| Reports from the different Clean Clothes Campaigns and projects - February - June 2006 |
| Wednesday, 28 June 2006 14:26 |
June 28, 2006 Reports from the different Clean Clothes Campaigns and projects February - June 2006
 Austria - Clean Clothes-KampagnePublic Awareness Campaigns Football World Championship action 19th May 2006We organised an action (in line with the action day in Germany) in a Vienna shopping street. School children and passers-by were invited to play table football under unfair conditions and to sew footballs.Vienna City Marathon 7th May 2006 600 runners supported the action "Let's run fair" of the Austrian CCC, and wore a CCC T-shirt or CCC-stickers to publicly show their solidarity with the work of the CCC. As a highlight the world record holder 24h barefoot running, Dietmar Mücke, came to the marathon and demonstrated his solidarity with the CCC. Olympia Turin/Vienna 23rd February 2006 We did an action in a Vienna shopping street. Activists dressed like goods spread around 400 protest postcards. A press release was distributed and protest letters were sent from the Austrian CCC website. Tchibo/Eduscho-Campaign We distributed a press release about the case Basic Apparels, reported about this in the Austrian CCC newsletter, and we met with the Tchibo workers council. Other activities and Events We distributed press releases on labour rights and sportswear production in Asia. We held presentations on the CCC in three schools in Graz, Vienna and Frohsdorf. We did presentation work for the CCC with information stalls at nine events. We had a meeting with the sales manager of Blaumax (a small Austrian brand). Solidarity WorkUrgent Appeals Nisa Protest letters were sent from the Austrian CCC website. North Sails We re-launched this urgent appeal. The start event was an action in Podersdorf , 29th of April, at the surf competition opening (PWA Windsurf Freestyle World Cup Competition), where we spread around 500 protest postcards addressed to GST. Until now we have circulated around 900 protest postcards and have collected around 200 signatures, and protest letters were sent from the Austrian CCC website. Hermosa 749 protest letters were sent from the Austrian CCC website. Martin Barrios 562 protest letters were sent from the Austrian CCC website. Bangladesh We made a report about the series of accidents with updates and new letters, we did a press release focusing on KiK and NKD and1102 protest letters were sent from the Austrian CCC website. Spectrum This is ongoing with updates and new letters - protest letters can be sent from the Austrian CCC website since February.Companies Monitoring and Verification CSR CCC is participating in the Austrian group for developing an ISO-Standard on CSR. A civil society CSR network was founded in April 2006 with the participation of unions, chamber of workers, NGOs and the CCC.New Publications and Materials CCC Leaflet A new CCC Leaflet was printed. UA Leaflet An Urgent Appeal leaflet was printed, which explains the Urgent Appeal System of the CCC and gives guidance on how to become involved. Leaflet for the Vienna City Marathon and the Linz Danube Marathon A leaflet was printed to mobilise runners for the Vienna City Marathon and the Linz Danube Marathon. Protest postcard For the North Sails case we produced 1000 protest postcards addressed to Mr. Berger, the owner of GST. Newsletter A new CCC Austria Newsletter came out in April (circulation 12.700), the next issue comes out in June. Belgium North - Schone Kleren CampagnePublic AwarenessTurin Olympics We did a street action in cooperation with the city council of Brussels, in a busy shopping street in Brussels on February 15th. Concept: warming up exercises for skiing, inviting people in the street to participate + leafleting. Solidarity WorkUrgent Appeals Spectrum - Bangladesh We are following up with trade union delegates of Carrefour, and welcomed the Spectrum representatives when they visited Belgium on their worker tour (February). We did an action in front of the embassy of Bangladesh 11th of April, and had a meeting with meeting with Neil Kearny (ITGLWF). GP Garments - Sri Lanka We are keeping in touch with Anton Marcus (our local partner) and with the NCP to find out about their statement. Hermosa - El Salvador The NGO FOS is taking up this appeal, and we have publicised about it on the SKC website.Companies Monitoring and Verification FWF We are finalising a project proposal for 3 years; focusing on work wear procurement. Clean Clothes at work The unions re-launched the campaign.Public Authorities Ethical Procurement Clean Clothes Communities Ongoing action on this subject, for instance with an action in front of the city hall of Antwerp. CSR We gave feedback on a proposal for a national framework for CSR, and participated in two meetings to develop an action plan for CSR. Belgium South - Campagne Vêtements PropresPublic AwarenessTurin Olympics See report Belgium North (above). We launched the Bien dans mes baskets action line, and received good press coverage, a.o national radio, and the two main French speaking newspapers. World Cup We issued a press release, and got some media attention.Solidarity Work Urgent Appeals Bangladesh: Spectrum / Riots We have been following up with Cotton Group, and took a journalist of a big Belgian newspaper to Bangladesh, who wrote a well read feature on the situation. When he was visiting Brussels, we had a meeting with the Bangladesh Minister of Foreign Affairs, to ask him to take action. We have launched a new appeal concerning the riots in the country. Clean Clothes Campaign seminar with trade unions February 10th we organised a seminar to promote tools for union's initiatives inside retailing companies, in the framework of the Clean Clothes Campaign. Participation of Nur and Jahangir from Bangladesh participated, and 32 participants from the two main trade unions in retailing and production took part.CompaniesMonitoring and Verification FWF - see Belgium North (above) Clean Clothes at work The unions re-launched the campaign.Public Authorities Ethical Procurement Clean Clothes Communities Ongoing action through various local groups in about 10 municipalities in the perspective of the local election campaign (8 October). We are following up with municipalities by means of training, a technical guide and setting indicators for progress. Germany - Kampagne für 'Saubere' Kleidung Public Awareness Campaigns World Cup - Campaign:
Note: Tchibo Working Group will turn into a "Discounter-working Group" à Focusing KIK Other activities and Events - We had our yearly national action-weekend of the Kampagne für 'Saubere' Kleidung in Hattingen (March 31 - April 1st).Solidarity Work Urgent Appeals Spectrum/Bangladesh:
A-one/Bangladesh: - