Clean Clothes Campaign
October 1999

Contents:

I. Information on the 'monitoring projects' in France, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands
II. Other (Verite, the Saipan Settlement and the role of auditors; news from Switzerland and Canada)

Please send additional information, corrections, materials for a next update and all your comments to:
The Clean Clothes Campaign
PO BOX 11584
1001 GN Amsterdam
Tel: +31-20-4122785
Fax: +31-20-4122786
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.cleanclothes.org

I. Information on monitoring projects in France, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands

In 1998 projects were started in several European countries involving CCC partners and industry. Why was this? After developing together with the International Union secretariats and several Asian organisations and networks a joint model code of conduct including provisions for implementation, monitoring and verification, the need was felt to test out these ideas. Industry was developing its own models at high speed, with limited influence of trade unions or NGOs, it was considered essential to counter this and work on alternatives. To enable us to continue campaigning it was necessary to distinguish between those companies willing to accept the demands from the CCC and willing to take concrete steps based upon this and those who are not. While working on this limited number of projects, the main body of our work, namely campaigning, continues. The idea behind these projects is to learn, and to learn collectively as trade unions and NGOs from different regions of the world. This overview follows on the paper published last year 'Keeping the Workfloor Clean' and on updates published in our newsletter.

France

There is continued debate on a more general level about the way monitoring and verification systems should operate so that they are dependable, consumers can have confidence and of course so that working conditions improve. The French refer to this as the creation of a 'socio-label'. The foundation model as originally developed by the CCC is considered too 'private' by many, lacking governmental involvement and missing the possibility of legal measures in case of non-compliance. Another model that's being studied is to tie the monitoring & verification system to the EC system of observing quality-standards. In this scenario the code should be 'translated' to a norm recognised by the French national normalisation association (AFNOR) and the European Normalization Committee. The French CCC is moving towards tighter cooperation with the public bodies involved in setting up standards.
Others (industry in the first place) see both as impractical and lacking in concreteness, and want to follow SA 8000 (being the only system currently operational).

The other level of work concerns the project with Auchan, and recently also with the Federation du Commerce et la Distribution, also including Carrefour and Promodes. The French CCC is participating in an informal verification committee with Auchan. The company has agreed that its monitoring and verification activities for pilot projects (originally planned for Vietnam, Madagascar and Bangladesh) would be closely followed and assessed. This means following Auchan's progress step-by-step and giving input and comments when necessary.

In this experiment, SA8000 will be the 'reference tool' to check if the reality in the workplace conforms to Auchan's code, and the methods will be those of the certification companies which will carry out the audits (SGS or ITS). In other words, the guidance document of SA 8000 guidance will be used as there is at present no alternative. The results will be discussed within the informal committee involving Auchan and the CCC. In this way, the CCC can partake in the debates, be informed and give input and critique, f.e. observations of our partners on the situation in the audited factory. These can then be compared to the findings in the SA 8000 based audit.

The pilots:
A planned pilot project with Auchan in Vietnam is on hold for the timebeing. Pilot activity will focus first on Bangladesh and Madagascar. Philippe Mayol, from the French CCC recently returned from Madagascar where he got a first impression of the situation, met some factories managers, unions members, NGOs, and an SGS representative. A meeting with Auchan is planned to draw some lessons from this trip. The objectives were to assess the feasibility of independent monitoring, and to evaluate the need for 'side-measures' (i.e. things to be done outside the factories to make the conditions better for workers). A report is available in French "Mission a Madagascar avec une delegation de chez Auchan, 29-30-31 mars 1999, CCFD".
One of the main conclusions is that there are no organisations (commercial or otherwise) with the capacity to do the verfication in such a way that all parties would be satisfied. The regional office of SGS that covers Madagascar also does not have this capacity, but if desired they can get someone from the South African office. However this could create cultural difficulties. From the side of the CCC, the main thing for the coming period is to build on and expand the network in Madagascar. The unions and labour-related organisations lack at present knowledge and capacity to give input and be involved in a way that leads to results. A suggestion made by the CCFD (who wrote the report) is to involve a Madagascar private organisation or NGO, to do the audit, who would receive the SA 8000 training. IREDEC, one of the NGOs visited, was mentioned as a possibility.
A comparison between the situation in the factories, the labour code of Madagascar and the Auchan standards is presented in the report. In particular wages fall short. The local legal minimum wage is set at 150.000 FMG, while the living wage for a family of four is estimated by different sources at 400.000 FMG. The majority of enterprises in the FTZ (but not all) respect the minimum. One of Auchan's suppliers pays the minimum plus transport and lunchbonus (25.000 each).

