PRESS RELEASE

24 November 2005

Participants of the first major conference organized by the Business Social Compliance Initiative in Brussels today had to cross a picket line organized by the International Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC).

240kb) Read the leaflet >>

Carrying signs with slogans such as “Business Sweatshop Cover-up Initiative” and “Bad Social Compliance Initiative”, circa 20 representatives of the Belgian and Dutch CCC picketed the entrance of the conference together with partners from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey and Macedonia. The protesters handed out leaflets which included the key results of a recent study published by the CCC, describing the failure of the majority of social audits carried out by multinational audit firms. The same firms are used by the BSCI. 670 workers from over 40 factories in 8 countries testified that their conditions do not meet the international minimum standards outlined in the codes of conduct of the buyers concerned, many of whom are member of the BSCI member firms.

Thomson and Thompson, the two famous detectives from the Tin-Tin comic joined the picket and commented that the BSCI fails on key criteria such as transparency and involvement of workers and trade unions.

According to the CCC the BSCI represents an incomplete, minimalist model for compliance with labour standards, it relies on weak auditing, is not accountable to the public and does not involve key stakeholders. It is significantly weaker then other monitoring and verification initiatives active in the garment sector today.

The BSCI is an initiative of the Foreign Trade Association, key member companies include Karstadt Quelle, Vendex/KBB, Metro, Migros and Otto. Today’s conference was sponsored by multinational audit-firms such as SGS and ITS Intertek. The peaceful picket started at 08.15 in the morning just outside of the main entrance, though participants were not obstructed from entering. The BSCI nevertheless called in the police, and instructed them to remove the CCC representatives outside of the gates of the Residence Palace, where the conference was held. After strongly voicing their objections, the picketers eventually went outside the gate to loudly continue their protest from the street.

Protesters also asked attention for the ongoing struggle for compensation by the victims of the collapsed Spectrum Sweater factory in Bangladesh. Spectrum produced for several BSCI member firms, and collapsed last April injuring and killing over a hundred workers. Today, neither the survivors nor the families of the dead workers have received any compensation. The case demonstrates not only the failure of the BSCI and their members to ensure that the workers producing their products have safe and healthy working conditions, but also their failure to adequately respond when workers rights are violated.

More information and photos can be found on the following websites:

http://www.cleanclothes.org/publications/quick_fix_pr.htm (for the full report)

http://www.vetementspropres.be/index.php?p=g&id=138 (for photo’s of the protest)