(June 2003)

1. Introduction

When it comes to expressing a lifestyle, clothes are especially important for young people. In the Netherlands, like in other consumer countries, buying clothes is considered as a something 'fun' to do. Retailers and big brand names spend millions on advertisement to convince youngsters to buy their products.

Since 2000 the Clean Clothes Campaign, CNV Youth Organisation (Dutch union federation) and the Dutch National Youth Council, a coalition of youth organisations, are collaborating on a project called the 'Fashion Files'. The main goal of the Fashion Files is to make Dutch youngsters aware of workers rights and labour conditions in the global garment and sportswear industry. Through workshops held at secondary schools, the organisations aim to contrast the sporty or trendy slogans of garment companies with the reality behind the images. The students learn about the impact of globalisation on labour rights and environmental issues in the global garment and sportswear industry.In small groups, the students gather information about this matter and prepare a news-item in which they present their findings to each other at the end of the workshop. A teaching package as well as educational and action material is available for use in the workshops.

Besides informing youngsters and raising their awareness on the bad labour conditions, we try to get them involved in our campaign for better working conditions, e.g. through writing protest letters or participating in actions. Armed with this information, they can influence the operations of companies by demanding and pressuring for improvements.

This kind of participatory lesson has proven to be very successful. The number of workshops given at schools, and therewith the number of students reached, has increased enormously since 2000. The organisations perceive an increasing need from students for information on the issue of workers rights and labour conditions to prepare for school projects and exam subjects.

In 2002, ten Dutch students went to Sri Lanka to find out about working conditions in the garment industry (see the report below). These students committed themselves to the project: they are now giving workshops at schools to share their experiences with youngsters of their own age.

In preparation for our visit to Sri Lanka, a first contact was made in February 2002 between the National Workers Congress (NCW) and the CNV Youth Organisation. Representatives of the CNV Youth Organisation made two preparation visits to Sri Lanka and contacted various partner organisations. Several letters and e-mail messages were exchanged to finetune the program. Finally, an eight-day program was agreed upon.

2. Visit to Sri Lanka: program

From 15 to 24 October 2002, ten Dutch youngsters visited Sri Lanka to find out about labour conditions in the garment industry and to experience factory work. The program (in headlines) was as follows:

16 October
After our arrival, we briefly visited to the National Workers Congress (NWC) where we had a meeting with the NWC team and several NWC officials from the Industrial Relations Educational and Training Foundation. The participants received the program for the days to follow. We then visited the NWC computer training center. In the afternoon, we visited the Dutch embassy to find out what they thought of the labour conditions in garment factories, whom they felt was responsible and what the role of the embassy was. Their answer was quite unsatisfying and they denied direct responsibility in the matter.
Their biggest concern was the peace process. Violations in garment factories are not their first priority.

They told us that when they are aware of serious problems in factories, it is their duty to inform Dutch investors about it. But so far, according to the ambassador, "we have neither heard nor read about those problems. Unions, NGO's and researchers don't inform us about such violations."

17 October
We started the day with a visit to the NWC Workers Center in Dehiwela where the participants were introduced to the secretary general, the chairman and other officials of the NWC. An introduction on the activities and policy of the NWC then followed. We discussed the garment industry which was followed by an introduction on the working conditions in general, ILO conventions, policy of the Sri Lankan government and the labour commission. The participants also visited the school project set up by the NWC for children of disadvantaged families.

The first factory we visited was Timex Garments Ltd. It is located in Wattala. This factory is one of nine factories situated in Colombo and Wattala. About 850 people work there. All workers including the supervisors are women; the managers are mainly men. Garments are made for brands like GAP, Liz Claiborne and Marks & Spencer. The majority of the production is exported to the USA. A small part is exported to the EEC of which the UK is the biggest market. This factory looks well organised, clean, brightly lit and neither too warm nor too cold. Working space seems to be reasonably large, everyone is wearing hair caps and workers at the cutting section are using protecting gloves. There are adjustable tables and chairs, for example. Instructions in English only are posted widely but it is doubtful that all the workers can speak English. The production process is highly mechanised. To achieve higher productivity two of the sewing lines use the modular system, which means that workers perform different tasks using various computerised machines (instead of only one task in a sewing line). The manager didn't comment much on the working schedules and salaries, but said that workers have to reach their target and overtime occurs leading to tedious work - and still, most workers perform only one task on a daily basis. We wanted to know if the buyers had made any demands regarding the production process, which meant of course if any demands were stipulated concerning labour conditions. The answers remained, however, restricted to product quality and the destination of the fabric and accessories, for example.

