Publications-archive
September
2006 Let’s
clean up fashion Labour
Behind the Label
The
state of pay behind the UK high street
For over a decade, consumers, workers and campaigners
have been calling on fashion brands to make sure
the workers who produce the clothes they sell are
paid a living wage. At the start of 2006, Labour
Behind the Label decided it was time to check in
with the fashion industry, to see what progress
has been made. This report presents the results
of our investigation, revealing who is - and isn’t
- doing what.
Download
the report here >>
June 2006
Who pays for cheap clothes?
Labour Behind the Label
5
questions the low-cost retailers must answer
Something new is sweeping through the high street.
Whereas five years ago, style-conscious teenagers
would never be seen, like, dead in a bargain clothes
shop, today the Saturday afternoon high street is
awash with Primark bags and their proud owners boasting
the bargains they have found. What everyone wants
to know is: do their contents come from sweatshops?
The four companies this report focusses on, Asda,
Tesco, Primark and Matalan, are to fashion what
McDonalds and Burger King are to food: mass produced,
hassle-free, fast, popular, and reliant on exploitation
down the supply chain to keep things that way. It
asks what impact this trend is having on workers'
rights, and challenges these retailers to ensure
that workers are not paying for our cheap clothes
with their human rights.
Download
the report here >>
May 2006
Sweet FA? TUC/Labour
Behind the Label
Football
Associations, workers' rights, and the World Cup
The world's Football Associations will make over
£200m from sponsorship and licensing arrangements
this year, while their sponsors are expecting hundreds
of millions of pounds in additional revenue from
World Cup goods. Meanwhile, the people stitching
the footballs, sewing the shirts and glueing the
boots that will earn this money are working late
into the night, six or seven days a week, for poverty
wages. Those that attempt to form trade unions to
try to improve their working conditions are persecuted
and often lose their jobs.
Download
the report here >>
June 30,
2006 The Life
of Football Factory Workers in Thailand Thai
Labour Campaign
New
Thai study reveals workers at football factories
don’t earn enough to live in dignity
While sportswear companies rake in their profits
and World Cup players and fans enjoy the matches
in Germany, the Thai women who put together footballs
for major brands such as adidas earn so little they
can do little more than buy food.
July 2006
Is this in Fashion?
Social Observatory
Institute - São Paulo, Brasil
C&A
sells clothes produced in clandestine sweatshops
that exploit illegal immigrants.
Download
the report here >>
May 2006
Offside!
Oxfam
Oxfam
publishes report on labour rights and sportswear
production in Asia
This publication is part of a broader drive within
the Clean Clothes Campaign to provide a gender analysis
of labour rights issues. The report concludes that
sportswear companies are failing to ensure that
workers making their products have the right to
freedom of association. Although some companies
are involved with positive initiatives which have
led to improved conditions in some factories, still
their overall approach to trade union rights has
been inconsistent and at times contradictory.
December
2005 Made by
Women
Clean Clothes Campaign
This
128-page publication published by the CCC International
Secretariat includes feature articles on important
themes relating to gender and labour rights and
17 profiles of women involved in different ways
in the movement for garment workers' rights.
This
publication is part of a broader drive within the
Clean Clothes Campaign to provide a gender analysis
of labour rights issues
This publication is part of a broader drive within
the Clean Clothes Campaign to provide a gender analysis
of labour rights issues, and specifically to document
and re-state gendered concerns that relate to workers’
rights in the garment and sports shoe industries.
Also it is part of CCC efforts to document examples
of initiatives that do address these concerns, and
to present ideas on how these concerns should be
explicitly integrated in the work of the CCC.
The CCC envisions this publication as a resource
for building awareness among those directly involved
in the Clean Clothes Campaigns and among CCC supporters,
and more extensively among other NGOs and trade
unions. It could possibly be a resource for those
in the industry and the multi-stakeholder initiatives
hat seek to address labour practices in the sector.
Clearly, a lot of learning still needs to be done
on many levels, and the CCC believes this publication
an be a tool to clearly communicate what the issues
are and possible ways for addressing them.
Download
the report >>
Download this report in
French >>
Le systeme des appels urgents
Clean Clothes Campaign
Le
systeme des appels urgents de la clean clothes campaign
Solidarite avec les travailleurs de la confection
du monde entier
La Clean Clothes Campaign réunit à
l’échelle internationale des ONG et
des syndicats travaillant de concert pour obtenir
de meilleures conditions de travail dans l’industrie
de la confection et pour renforcer la capacité
d’action des travailleurs de ce secteur. Dans
ce contexte, la CCC s’engage à mener
des actions de solidarité directe afin de
soutenir les travailleurs de la confection dans
leur lutte pour le respect de leurs droits.
