Pilot Projects on Monitoring and Verification of Code Compliance.

• Malawi , Sept 2003, Report on Garment Production in Malawi

• Indonesia , Aug 2003, Report on export processing zone in Indonesia
  WRC Factory Assessment Report concerning PT Dae Joo Leports, a facility in Jakarta, Indonesia producing college and university logo backpacks for VF Corporation and adidas-Salomon.

• Macedonia , May 2003, Exposing exploitation of female textile workers included in the state's "job training and retraining programm" in Macedonia

• Morocco, May 2003, Working conditions in Morocco - Spanish Clean Clothes Campaign & Intermon (Oxfam Spain)

• China, March 2003, Results of the monitoring of Chinese garments suppliers - Press release of the Clean Clothes Campaign in Switzerland and the companies Migros, Switcher and Veillon

• Kenya , March 2003, Support Kenyan Garment Workers

  • April 2003, Update and request for action on Kenya EPZ layoffs

• Indonesia - Unrest and labour conflicts in Indonesia

• Mexico , Feb 2003, For information on the impact of blue jean production on workers, indigenous communities and the environment, check out Tehuacan: Blue Jeans, Blue Waters and Worker Rights . A 59-page study by Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) and the Human and Labour Rights Commission of the Tehuacan Valley. More info >>

• Turkey - Feb 2003,Made in Turkey, CCC newsletter

• China - Jan 2003, Unfair Trade for Unfair Toys (HKCIC)

• Sri Lanka - Oct 2002, Youngsters awareness project in the Netherlands the 'Fashion Files' visits Sri Lanka

• Madagascar - Sept 2002, The suffering zone SOMO

• Mauritius - Sept 2002,No paradise for foreign workers" - SOMO

• India - May 2002, Report summary: India: "Child Labour and Labour Rights in the Sporting Goods Industry: A Case for Corporate Social Responsibility"
  Social Sector Group, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in New Delhi - may 2002

• China - April 2002, Working Conditions of Soccer and Football Workers in factories producing for adidas, Puma, Lotto and others in mainland China

• Morocco - March 2002, Report summary:"The responsibility of Spanish garment retailers for the social and working conditions in small production centres in Northern Morocco."

• Lesotho - March 2002, Labour Rights Violations at Hudson's Bay Supply Factories - PDF 424 kB)

• Bulgaria - 2001, Social environment and standards at the work place in the garment industry in Bulgaria.
  Results from a preliminarily research carried out within a Clean Clothes Campaign international project

• Bulgaria - October 2001, Bulgarian workshop on Clean Clothes
  Social environment and standards at the workplace in the garment industry

• Botswana - Nov 2001, "Milking cow for investors": findings from Botswana

• Lesotho - June 2001, "Selling our people": Summary report on garment production in Lesotho

• Swaziland - May 2001, "Taking the devil's rope" Findings from Swaziland
  research on Swaziland's garment industry.

• Sri lanka - June 2001, Organising the Battlefield
  An article, for your information on the living and working conditions of mostly women garment factory workers, who work for export orientated factories in the war torn eastern district of Batticaloa in Sri Lanka. The article also explains how women workers organised.

• China - April 2001, Health and Safety project at Yue Yuen in China
  The undersigned organizations and individuals met in Hong Kong on November 30, 2000, and discussed the following set of agreements to govern a one-year training project on workplace health and safety issues....

• Vietnam March 2001, - Methodology Report: Consultation with Footwear Factory Workers (Report of a pilot study) - Juliet Edington Hanoi, Vietnam March, 2001

• Thailand - Nov 2000, Visit to Thailand

• Thailand - Video: Made in Thailand