18 October
The group was divided into two groups. The first group briefly experienced working in a factory. This took place at Sanik Garments, located in Homagama. This is a small factory with three production lines of which one is a training line. At the time of our visit, workers were producing sportswear and outdoors garments. We were all positioned in different sections and performed tasks varying from unrolling and ironing the fabric to checking the final products for mistakes. That day the zippers hadn't arrived on time and production was therefore stopped. The workers had to remain on site though, 'jobless'. Because the workers had nothing to do, we had a chance to speak with them and were able to find out a little about salaries, working schedules, production targets, etc. Sanik was very different from the Timex factory. Certain conditions were worse at Sanik: crowdy, dark, warm and dusty; no adjustable tables and seats, but wooden seats; no protection for those who work with the cutting machines. On the other hand, it seems that the atmosphere was much better. The workers talked with each other and laughed a lot. They joked around during our whole visit. But we don't know if this was caused by a lack of work or was a depiction of reality. Some deaf young women, who were also working at Sanik, developed their own language to communicate with the others. Every Tuesday, a counsellor visits the workers to motivate them. It was not clear what the aim of his/her visit was. While we were leaving, the bus was already waiting for the workers to bring them home. Transportation is organised by the factory as is accommodation at the hostel nearby where many workers live.

The second half of the group spent the day at CITI (Clothing Industry Training Institute) in Ratmalana. This institute is supported by the government and falls under the responsibility of the Ministry Tertiary Education & Training. CITI gets 2000 trainees per year and teaches 34 courses - students learn how to become managers, merchandisers, apparel makers. It is obvious that not everyone could afford a course at CITI, except for the more fortunate; graduation is expensive.

After an introduction on the importance of the garment industry in Sri Lanka in terms of export figures, incoming foreign currencies, etc, we had introduction lectures on fabric testing and sewing machine repair. CITI has recently invested a significant amount of money in 30 new sewing machines from Japan - highly sophisticated, computerised machines - to train the students to work with the modular system. With regard to the issue of the phasing out of the quota system in 2005, the Sri Lankan government said it is afraid of losing the industry to countries where wages are even lower than in Sri Lanka, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. To prevent this, CITI is of the opinion that Sri Lanka should strengthen its competitive position in the world market by increasing the skills of its workers, training workers in designing and getting Sri Lanka to acquire the garment production section requiring designing, for example, and increasing productivity. The Timex factory (see above) director thinks that the modular system makes the production process more efficient. His contends that, instead of having worker 1 in a sewing line performing one task while worker 2 in front of him/her is waiting for worker 1 to be finished, the workers using the modular system perform different tasks with various machines and help each other by sharing tasks. The workers have to stand behind these machines though, and with the increase of the production level also the workload for workers will do, since the target level is already unreasonably high.

That night, the NWC organised a solidarity evening for us which was an opportunity to meet each other in an informal way. We danced and had dinner together, and this was a real chance to get to know each other better. They gave us a very warm welcome.

19 October
After visiting the Shanthi Girls' Hostel in Seeduwa, supported by the NWC, we visited the NWC Friendship House located in Katunayake near the Katunayake Free Trade Zone. The Friendship House is a gathering place that workers can visit after their work and where they can get legal advice, get educated about their rights and labour laws, and take cooking or savings courses, for example. It can also be a place to relax. The organisers of the Friendship House also go to boarding houses to train the workers. The main aim is to unionise the workers. Freedom of association and the right to organise do legally exist in Sri Lanka but the reality is different as employers refuse to accept unions in the Free Trade Zones. This was our first opportunity to speak with the workers. Due to work overload (on Saturday) and the bad weather, the workers who were invited to talk with us were late. We learned from these workers that some of the problems are: long hours, involuntary overtime work, low pay, none or little savings, deduction of salary for missed target -- on the contrary, workers receive a bonus for any exceeded target level of production. The payment system lacks transparency as workers don't know what they've earned at the end of the month - cusses or warning letters for not working hard enough. Most workers come from remote areas. They live in boarding houses near the Free Trade Zone under bad living conditions. Workers earn too little to afford decent housing. They share a room with four, sometimes even with six workers, so there is no privacy. They sleep on the floor on mats. Cooking equipment and sanitary facilities have to be shared with dozens of other workers.

We spent the night at one of the boarding houses in Katunayake. We prepared a dinner together with residents and danced till late in the evening. Through the use of photo albums, sign language and the help of translators who spoke English, we learned about each other's backgrounds and daily lives.