303
kb Download report
English version
December
5, 2006 Transparency
Report Card
ETAG
Canadian
groups release Transparency Report Card
The Ethical Trading Action Group (ETAG) released
an 95-page study, "Coming Clean on the Clothes
We Wear : Transparency Report Card." The Transparency
Report Card assesses and compares 25 major retailers
and brands selling apparel products in the Canadian
market in terms of their efforts to address worker
rights issues in their global supply chains and
on how and what they report on those efforts.
Nov 2005
Workers’ Voices Clean
Clothes Campaign
The
situation of women in the Eastern European and Turkish
garment industries
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.
303
kb Download
report
September
2005 Asda Wal-Mart
– The Alternative Report
Clean Clothes Campaign
The
second in a series of War on Want alternative company
reports looks at the world’s largest retail company
Wal-Mart
The second in a series of War on Want alternative
company reports looks at the world’s largest retail
company Wal-Mart. The September 2005 report describes
how Wal-Mart’s pursuit of the lowest possible prices
has taken a heavy toll on its employees and suppliers.
This report reviews Wal-Mart’s record over and against
its rhetoric on corporate social responsibility
and also recommends action to redress some of the
damage inflicted by the company’s operations.
Available at www.waronwant.org
November
2005 Work in
progress:
Sanne van der Wal
& Bart Slob - SOMO
Labour
policies of workwear companies supplying public
authorities in Europe
The main objective of this research was to provide
the CCC with detailed information about the workwear
sector and selected workwear companies that supply
European public authorities. To support their campaign
on ethical public procurement, the CCC needs further
information on the workwear sector and suppliers.
612
kb Download report
Nov 2005
Looking for a quick fix
Clean Clothes Campaign
How
weak social auditing is keeping workers in sweatshops
The
large majority of companies (...) did very little
to implement or enforce their codes of conduct.
Social audits to check working conditions in production
facilities emerged in the mid-1990s after a number
of high profile companies were widely scrutinized
for substandard working conditions in their supply
chains. At that time, a growing number of companies-for
example Nike, Gap, Levi Strauss, and C&A-had adopted
codes of conduct that in essence were pledges to
prevent exploitation and abuse of workers producing
their goods.
Labour advocates soon challenged these companies
to demonstrate conformity to the standards they
had adopted. Calls for independent, civil society
based forms of workplace assessments were made.
The large majority of companies ignored these calls
and actually did very little to implement or enforce
their codes of conduct.
(2654kb)
Download
the report
May 2005
Building International Solidarity:
African Asian Networking
Clean Clothes Campaign
Report
on the Solidarity Workshop for African Garment workers
held in Swaziland
The workshop aimed to develop campaigning initiatives
to improve working conditions in Eastern and Southern
African garment factories.The workshop focused specically
on developing initiatives to address working conditions
in Asian manufacturer multinationals, producing
for large retailers, especially Wal-Mart. In cooperative
solidarity, trade unions, shop stewards, and NGOs
shared information and developed an action plan
in order to improve working conditions in the region.
(6.944
kb) Download
the report
2005
A booklet series for garment
workers in Africa
IRENE, CSRSC, SOMO,
EED AND FNV
As
the number of Multinationals that either produce
or source in Africa continues to increase so do
the challenges that are faced by workers and trade
unions.
Workers have risen to meet these challenges and
it is in support of their struggle that these booklets
have been produced. The booklets have been designed
as an educational tool to provide a wide range of
information, from contextual issues of the garment
sector in global trade to practical considerations
for shop stewards.
June 8, 2005
The Play Fair at the Olympics
Campaign
Author: Jeroen Merk
© Clean Clothes Campaign, ICFTU, Oxfam
The
Play Fair at the Olympics Campaign: an evaluation
of the company responses
The Play Fair at the Olympics Campaign (PFOC) has
urged 'sportswear companies and the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) to bring about an industry-wide
solution to the abuse and exploitation of workers
in global sportswear supply chains'.
In the six-month run-up to the Olympic Games (March
2004 - August 2004), the campaign organisers estimate
that at a sub-national level, 500 local events (i.e.,
demonstrations, protest actions, picket lines, etc.)
had taken place. This contributed to extensive coverage
on television, radio, and in the press. In addition,
more than 500,000 people signed a petition in support
of the campaign. While these activities were aimed
at informing the public about working conditions,
they were helpful in placing pressure 'upon those
companies that have done too little to meet their
incumbent responsibilities'.
