A National Gathering of Garments and Sportswear Workers to Highlight Working Conditions in the Sector and Discuss Organising Strategies
Sub-Event of the 'Play Fair at Olympics Campaign'
(27-29, August 2004, Bangalore)

Dear Friends,

We are glad to share with you the report of the National Workers Exchange Programme - India, organised by the South India Coalition for the Rights of Garment Workers between 27th and 29th of August 2004 at Bangalore as a sub-event of the Play Fair at Olympics Campaign. The report is attached herewith.

Over 84 workers, organizers and activists from various manufacturing centers in India discussed issues concerning labour rights and labour standards in the garments and sportswear industries for two days. They pledged to seek ways of working together and to collectively pressurize the industry and the Government to improve working conditions.

Nearly 1,000 workers participated in the public meeting organised on the concluding day. We thank all who have worked hard and helped us in many ways to make the National Workers Exchange Programme a remarkable success.

With warm regards,
For South India Coalition for the Rights of Garment workers

Organising Committee:
Sujata Mody, New Trade Union Initiative, Chennai
A. Aloysius, SAVE, Tirupur
Duarte Barretto, Fedina, Bangalore
Geeta Menon, Sthree Jagruthi, Bangalore,
K. P. Gopinath, Cividep, Bangalore
Sheela Ramanathan, Human Rights Law Network, Bangalore

Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), Global Union and Oxfam International along with partner organizations launched the 'Play Fair at Olympics Campaign' in January 2004. The Campaign aims to support empowerment of workers in sportswear and garment industry and push multinational manufacturers to improve working conditions in the backdrop of the Athens Olympics 2004 held from August 13-29. CCC together with Asian Monitoring Resource Center (AMRC) hosted a three-day meeting on Olympics Campaign in Cambodia between March 25-27, 2004, attended largely by trade unions and NGOs from Asian countries to discuss campaigning strategies in Asia. The meeting discussed strategies and arrived at specific actions mainly under five heads namely, May Day Celebrations, Press Releases, Fashion Shows, Website and Workers Exchange.

Under Workers Exchange programme, a National-level Workers Exchange Workshop was organized in Bangalore, India from 27th to 29th of August 2004. This workshop is the beginning of a series of such workers exchange programmes in the region to support Olympic Campaign's long-term objective of demanding improvements during the Athens Olympics and consolidating concrete gains for the workers by the time of Beijing Olympics in 2008.

An organizing committee was constituted by the Bangalore groups of South India Coalition for the Rights of Garment Workers to steer the workshop, and, CIVIDEP-India, a Bangalore based NGO functioned as the Secretariat for the Organizing Committee of this workshop. Coalition members of Tirupur and Chennai were also part of the organising committee.

Workers, union leaders, NGOs and organizers from the garment and sportswear manufacturing sector in India from Tirupur, Chennai, Bangalore, Pondicherry, Ahmedabad and Ludhiana met for three days in Bangalore and exchanged information, experiences and strategies, and, also declared solidarity with the Olympics Campaign through a public meeting on the last day of the workshop.

The first two days of the workshop were facilitated through indoor meetings of the workers where workers from each city got opportunities to make presentations on the themes. On the third day, a public programme of garment workers in Bangalore culminated in an auditorium-meeting where workers' representatives from all participating centers spoke briefly on issues of workers in garment manufacturing units and a collective joint statement was adopted on behalf of the entire region in support of the Play Fair at Olympics campaign.

Objectives
The programme seeks to:

• empower workers to assert their right to association and right to collective bargaining
• be involved actively in the improvement of working conditions in the sportswear and garment industry by a sustained exchange of information and solidarity actions.
• seek cooperation of NGOs and trade unions involved with garment workers.