Auchan is clearly committed to taking additional side measures where under-age children are working, but the project is only in its infancy. During the mission in Madagascar inquiries were made with different organisations. The French CCC is currently gathering information on what the needs are and what can be done in such a situation (for example, regarding education and financing). Some other side measures are being considered, such as training for local Union members. (One supplier appeared to be in favour of this).
Prior to taking any other action in Bangladesh, the French CCC is collecting contacts of Unions and NGO workers in Dhaka.
The connections between the campaign and the experiments of the other two main retailers of the FCD are much less extensive. Promodes mainly works via SA 8000 and is part of the advisory board, Carrefour works with the Federation Internationale de Droit de L'homme. The aim of the CCC is to realize something similar to the informal committee following Auchan to function for the activities of the other retailers in the FCD, thereby ensuring both information and input.

Training the buyers
There have been six training sessions (and one more to come) for Auchan buyers. There might be one for managers. About 20 people participated in each training. The aim was to make the staff sensitive to the various aspects of the problem and motivate them to take action with their suppliers. It was also a means to gauge their reactions and answer their questions. One part of the training was dedicated to the context and to Auchan's concern for better working conditions. The other one presented the situation in developing countries where garments are produced, from the perspectives human rights workers and the French CCC, explaining why one has to be careful when taking any corrective action.

The reactions were very encouraging: buyers felt concerned and asked pragmatic questions, such as "what can we do now ?" They felt they were getting support from their company on these issues. Some suggestions were made on the way internal monitoring can be improved. One of the ideas that came out of the buyer-training programme is to use the intranet (internal computer network) as part of the internal monitoring system. All buyers are expected to keep the observance of Auchan's code in their mind when they are visiting a factory or talking to management. They are not there to control the code, but they do have a sort of reporting duty. If they see things they think are not in line with the policy they are often not sure about what the implications are or how to react. All observations and reactions should be posted on the intranet, thereby getting an overview and forum for discussion.

Two of the main contactpeople at Auchan left the company, thereby creating a vacuum and once again slowing down the process. A new post will be created, a person in charge of human rights responsible at a central level for all contacts and aspects. This is preferable to the old situation where the persons in charge were part of the communication department.

Contact: Martial Cozette This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel. +33-1-46060708
Fax. +33-1-46060506

Swedish Monitoring Project

Below the outline (A to H) of the project is followed, with for each part the update filled in. See earlier distributed material for the original project description.
A. Knowledge and discussion meetings in Sweden
Negotiations on the final shape of the monitoring/verification body (see CCC model code) will take place within the framework of the project. Ineaddition to this, a common Code of Conduct is still under discussion. Inethe initial phase of the project the verification is based on the four companies codes respectively. The aim is to have a common code of conduct to make coordination possible with other Swedish and European companies.
The establishment of a common independent verification body for the Swedish market is to be seen as a first step to a common system of control on the European level. The letter of intent underlying the project does not state that the companies are bound to do independent verification, but that they have the intent to work, together with the CC/Sweden to find a system for such an independent body.
B. Establish a European reference group
A monitoring email list is maintained. A pilot foundation has been set up involving most major NGO's, trade unions, industry and experts. We have a board for the pilot study involving three parties; trade unions, companies and NGOs + an independent chairman. The chairman is Senior lecturer at the high school of commerce and works since ten years in an institution working with ethics and economics. The trade union's representatives come fromTrade employees union, Swedish Industrial Workers union, The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and Workers Educational Association. The NGOs representatives come from Fair Trade Center, Church of Sweden Aid, The youth organisation of Red Cross Sweden and Save the Children.
The board within the pilot study will meet 6 times from October to February and it´s main mission is to act as close as possible to a foundation for verification in a later stage. That is:
1. To take in the reports from controls done by controllers + NGOs/ trade unions in South.
2. Decide on the recommendations to be done and to whom. Decide on follow up.

An international 'reference group' will be set up to give input (by email). This will start functioning in october.

C. Knowledge inventory
Contact has been made with other organizations that have been trying to developed similar systems (through ETI, CCC international meetings etc.) Interviews with audit companies are currently being set up.