11 May 2005
Fair Purchasing Practices?
Author: Jeroen Merk
Paper written for: CCC Round Table on Purchasing
Practices
© Clean Clothes Campaign
Fair
Purchasing Practices? Some Issues for Discussion
Addressing the negative impact that purchasing practices
or sourcing systems can have on code compliance
was one of main demands in the Play Fair at the
Olympics campaign. It urged companies to '…change
their purchasing practices so that they do not lead
to workers' exploitation, with prices being made
fair, deadlines realistic, and labour standards
given the same status as price, time, and quality'.
In other words, it was recommended that sourcing
companies address the conflicting logic of simultaneously
pursuing lower prices and shorter delivery times
whilst at the same time pursuing compliance with
labour standards.
September
2004 The Global
Garment Industry and the Informal Economy
IRENE / CCC Discussion
Paper by Nina Ascoly
The
Global Garment Industry and the Informal Economy:
Critical Issues for Labor Rights Advocates
This paper has been written as an input for the
seminar “Campaigning strategies on informal labour
in the global garment industry,” organized by the
Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), the International
Restructuring Education Network Europe (IRENE),
and the Evangelische Akademie Meissen, to be held
at the Akademie September 23rd, 24th, and 25th,
2004.
December
2004 Campaigning
strategies on informal labour in the global garment
industry
IRENE/CCC Seminar
Report by Nina Ascoly
Meissen meeting brings together garment industry
labor rights activists and informal economy experts
(424kb)
Download
the report
March 2005
Action research in the garment
sector
Esther de Haan, (SOMO)
and Michael Koen, (CSRSC)
Action
research in the garment sector in Southern and Eastern
Africa
Between 2000 and 2004, labour conditions in garment
supply chains in Southern and Eastern Africa have
been researched for trade unions and campaigning
organizations. Efforts towards concretely improving
the labour conditions have been intensified. by
connecting research with concrete actions and follow
up. SOMO and CSRSC, together with the regional office
of the Global Unions Federation in the sector, the
International Textile, Garments and Leather Workers
Federation ( ITGLWF- Africa) and the national garment
unions in the different countries, have developed
and conducted this research.
25 January
2005 Sewing
for the world market
SÜDWIND publication
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
A considerable share of our clothes is produced
in worldwide Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and
in sweatshops in the informal economy. Most of the
workers in the tax and tariff enclaves in more than
hundred countries in the South and in Eastern Europe
are women. Their labour conditions are scandalous:
extremely low wages, long working hours, sex discrimination
and union repression.
November
2004 The struggle
of the Gina workers in Thailand
Philip S. Robbertson
Jr. & Somsak Plaiyoowong
(Southeast Asia Research Centre)
The
struggle of the Gina workers in Thailand: Inside
a succesfull international labour solidarity campaign
265kb)
The struggle
of the Gina workers in Thailand: Inside a succesfull
international labour solidarity campaign
25 January
2005 Download
the Clean Clothes Urgent Appeal leaflet
The
Clean Clothes Urgent Appeals system In solidarity
with garment workers worldwide
The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) is a global coalition
of ngos and trade unions that work together to push
for better working conditions in the garment industry
and for the empowerment of garment workers. In the
context of this work, the CCC is committed to carrying
out direct solidarity action to support garment
workers in their struggle to see that their rights
are respected.
274
kb)The
Clean Clothes Urgent Appeals system
2004
Campaigns at Work
2004, Homeworkers Worldwide
Campaigns
at Work: a guide to campaigning for home worker
groups, unions, campaign groups and activists
A campaign guide for homeworkers and other workers
in precarious and informal employment. " Campaigns
at Work: a guide to campaigning for home worker
groups, unions, campaign groups and activists "
provides practical and useful examples to assit
a range of groups to develop their own approach
to campaigning and engaging consumers in lobbying
corporations for workers making their products.
Go to: http://www.homeworkersww.org.uk/
resource&material/campaign%20manual.pdf
2004
Developing a strategic response
to the trade in used clothing in Africa
Civil Society Research
and Support Collective
december
2004 Behind
the Brand Names
ICFTU
Behind
the Brand Names: Working Conditions and Labour Rights
in Export Processing Zones.
