Jan 2006, How are they doing?

How are they doing?

Clean Clothes Campaign update on progress in the sportswear industry on workers' rights for Turin 2006.

January 30, 2006

Introduction

Two years ago, to coincide with the Athens Olympic games, an international alliance of trades unions, labour rights groups and NGOs came together under the banner of the Play Fair Alliance to campaign for the Olympic ideals of respect, dignity and fair play to be respected in the global sportswear industry. This industry is intimately linked through sponsorship and marketing with the Olympic Games.

Following the dialogue that began with many companies and sporting bodies as a result of this campaign, a concrete set of proposals for the industry was drawn by the alliance called: "From Athens to Beijing - a Programme of work for the Sportswear Industry."

Separate proposals were developed for the Olympic family, given their special role as organizers and licence holders.

The 2006 Turin Olympic Winter Games mark the halfway point between Athens and Beijing, and so it is time to take stock of the progress made so far by the companies and organisations targeted.

While there is a mixed bag in terms of progress made, one thing is clear across the board: much remains to be done in the next two years. In particular, commitment to the rights to a living wage and to freedom of association and collective bargaining, both in principle and in practice, is lacking. There is also much progress to be made in cooperation with local NGOs and trade unions on the ground.

A full update on the concrete activities taken by each company or organisation since we evaluated their responses to the 2004 campaign has not been possible. Instead, we have set out the outstanding demands for each, to the best of our knowledge later in this document. You can skip straight to the demands on a particular company or body using these links:

From Athens to Beijing: The programme of work for the sportswear industry

In the Campaign research report "Play Fair At The Olympics Respect workers' rights in the sportswear industry", which was published at the launch early in March 2004, a section in the recommendations chapter called upon the key stakeholders in the sector to "work together to address endemic problems in the sportswear industry". In particular companies were requested to take the following steps:

a) Publicly acknowledge the value of a sector-wide approach to addressing the problems outlined in this report.
b) Join with trade unions and other concerned organisations in assessing the impacts of the practices of sportswear industry on labour standards; identifying those business strategies and operations which are causing violations of workers' rights, and taking action to address them, giving particular attention to the need to match ethical commitments with actual purchasing practices.
c) Join together with trade unions and other concerned organisations in the programme of work developed by the Alliance.

This programme of work sets out a series of steps to improve the workers' rights situation in the period between the 2004 Games in Athens and the 2008 Games in Beijing. It promotes the right of workers to join and form trade unions, which overcomes the limits of the current compliance model, and ensures an ongoing dialogue between the main companies in the sector via a sectoral framework agreement with the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF). Such an agreement should be aimed at ending the systematic exploitation of workers found within the sector and should be effective in rationalising the existing mechanisms for improving working conditions of sportswear workers.

It has two fundamental sector-wide aims:

To substantially increase activities which promote freedom of association and collective bargaining, as well as participate in international social dialogue.
To engage in company-based and industry-wide action and cooperation with relevant stakeholders to ensure large-scale, credible and effective code implementation

To achieve the first of these aims the industry was called upon to take positive measures to ensure that people performing work in this industry have the right to form and join trade unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively with their employers. Such measures would include the provision of clear guidance on the elements of freedom of association and collective bargaining, support for training of management, workers and workers representatives, the provision of paid time-off for worker representatives to participate in exchanges with worker representatives from other suppliers providing the same brands. There should also be open communication of this policy to national governments

This process would be facilitated by the negotiation of a sectoral framework agreement between the ITGLWF and the World Federation of Sporting Goods Industries (WFSGI) and its member companies and signed by the ITGLWF and the WFSGI and its member companies. The sectoral framework agreement would contain a set of standards, which represents best practice from the industry and which makes direct reference to internationally recognized labour standards (ILO and UN Declaration of Human Rights)

A key provision in the sectoral framework agreement shall be access for the ITGLWF to supplier locations of WFSGI member firms for the purposes of facilitating recognition of trade unions of the workers choosing consistent with the principles of freedom of association

To achieve the second set of aims, member firms (notwithstanding the successful negotiation of a sectoral framework agreement) would be called upon to align their codes and compliance programmes with best practice in the sector. This includes

The designation of appropriate managerial expertise to CSR.
The creation of industrial relations procedures for handling grievances and disputes.
The mapping of supply chains.
The use of credible local organizations to assist in workplace investigations.
The provision of training on worker rights.
The development of greater transparency measures on code implementation.
The development of standards on purchasing practices .
The involvement of the ILO in an investigation of purchasing practices and in a more proactive role on code implementation and verification.