D. Networking in developing countries and prestudies

A lot of effort has gone in this. Aims:
· Investigate the interest of organizations and trade unions in developing countries to participate concretely to the establishment of a system of independent monitoring.
· Develop principles for national/regional/local participation.
· Work out practical guidelines for local, regional and/or national-based monitoring systems.
· Find an acceptable form of financing for them.
· Continue the work of spreading information.
This will also lay the groundwork for the pilot studies planned for the Autumn of 1999.
Phase 1: Pre-studies. Idea: ask one or more organizations in three different countries to carry out a study, which is divided up into two phases, to be reported afterwards. The reports developed from the study will then serve as guidelines and practical guides for continued work in the region. The studies will be based on interviews and other collected material, comprising a total of 15 pages plus appendices. The studies will deal with a chosen area where suppliers to Swedish companies operate.
Basic outline of pre-studies (adapted per region)
1. (based on existing knowledge and desk studies). Assessments of problems and possibilities, concerning available information, worker interviews, general problems vis-a-vis CCC code, active NGO's and unions
2. (based on interviews). Views and opinions of workers, concerning problems at the workfloor, unions and other organisations, information access and exchange
3. (based on interviews). Contacts with unions and organisations mentioned in part 1 and/or 2. Concerning: activities, channels of information, operational methods, views on CCC & study
4. Summary of practical advise, in preparation for possible monitoring in the region. Concerning: methods for interviewing workers, local organisations involvement/participation in audits, methodology for audits, methodology for registration of violation of the code, for complaints and for informing workers, confidentiality.
5. (based on own conclusions and proposals) Suggestions for continued work with a system for information distribution and monitoring
The companies have jointly selected four contractors where they are all four clients, one in China, two in India (Tirupur and Delhi) and one in Bangladesh. Three organisations where selected to do the pre-studies. For the next phase, the actual monitoring/verification (the pilot itself, so to speak) other organisations or unions might be selected, depending on the result.
All parties involved increasingly mention the need of education, so involvement of educational organizations (North and South) is also considered. The project coordinator will visit each organizations after phase one and two are done, looking back it would have been better to also have a visit planned at the start. The aim is in each case to interview about 25 workers, outside the factory. A more detailed report, also on the other pre-studies, will follow.
E. Analysis and development of concrete proposals for the monitoring body. Proposals will be put forward dealing with who shall be represented in the monitoring body and the division of the primary and secondary tasks of the monitoring body.
F. Pilot studies
The most important task of the autumn is to carry out pilot studies of independent monitoring according to the model of the Clean Clothes Campaign (i.e. social monitors in parallel with local networks). A decision as to which two countries/regions the pilot studies will be carried out in will be made upon the basis of the contacts made and the discussions held (see pre-studies).
The actual controls in the pilot study will be done in end of November. We will follow the CCC model with double control from local organisations that make interviews outside the factory and then leave this information as incidents to be checked by professional controllers inside the factory. We are elaborating the criteria's for the pilot study to be discussed and may be decided upon in the end of October.
G. Evaluation and identification of needs
An evaluation of the contacts that have been made and the introductory phase of the pilot studies must be carried out. Certain aspects will also be discussed in more detail, for example:
- A construction of the system so that it is capable for dealing with a large number of countries and suppliers.
- The cost-efficiency of the system.
- The function of the complaint system and the foundations of the local contact net.
- The relationship between the monitoring system and the legal systems of the countries where suppliers originate.
- Develop a process to continually improve the system.
- Consumer information.
- Manage company requirements for confidentiality

H. Preconditions for the start of independent monitoring: resources in the final phases will go to creating pre-conditions for the formation of the monitoring bodys and the adoption of an action plan.
Contact: Renee Andersson This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: +46-86432736
Fax: +46-86422160
ETI

ETI published a review 'Learning From Doing', based on a survey of 12 companies at the end of 1998. It is available on their website. At present a stock-taking of all the ETI pilots is underway, an interim review should be finished at the end of next month. The clothing pilots, focused on China, consisted of testing four different models with four different suppliers (of different retailers also).
1. The pilot using a commercial firm is underway. The audit firm participating is BVQI (SA 8000 accredited), and they will audit against the ETI base code.
2. The pilot using internal monitoring only is also underway.
3. The pilot using academics is in preparation, though it has been difficult to find academics with sufficient capacity.
4. The pilot using NGO monitoring is postponed. Several Hong Kong NGOs and the Hong Kong Federation of trade unions, grouped together in LARIC, were asked to work on this pilot. At the moment, the LARIC groups, ETI and the company in question have not found agreement on the organisation and the structure of the work. The dialogue with LARIC will continue.

Topics that are coming forward now as part of the stock taking: inspection criteria on the ground, southern capacity to participate in monitoring, worker interviews, language translation, where should interviews take place, management of project relationships, having a consistent image - they found that different people leave a different impresssion of what the project is about, the multiplicity of codes.

Adidas has indicated they want to join the ETI.

Contact: David Steele
Tel: + 44-171-7960515
Fax: +44-171-7969616
http://www.ethicaltrade.org

The Dutch Foundation

The Fair Wear Charter Foundation was officially founded on march 11. See also the report in the latest issue of the CCC newsletter. The workplan consists of:

1. formation of committee of experts (to advice the board)
2. regulations for committee of experts
3. regulations for company membership/admittence
4. provide advice concerning implementation and standards
5. provide advice concerning verification and structure for this
6. conduct pilots with two companies
7. formation of certification body

Re 1. The committee of experts contains the same parties as the board (unions, NGO's retailers, producers), but different people. For the NGO side someone from Max Havelaar has joined the representative of NOVIB and of CCC, probably someone from the Consumer Union will join as well. On the industry side representatives of two companies have joined the associatons present.

Re 2. The basic rules of the EOTC (European Organisation of Testing and Certification) are followed. It has to operate on consensus, but minority advice can be submitted. 'Ouside' experts are called upon when necessary. During the projectperiod the membership can be different, and larger meetings will be conducted at least twice, once to consult NGO's and unions, and once industry.

Re 3. This is a two page doucment establishing what steps a company has to take to join the foundation (sign the code, pay an entrance fee,) and what they will receive in return (the different documents listed above, plus an initial answer on their attempted registration after three months) and last language on the use of membership of the foundation to the public). These rules are at present a little different from what they will be after the foundation is established.
One part of the code is states that the company has to follow the foundations advice on verifaction, since this is not clear yet companies cannot sign this stipulation. This is in a side agreement. Also during the project period companies can give an input to the way things are structured, later they cannot.

Re 4. A lot of debate has taken place on this one. At present there are two draft texts under discussion, one on 'the adaption of the management system of a company" and one "guidebook on implementing the standards". The first document deals largely with the framework needed internally to eventually ensure implementation and montioring. It is based on standard management system procedures, f.e. to comply with ISO. The guidebook will be more practical. Negotiations are proceeding at a very slow pace.

Re 5,6 and 7. Some companies have put themselves forward for the pilot, with suppliers in different (Asian) countries. Debate is going on about what the pilots should test: application of the conditions to changes in the management system, application of the code on the ground, or application of the correct implementation procedures.

Contact: Paul Valk This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: +31-30-2844517
Or Ineke Zeldenrust This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

II. Other (Verite, Saipan Settlement and the role of auditors. News from Switzerland and Canada).

Verification in Trade and Export (Verité)

Verité was established in 1995 by Heather Hiam-White who had been a sourcing agent for U.S. companies doing business in Asia for 10 years, during which time she writes that she became "increasingly concerned about the erosion of labor standards in Asian factories producing consumer products for American companies." Verité "was established to monitor subcontractors in order to rise working standards across the world to those set by the United Nations and International labor Organization conventions on child labor, protection of wages, minimum wage fixing and occupational health and safety issues. As a non-profit organization, Verite straddles many sectors, consulting with corporations to draft codes of conduct for supplier, and implementation strategies. We have also developed a network of competent professionals to monitor subcontracting arrangements in markets all over the world. A great deal of our efforts are rooted in implementation."

The services that Verité offers are: research, consulting, education, and compliance audits. In the Spring of 1998, Verité reported that they had inteviewed workers and evalutated labor conditions at factories employing 125,000 people on three continents. Their inspectors found serious problems in 70% of the factores. Of that 70%, every factory was in violations of its own federal and local labor laws. Verite reported in 1998 that 100% of the factories they audited said they were in compliance with their clients' codes of conduct, but in private interviews, workers documented violations of companies' codes of conduct in 80% of those factories.

At the end of 1998 Verité estimated that they would have a total of 80 auditors (in 32 countries/territories). Their first major grant came from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Dec. 1997).

Currently "has launched a new research projet aimed at exploring abuses in Taiwan's system of foreign contract labor and hleping companies that purchase from Taiwayn to formulate appropriate responses."