The book looks at the phenomenon of EPZs but focuses
on the experiences of the workers. Includes case-studies
from different countries and pays special attention
to the electronics industry. To download it go to:http://www.icftu.org/www/PDF/EPZreportE.pdf
Two company
case studies on the Dutch companies
GSUS and WE International.
- WE
Europe: A report on CSR and SA
8000
- GSUS
Clothing industries - A case studie
Somo, Nov 2004
The Situation of Burmese Migrant Workers
in Mae Sot, Thailand.
South East Asia Research Centre, Sept
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
Oxfams, Global Unions and the Clean
Clothes Campaign, Aug 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
Oxfam New Zealand - 2004
The phase-out of the multifiber arrangement
SOMO Bulletin on Issues in Garments
& Textiles
Presents critical issues of interest
to those working to improve conditions
and empower workers in the global
garment and textile industries.
SOMO, April 2004
Sportswear industry Data and Company
Profiles
Background information for the
Play Fair at the Olimpics Campaign
Clean Clothes Campaign, March 2004
Play Fair at the Olympics
Respect workers’ rights in the
sportswear industry -
Oxfams, Global Unions and the Clean
Clothes Campaign, March 2004
Trading Away our Rights
Women Working in Global Supply Chains
Oxfam, Feb 2004
Trade and investment agreements
Somo bulletin on issues in garments
& textiles
This bulletin seeks to examine the
influence of regional, bilateral,
and preferential trade and investment
agreements on the garment and textile
industries worldwide.
Somo, February 2004
Experiences in Organising Garment Workers
A Brief Report Seminar on ‘Experiences
in Organising Garment Workers’,
held on January 17, 2004 during the
World Social Forum in Mumbai, looked
at the organising strategies employed
in differnt countries, which have led
to an improvement in working and living
conditions of garment workers and their
collective strength. It also examined
the nature of their organisation, their
national as well as international linkages
and their effectiveness in making political
impact at the respective governmental
levels.
Clean Clothes Campaign, Jan 2004
Made in … Eastern Europe
The new 'Fashion colonies'
Clean Clothes Campaign Jan 2004
Action research on Garment Industry
Supply chains
Some guidelines for activists
631 KB
Women Working Worldwide, 2003
PRICING
IN THE GLOBAL GARMENT
INDUSTRY
An international seminar
organized by International
Restructuring Education
Network Europe (IRENE)
and Clean Clothes Campaign,
in cooperation with EED,
Germany. - Feb 2003 |
53 kb) Pricing
in the global garment industry
Somo bulletin on issues in garments
& textiles - Number 1, may
2003
|
Garment Industry subcontracting and
Workers Rights
1.807kb)
Women Working Worldwide, 2003
East and Southeast Asia regional labor
research report
This report is a study of existing
literature and materials that examine
the causes of and nature of labor
rights violations in the garment industry
in the region and their impact on
women workers.
Nina Ascoly and Ineke Zeldenrust,
Dec 2003
Garment and textile production: focus
on Turkey
Somo bulletin on issues in garments
& textiles
Somo, November 2003
Labour conflicts in the world factories
of the garment industry and International
Solidarity Campaigns.
An evaluation of the
Clean Clothes Campaign's Urgent Appeals.
Barbara Rimml, 2003
Challenges in China
Experiences from Two CCC Pilot Projects
on Monitoring and Verification of
Code Compliance.
Clean Clothes Campaign, Oct 2003
WTO ignoring workers' rights in a
race to the bottom
ICFTU releases report on WTO, Workers'
Rights and Export Processing Zones
ICFTU, Sept 2003
Report on Garment Production in Malawi
SOMO & ITGLWF Africa, Sept 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.
Worker Rights Consortium, Aug 2003
Asian TNCs and supply chains
SOMO Bulletin on Issues in Garments
& Textiles
Somo, July 2003
Research published on informal sector
workers in Sri Lanka
TIE-Asia and Working Women Worldwide,
June 2003
Labour law review and other resources
Asia-Pacific Labour Law Review:
Workers' rights for the new century.
Asia Monitor Resource Centre, April
2003
Working conditions in Morocco
Please find here the summary in English.
Spanish Clean Clothes Campaign in
colaboration with Intermon (Oxfam
Spain) May 2003
Education booklet for
workers
A Call to action
Organising garment workers in Southern
Africa
March 2003
Tehuacan: Blue Jeans, Blue Waters
and Worker Rights.
Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN)
and the Human and Labour Rights Commission
of the Tehuacan Valley.