What follows is an account of what we are still waiting to see from each of the companies targeted.

1) Outstanding demands highlighted brands

More on Fila >>

We would like to see Fila:

demonstrate that it is willing to take labour rights issues seriously, including for its licence partners by satisfactorily dealing with outstanding labour standards violations - specifically Tae Hwa Indonesia
Actively promote respect for the rights to organise and bargain collectively
take immediate steps update its code and develop an credible labour policy
begin to cooperate immediately at international level with Play Fair alliance organisations
engage directly with local unions and NGOs at the point of production, and make sure local compliance staff have the capacity to engage meaningfully in these activities
disclose details regarding its supplier list
Implement the Programme of Work developed by Play Fair Alliance
include a living wage requirement in its code
disclose details regarding its supplier list
Join a credible multi-stakeholder initiative to improve and verify code implementation

2) Outstanding demands towards the WFSGI

WFSGI (the industry federation)

There have been only limited developments since we published a report on the WFSGI. In June 2005, the WFSGI's CSR committee send us a list of intended steps, the most concrete of which were the development of a "remedial toolkit for members which will include modules or guidelines on OSH and employment rights" and the compilation of a collective resource list of NGOS, institutions and organisations (mainly in the Far East). They also informed us that they plan to hold a series of meetings, including one for suppliers (who might not be members of the WFSGI) in Vietnam towards the beginning of 2006 with the Chinese Federation of the Sporting Goods Federation, and the China National Textile and Apparel Council and the ILO in China. Although it is probably useful for a CSR committee to develop information material for its members and to organize meetings, none of this represents a serious answer to our proposals.

The ILO, by request of the WFSGI CSR committee, hosted another informal meeting between the Play Fair Alliance and the WFSGI CSR committee members on July 11. During the meeting, the WFSGI made verbal commitments to a 6 monthly reporting process, and discussions on joint research and education activities. Following the meeting, the Play Fair Alliance wrote to the WFSGI noting that while they had hoped and expected to have made more progress by this stage, the meeting provided some useful possibilities for future dialogue and joint activity, and included the delegations' understanding of the key points on which agreement was reached during the meeting.

Only in December a response was given, which however failed to give concrete substance to these activities and suggested yet another meeting. The Alliance feels that this is only useful if the WFSGI will come up with some concrete proposals on possible joint initiatives, for which the existing Olympic Campaign Report and Programme of Work provide sufficient guidance.

3) Outstanding demands toward the IOC

In October 2005 the ICFTU (for the Play Fair Alliance) met with the marketing department of the IOC in Geneva. The IOC undertook to engage in internal discussions within its secretariat on the issues raised. So far, no outcomes of this process have been received.

The following demands remain towards the IOC and the rest of the Olympic family:

a) Require that, as a contractual condition in licensing, sponsorship and marketing agreements engaged in by the IOC, the NOCs and the OCOGs, labour practices and working conditions involved in the production of Olympics-branded products comply with internationally recognized labour standards.
b) Commit resources and work with other organisations (including appropriate NGOs and international trade union organisations) to give effect to an ethical labour practices policy, including establishing mechanisms which address instances of abusive and exploitative labour practices used in the production of licensed and sponsored products as they arise including all substantiated complaints.
c) Take concrete steps to ensure that national Olympic committees and games organising committees adopt and implement equivalent provisions, including promotion/mediation, with respect to their licensing/supply relationships
d) Commit to promoting publicly the necessity to end the exploitation and abuse involved in the sportswear and athletic footwear industries.
e) Respect for workers rights should be an integral part of the Olympic Charter and of the IOC Code of Ethics.