Verité, 49 S. Pleasant Street, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002
Tel: 413-253-9227
Fax: 413-256-8960
Verité@ verité.org
www.verite.org

Example of a Verité audit: June 16-19 1999 Evergreen/Formosa Report (previously circulated), by order of Adidas

From June 16 to june 19, 1999 two Verité auditors conducted inspections and interviews at Formosa Textile S.A. de C.V. and at Evergreen Industries S.A. de C.V., two garment assembly plants located in the Zona Franca San Bartolo, San Salvador, El Salvador.

Formosa and Evergreen are owned by the Formosa Textile Group located in California, U.S. Evergreen currently produces garments fo Nike, Wal-mart, Kmart, and Vanity Fair. Other buyers have included Puma, Holloway, and Eddie Bauer. Evergreen also produces for Adidas (45% of its production capacity in 1998 went to Adidas). Currently, Formosa's work for Adidas is retricted to embroidery, as it lowered production for building maintenance. Seventeen workers were interviewed outside of the EPZ.

The audit was highly critical and raised problems/recommendations in the categories of harassment, overtime and production bonuses, discipline and punishment, health and safety (medical care, bathrooms, temperature and ventilation, exits, and protective equipment), freedom of association and collective bargaining, pregnancy and maternity, employee termination, discrimination, labor codes and company policies, personnel policies. They called for a re-audit in six months.

The German CCC has been strongly involved in the Formosa case, demanding from Adidas that GMIES (network of local labour groups with expertise in monitoring) be involved.

In August 1999 four U.S. retailers agreed to a settlement in the class action lawsuit filed on behalf of 50,000 workers from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Thailand. Verite was chosen as the independent monitor to be part of that settlement.

A letter has been written to Adidas, giving our reaction to the Verite audit report.
Contact: Ingeborg Wick This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Saipan Settlement including monitoring provisions

Four retailers, Nordstrom, Cutter & Buck, J. Crew and Gymboree settled claims in a federal class action lawsuit contesting sweatshop conditions in garment factories on the Pacific Island of Saipan, in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The settlement represents the first time a group of U.S. retailers has agreed to create a joint independent monitoring system of its contractors. The monitoring will insure compliance with US labor laws and international treaties established to protect human rights. At the heart of the prospective relief provisions is a new, comprehensive Saipan Code of Conduct. Every settling retailer has agreed, as a condition of settlement, to include in all future contracts with Saipan-based contractors a new series of provisions requiring the contractors' strict adherence to a set of detailed standards governing working and living conditions in the Saipan factories and barracks. These standards build on existing legal standards and previously-negotiated codes of conduct in other contexts, and result in a tough and clearly-stated list of conditions that each contractor must satisfy in the future.

The settlement establishes a $1.25 million fund that will finance the independent monitoring program, provide partial damages to the workers, and create a public education campaign aimed at broadening consumer awareness of the continuing sweatshop problem. The settlement also establishes detailed and strict employment standards for the Saipan-based contractors with whom the settling companies do business such as Global Manufacturing Inc., Diovra Saipan, Ltd., Concord Garment Manufacturing Corp., Jin Apparel, Inc., among
others. The new standards include the payment of overtime, providing safe food and drinking water, and guaranteeing employees basic civil rights.

The agreeement provides for Verite to monitor the four companies' operations on Saipan. Monitoring by organizations such as Verite is a hotly debated issue in the anti-sweatshop movement. The settlement with these four companies regarding their production on Saipan will provide a new case study of the usefulness of this model of monitoring Verite, will monitor compliance with the standards outlined in the settlement, including establishing an "ombudsman" on Saipan. The monitoring programme is posted on the website www.sweatwatch.org. It will include surveillance, announced and unannounced visits to facilities and investigations of worker complaints. Verite is also empowered to remedy violations of these standards by, among other things, forcing the payment of back wages and terminating contracts where a pattern and practice of such violations exists.