Feb 2003
China - Unfair
Trade for Unfair Toys
Hong Kong Christian Industrial
Committee, Jan 2003
Made in Southern Africa
A report on research on the
garment industry in Lesotho, Swaziland,
Botswana, Mauritius, and Madagascar.
Researchers visited factories and
interviewed representatives of management,
trade unions, NGOs, employers' organizations,
and governmental organizations as
well as garment workers. Reports on
the garment industry in each of the
five countries researched are presented,
as well as factory reports documenting
working conditions at facilities in
the Southern Africa region and the
link to retailers selling the garments.
Clean Clothes Campaign, Dec 2002
The suffering zone: Findings from
Madagascar
SOMO, Sept 2002
"
Mauritius: No paradise for foreign workers"
SOMO, Sept 2002
Football Stitching Industry of Pakistan
Executive Summary of the Global
March Report
Global March, 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
The Workers’
Story:
Labour
Rights Violations at Hudson’s
Bay Supply Factories in Lesotho
Trade Union Research Project
Ethical Trading Action Group, March
2002 -
424kb
We are not machines
Report finds that Indonesian Nike
and Adidas workers are paid so little
they are forced to separate from their
children.
Clean Clothes Campaign
(Europe), Oxfam Community Aid Abroad
(Australia), Oxfam Canada, , Global
Exchange (USA) and the Maquila Solidarity
Network (Canada), March 2002
Beyond voluntarism
Human rights and the developing
international legal obligations
of companies
International Council on Human
Rights Policy, Jan 2002
Wearing thin
The state op pay in the Fashion
Industry - Garment companies fail
to move on living wage issue
Labour Behind the Label, Nov 2001
"Milking cow for investors":
findings from Botswana
TURP, Nov 2001
"Taking the devil's rope":
Findings from Swaziland
SOMO-TURP, Nov 2001
`Our
voices... will be heard’
Report of The Regional Workshop On
Women Workers In Informal Work
Organizing, Lobbying and Advocacy
Committee for Asian Women (CAW) and
HomeNet, Thailand, Nov 2001 -
239 kb)
Unraveling the MultiFibre Agreement
(MFA)
What impact will the abolition of
quotas under the MFA have on the garment
industry of Sri Lanka?
TIE-Asia, Oct 2001
"Selling our people": Summary
report on garment production in Lesotho
,
SOMO, July 2001
Methodology Report:
Consultation with Footwear Factory
Workers (Report of a pilot
study)
Juliet Edington Hanoi, Vietnam March
2001
Sustaining the Rag Trade
Report on the clothing sector in the
UK and their purchasing and supply
chain policies
International Institute for Environment
and Development, 2000
"Taiwan" shoes' makers:
Thai Workers
Press for change, Nov 2000
Report of the conference on “Global
standards in focus”
Best practices: monitoring of codes
of conduct
Oct 2000
Human Rights and the Transnational
Garment Industry in South and South-East
Asia : a Focus on Labour
Rights
J. G. Frynas, Aug 2000
Controlling corporate wrongs
:
The liability of multinational corporations
Legal possibilities, initiatives
and strategies for civil societyReport
of the international IRENE seminar
on corporate liability and workers'
rights held at the University of
Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
IRENE, March 2000
"
Indonesian cheap production for German
fashion TNC's
- Steps towards alternatives"
SOUTH WIND, Nov 1999
Unstitching the child labour debate
Clean Clothes Campaign,
March 1999
Almost everything you always wanted
to know about independent monitoring
Clean Clothes Campaign 1999
Thailand: Stories of Worker Struggles
Transnationals Information Exchange
- TIA-Asia 1999
Sri Lanka: Stories of Worker Struggles
Transnationals Information Exchange
- TIA-Asia 1999
Made in Eastern Europe
Clean Clothes Campaign, 1998
Your jeans
Clean Clothes Campaign, 1998
Of Rags and Riches
brochure with general and background
information on the garment industry
and its working conditions, including
examples from Asia,
Clean Clothes Campaign, 1997
Sialkot, Pakistan
- The football industry
From Child Labour to Workers' Rights
Clean Clothes Campaign, 1999
Keeping the work floor
clean -
Monitoring models in the garment industry
Clean Clothes Campaign, 1998
Fashion Victims:
Together we can clean up the clothes
trade. The Asian garment industry
and globalisation.
Duncan Green, CAFOD, 1998
Workers and Consumers Rights
in the Garment Industry
Clean Clothes Campaign, 1998