20 October
In the morning, we visited Kalape Api (We in the Zone) in Katunayake. Kalape Api began its operations in 1993. Its main activities are legal advice for workers; awareness programs in labour laws and workers rights; the publishing of NIVEKA, a monthly newspaper focusing specifically on young women workers in the Free Trade Zones and in the BOI enterprises. It also includes factory news and other issues such as labour law, human rights, sexual education etc. Furthermore, Kalape Api tries to help the workers to unionise; they are also involved in campaigns on issues such as globalisation and labour laws reform, which negatively affect workers.

There is also a small library. The main objectives are: 1) to build a service centre to support workers' struggle and legal needs, 2) to make workers aware of labour and human rights issues, 3) to support building an independent workers movement, 4) to build national and international solidarity networks to defend workers' rights. In small working groups, we discussed with the Kalape Api staff and workers from different sectors the main issues and problems in the factories. During our meeting, a man entered the room to get some advice. He worked in a factory featuring four production lines. Due to the lack of orders, three lines were idle while the fourth was forced to do four hours a day of overtime of which only one was remunerated. Men workers find it very hard to get other work.

Samanmali from Da Bindu Collective also participated in one of the working groups. Da Bindu Collective, based in Katunayake, is a group of women that strives for the end of exploitation of labour, especially that of young women workers in the Free Trade Zones, through the empowerment of women. Since its inception, Da Bindu Collective has published a monthly newspaper ´Da Bindu´ with profiles of companies, articles on workers and human rights, gender issues, labour laws, globalisation, etc. Poems and short stories from FTZ workers are also published. Da Bindu Collective also published a free series of booklets on topics such as sexual harassment and fundamental human rights in a simplified, easy-to-understand language to increase workers' knowledge. The collective conducts also other activities, such as awareness and training programmes for women workers, support for workers strikes and legal assistance.

In the afternoon we were invited by the Free Trade Zone Union Workers (FTZWU) to visit the women´s centre in Katunayake where a group of about thirty workers from the Biyagama Free Trade Zone was waiting for us. The first Sri Lankan Free Trade Zone was formed in June 1978. There are now three major FTZs in the country employing over 100,000 workers. Legally, unions have never been prohibited from forming in the FTZs. The reality is however very different. After many years spent organising zone workers, the Free Trade Zone Workers Union (FTZWU) was formed in January 2000. Since then other unions have also been formed inside the zones. The Workers Councils preceded the unions. The former was established for the first time in 1994. In June 1996, the Joint Association of Workers and Workers Councils of the Free Trade Zone were formed. A 1999 amendment to the Industrial Disputes Act, which required that unions be recognised as bargaining agents if 40% or more workers were unionised, has not led to recognition of unions by employers. The FTZWU has been registered as a union, but employers are still refusing to recognise both the FTZWU and its factory branches. Since its inception the FTZWU has set up eleven branches, of which six in the garment industry. Only one of those has been legally recognised. Recognition for the remaining FTZWU branches is being pursued through the courts and campaigns. On International Womens' Day 2003, the FTZWU merged with the Industrial and General Transport and General Workers Union.

The workers introduced themselves by giving their names and that of the factories employing them. One of the biggest factories in the Biyagama Zone is Synotex. Others are Star Garments, Lanka World, Blanka Diamonds and Gartex. Since we were going to visit Gartex a few days later, it was very important for us to have the opportunity to speak with some of its workers. We were told that because of a target production level increase, workers are forced to work overtime without payment to finish the target. Overtime work is being paid only when the target level is exceeded. Payment doubles after 10 P.M. Workers stay sometimes overnight - they sleep under packing facilities and work the next day, which is illegal. They work a dayshift, then a nightshift and finally another dayshift. We were also told that workers were sometimes mentally and even sexually harassed when they stayed overnight. Unions are not allowed. There are attempts to organise, but those have failed so far. Those who try to organise are given preferential treatment by the management to satisfy them. Older workers fear to lose their jobs because it is hard to find other work. Accidents causing injured fingers are another problem. In the infirmary only one medication is used to treat all symptoms. If the Labour Department is visiting, management selects the workers to be interviewed. They are then being watched.

The main issue for the workers is however the salary which is too low to allow a decent life. But workers need the income despite the low salary. In that respect, their jobs are considered good jobs.
A drama group's presentation showed that meals were also provided by the factory although their quality varied. The factory food made the workers sick and supervisors accused them of not working hard enough. The latter also got sick from the factory food as they ate the same as the workers. The drama group's comical performance aims to open up the discussion around problems at the workplace.

21 October
We stopped at the NWC district office in Polgahewala. We were invited for "high tea" and visited a project which teaches youngsters the basic principles of construction and carpenting.