Contact: Global Exchange, (415) 255-7296, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

More thinking on auditing firms and our positioning seems necessary. On what criteria do we judge them? How much effort should we put in this, taking into account our limited resources? To what extent do we benefit from trying to improve auditing systems...
Should we make a distinction between those that audit against a standard set by others (f.e. SA 8000), and those that audit against a standard set solely by the hiring company? In the first case, at least the recognition of involvement of other exists. In the last case, often the whole exercise is more part of risk management then of human rights management.
CCC collects some information on auditors, and tries to match their claims against the reality. We are thinking of making a sort of comparison, so please send us what information you have. For those interested: we have some recent information on ITS/Intertek, who have done about 3000 social audits to date, a.o. for Peek & Cloppenburg is available. Contact Ineke Zeldenrust This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

One frequently heard suggestion is that the ILO should set the standards for social auditing. Some mention of this is also made in a recent report from the ILO itself., in its document "Further Examination of Questions Concerning Private Initiatives, including codes of conduct" (March 1999).
This is a brief update/addition to November 1998's paper on codes, meant to follow up on the possible research activities that could be carried out to explore the issues and gaps identified in that earlier document. Five current research projects are described (Table 1), as are 13 potential research projects (Table 2). The paper briefly mentions "future directions" for the ILO in this area, under the heading "A proactive position of engagement."
What sort of proactive engagement? "The answer should depend on an assesment of the global impact of the phenomena...that assessment could be based on research into the impact of codes, experience in delivering and evaluating assistance programmes that might be undertaken, and other appropriate consultations within the organization."

Excerpts:
"In formulating a future role, it could be envisaged that the Office might consider adopting...a set of recommended benchmarks concerning private sector initiatives such as codes of conduct, perhaps for voluntary subscription by social partners and enterprises. Such benchmarks could reflect a consensus among constitutents concerning best practices in priave sector initiatives relevant to the achievement of the ILO's purposes and objects."

"Taking into consideration the need for concrete implementation of the highly practical objectives of private sector initiatives, a framework for verification of the performance of private actors choosing such an assessment could be devised, but would necessarily be limited to initiatives committed to these ILO-recommended benchmarks. Such a system might perhpas be conducted by accredited third parties in a manner similar to that practised by the International Organiation or Standardization, without the ILO itself supplying auditing or certification services directly (which could raise a number of constitutional and legal questions concerning the role and accountability of hte ILO). Further consideration would involve feasibility assessments of the means of ensuring equal access to reputable auditors, particularly by developing country enterprises, and the provision of assistance to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as local enterprises in developing countries, have the means to honour their commitments to any such benchmarks."

This document can be downloaded from the Internet:
http://mirror/public/english/20gb/docs/gb274/sdl-i.thm

The Swiss CCC has distributed a questionnaire among many organizaitons to draw up an inventory of monitoring experiences and capacity. Next to that they have been campaigning on one of their largest retailers, MIGROS.
Discussions started last march, when CCC commented on the code of conduct of Migros. All changes requested by CCC were subsequently made, the code was presented to suppliers. In mai it was announced that the code would be in mai an agreement was reached that the code would be translated in french, english and italien, it was agreed with the Swiss CCC that parties would work on a letter of intent. Further discussion took place in july, in september it was agreed that they will sign a lettre of intent with Clean Clothes Campaign valid until end of december 2000 contenting: implementation of the code of conduct, exchange experiences with other enterprises in Switzerland and organisations in Europe, establish an independent monitoring/verification system, way of financial support and communication.

Contact: Lara Cataldi This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it +41-21-6245417 or Susanna Blattler This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it +41-1-2777000
For both campaigns (french-speaking and german-speaking): http://www.cleanclothes.ch

Labour, religious, and non-governmental organizations in Canada have been involved in a two-year campaign for a Canadian task forceon sweatshop abuses in Canada and internationally. In response, the Canadian government recently agreed to facilitate a process involving representatives of civil society and the apparel and footwear industry aimed at developing a Canadian Base Code of Labour Practice for the apparel, footwear and other consumer products industries, and exploring possible mechanisms for code implementation and verification. The name of this new initiative is the Canadian Partnership for Ethical Trading (CPET).
Civil society's participation in CPET is being coordinated by a Steering Committee (recently named the "Ethical Trading Action Group") which includes the Canadian Labour Congress, Union of Needletrades, Industrial
and Textile Employees (UNITE), Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice, Canadian Council for International Cooperation and the Maquila Solidarity Network . MSN is acting as the Steering Committee's secretariat.
A draft code has been submitted to industry representatives as a starting position in
negotiations for a Canadian base code of labour practice.

Contact:
Maquila Solidarity Network/Labour Behind the Label Coalition/
Popular Education Research Group
606 Shaw Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6G 3L6
416-532-8584 (phone) 416-532-7688 (fax)
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Web-site: http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/