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Q: What's Gucci's Dirty Secret?

A: Gucci is owned by Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR), a French multinational corporation that produces its goods in workplaces around the world where workers' rights are routinely violated. Gucci might make beautiful clothes, but it's part of PPR's ugly empire.

Thursday, October 31st 20 labor rights activists, posing as Gucci models, staged a mock fashion show in front of Gucci's Amsterdam store to draw attention to PPR's bad labor rights record and demand improvements. The action, organized by the Dutch Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the International Secretariat of the Clean Clothes Campaign, took place on Amsterdam's chic PC Hoofstraat, from 1-2 p.m. CCC activists, demanding that Gucci parent company PPR face up to its responsibilities in relation to workers rights, gathered signatures from shoppers and handed out postcards to be sent to Gucci CEO Domenico de Sole demanding that he contact PPR head Serge Weinberg regarding these issues.

At the same date CCC activists in Austria also took to the streets to protest PPR's role in labor rights violations. In Sweden the Clean Clothes Campaign started a postcard campaign, theme: TamaGucci (after the "electronic pet" Tamagochi).

In Sweden the Clean Clothes Campaign started a postcard campaign, theme: TamaGucci (after the "electronic pet" Tamagochi).

The Clean Clothes Campaign first contacted PPR in April 2002 regarding the anti-union campaign being waged at PPR's U.S. subsidiary Brylane. Since then the CCC has received various reports of violations of workers' rights at PPR contract facilities in a number of countries. Reports from various trade unions and NGOs cite numerous violations at facilities producing for PPR, including: violations of minimum wage laws (Philippines, India, Romania); failure to comply with laws regarding social security payments (Philippines); verbal and sexual harassment (India); illegal deductions from wages (Thailand); 14-hour work days (Indonesia); seven-day work weeks (Indonesia, Pakistan); unhealthy working conditions (Indonesia and Pakistan); unpaid overtime (Romania); and violations of the legal minimum age of employment (Pakistan).

When PPR was publicly confronted with this miserable record of rights violations, their response was to deny responsibility and cut their contracts with several of the facilities in question. The CCC finds this to be an unacceptable response, one that does not deal with the problems at hand. Cutting contracts when faced with rights violations causes job losses and does nothing to address the important issues of low wages, unsafe working conditions, union repression and other serious rights violations.

The CCC has called upon PPR to investigate working conditions at all its supplier facilities and take steps to correct any abuses that are found The CCC believes that PPR and all its subsidiaries should adopt a policy of working with local management, buying agents, and suppliers to correct workplace problems, rather then responding to abuses by cutting orders and shifting operations to other facilities.

The CCC is also requesting that PPR adopt a good code of conduct for its workplaces -- one which is based on and makes reference to ILO conventions, and includes a system for implementation of the code, as well as ongoing monitoring and independent verification of code compliance. The standards in the codes must cover all workers producing foods for the company.

So far, Gucci and PPR have not responded to the CCC's demands. Gucci staff at the Amsterdam shop responded to Thursday's action by locking the door and turning off the lights. TV, radio and print journalists were on hand to document the action.

The CCC plans to continue its Gucci/PPR campaign. The postcard action kicked off today in Amsterdam will be continued throughout the country and in other countries where the CCC is active. CCCs in Sweden, Austria and the UK also have scheduled actions in conjunction with this campaign.

For more on this campaign, or to send a postcard to Gucci, please see the CCC website: www.cleanclothes.org, or contact the CCC International Secretariat.

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