We were deeply touched by what happened today. We visited the home village of a FTZ worker located on the way to KANDI, a three-hour ride from Colombo. Nilanthi works in a garment factory in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone and lives in a boarding house near the Katunayake Zone. In her home village, we met her family. Nilanthi has one older and one younger sister and two younger brothers. The younger sister and brothers still live with her parents. She left home to find work in the factory. Her older sister left before her, which encouraged Nilanthi to go find work too. As her parents are farmers, it is increasingly difficult to survive. The money earned in the factory allows her to save a bit and send her younger sister and brothers to school.

Like Nilanthi, most factory workers are young, single women, aged between 20 - 29 years, who come from remote areas. They migrate to the industrial zones to find work and to lessen the financial burden on their poverty-stricken families. Nilanthi's parents have already visited the boarding house where she lives. They are sad that their daughter lives in such appaling conditions. They are not aware of what happens at the factory as Nilanthi chooses to remain tight-lipped about her work.

It is heartbreaking to see how much Nilanthi and her family miss one another, but it hurts even more to realise that she has actually no other choice than leaving her family behind in order to find work to live a better life later. After five years, workers can claim their contribution to the Employees Trust Fund (EPF). Most of them return then to their home villages with this money to marry and start their own family.

It was here that the hard reality of women garment workers struck us harder perhaps because of the poignant contrast with the silence and the beauty of the surrounding area. It was a sharp contrast to the reality garment factory women workers have to face in their daily lives as they are being exploited by factory managers for the benefit of big companies and brand names while being hardly aware of their rights. At that moment, the poor living conditions at the boarding house where Nilanthi now lives became shocking.

22 October
Half of the group, which worked at the Saniks factory on the 18th, went to CITI. The other half - that had visited at CITI - was now at the Saniks factory. Again, this was not a regular day at Saniks: due to technical problems production stopped and we had the opportunity to speak to workers.

23 October
On the last day of our stay In Sri lanka, we went to the Free Trade Zone of Biyagama to visit Gartex Industries. Biyagama FTZ has 65 factories and about 25.000 workers. About 900 people work at Gartex. This factory looks crowded, is very warm (especially in the cutting section which in not air-conditioned) dark (hardly any natural light comes in) and noisy in the sewing section. Whereas the fabric was unrolled mechanically at Timex, here it is done by hand. Although an emergency evacuation plan hangs on the wall, it is conceivable that accidents will happen due to fire, for example, because of the crowded conditions and the quasi invisible emergency exits. An armed guard stands at the door, but this does not seem unusual. It was very tense - we could see that workers had to deal with a lot of stress to reach their targets on time. One production line had 32 women workers.

They produced 60 pieces per hour, that is 400 per day. According to the manager who guided us through the factory, this target was reachable. He thought that there was only one hour of overtime worked per day, which was remunerated at 150%. This totally contradicts what we have heard from the workers who spoke to us on the 20th. The workers requested the assurance that we would not recognise them during our visit of Gartex. This shows how much workers fear to get ´fined´ if they criticise the situation. As we already know from them, no union is allowed; there is a workers' council though. The main problem is that unions are not represented on those workers´ councils. Gartex will also introduce the modular system in the upcoming year. The manager thought that their product quality was good so he doe not fear the new situation in 2005 when quotas would be gone.

3. Conclusions

Interviews with workers, unions and workers' organisations, as well as our visit to the factories and workers' boarding houses show that labour and living conditions in the Sri Lankan garment industry are bad. The main conclusions the youngsters drew from their visit were:

• The legal minimum wage is insufficient to live a decent life;
• Targets are unreachably high which results in high overtime work;
• Forced overtime and sometimes unpaid overtime work occur;
• Factory work is tedious and monotonous;
• Workers are mentally/psychologically and sometimes sexually harassed;
• Sri Lanka has good labour laws, but those are generally violated;
• Sri Lanka ratified all fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation, but those are not implemented;
• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are systematically repressed;
• Workers are hardly aware of their rights, have no choice and are forced to accept those circumstances.

4. Workshops

The Dutch youngsters, who came with us to Sri Lanka, committed their time to the Fashion Files Project by agreeing to give workshops in Dutch schools and to share their experiences with youngsters of their own ages. Since our return 60 workshops have been planned to take place before the end of March 2003. They have reached about 1500 students. The aim of the Fashion Files Project is to reach 4500 students in 2003. There is a continuous need for schools to inform students about this matter. Some of the training programmes even have 'garments' as exam subject. It is very important for youngsters to get the real facts about clothing production. Armed with this information, they can influence the retailers by demanding improvement in factory work conditions.

5. Dutch television and radio

Two camera crews and one radio journalist followed us to Sri Lanka to report on the youngsters' experience in the Sri Lankan garment industry. Some key persons and workers were interviewed to map out the main issues. Their findings were broadcast on the Dutch national radio and television at the end of November and in early December 2002. A video is also available and used for school workshops. Another documentary will be made from the extra material brought back from our trip. It will be broadcast by 11 Dutch regional television stations during the spring of this year. In June 2003, the Dutch national radio will again broadcast a programme on the experiences of the Dutch youngsters who were in Sri Lanka and experienced working for the Sri Lankan garment industry.

6. Urgent appeal

The Dutch Clean Clothes Campaign is preparing a protest letter action targeting North Sails Lanka located in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone in Sri Lanka which has an outlet in the Netherlands following the participation of dismissed or suspended workers in the strike. North Sails Lanka is part of Boards and More (an Austrian-based company), which is a subsidiary of the Swiss-based KJ Jacobs. We will include sample letters to North Sails, Boards and More and KJ Jacobs, demanding that the workers be reinstated and the quality bonus, whose cancellation triggered the strikes, be restored. This case will be heard by the Labour Tribunal on April 29th.

7. Action

After their return, the youngsters felt that direct action had to be taken about the poor living and labour conditions of the Sri Lankan garment workers. A few of them are now preparing an action connected to the North Sails urgent appeal. They are now busy with finding out, for example, which famous Dutch water sports athletes are sponsored by North Sails and when major water sports events will take place in the Netherlands to hold an action that could possibly get public or media attention. We will keep you informed of the new developments.

8. And further?

In December 2002, a debate centre organised a panel discussion on the theme of 'logo versus no logo'. One of our youngsters was invited to this panel to explain the concept of price building for a product such as a garment. It is widely known that companies spend huge budgets on advertising and marketing, but many people don't realise that production costs (including labour costs) don't exceed 5% of the total price of a piece of garment or sports shoes. It is a mistake to believe that an improvement in labour conditions will automatically result in higher retail prices. We have to address the issue that consumers fear higher prices. About 50 people attended this debate.

One of the youngsters is volunteering at the Clean Clothes Campaign. She participated (and lobbied some of her friends to join her) in a street action targeting Gucci, daughter company of the big French multinational Pinaults Printemps Redoute (PPR). She is organising the same action at the university where she is studying. Her action is not connected to the Sri Lanka project, but it shows her commitment to the cause.

The findings and experiences of the Dutch youngsters have been covered in different publications and newsletters.

9. Future plans

The Dutch partner organizations are discussing the possibility of carrying the Fashion Files Project into 2004 and 2005. The specific details and content of the project will be known in August 2003. In the meantime, the Fashion Files Project Steering Committee has been extended with the Dutch National Youth Council, a coalition of different Dutch youth organisations giving a voice to youth aged between 12 and 30. The National Youth Council works on different subjects, such as youth's political participation and sustainable development.

10. Special thanks

The program was only possible with, and would not have been as successful without, the help and guidance of several people. We especially would like to thank Cyril Gomez and Liud Mila Mortier for their excellent guidance during our stay. Furthermore we like to thank Anton Lodwick, Gerald Lodwick, Triherne Gomez, Britto Fernando, Anthony Marcus, Kelly Dent, Samanmali, Nilanthi and all the workers we've met during our visit and who were willing to give us an insight of their situation. Concluding we thank the staff of the organisations, which we met during- and participated in the program of the visit.

If you have any comments or questions regarding this report, the continuation- and the results of the project please let us know.

CNV Youth organisation: Jens van Eerden e-mail: j.vaneerden@jocnv.nl
Clean Clothes Campaign: Christa de Bruin e-mail: info@schonekleren.nl
Youth for Alternative Trade Foundation: Robert Blom e-mail: blomrobert@yahoo.com

CNV Youth Organization
The CNV Youth Organization supports (disadvantaged) youngsters regarding the issues work, education and income.

Clean Clothes Campaign
The Clean Clothes Campaign aims to improve working conditions in the garment and sportswear industry.
There are Clean Clothes Campaigns in ten Western European countries. Campaigners are regularly in touch with organizations in a variety of countries, including those where garments are produced, and in this way work together as a network to draw attention to labour rights issues in the garment industry.

Youth for Alternative Trade foundation
The foundation Youth for Alternative Trade aims at making youngsters aware of trade alternatives by conducting workshops on subjects such as globilzation, North-South dependency and solidairity.

This project was carried out with the financial support of NCDO, the National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development, CNV International and the European Commission.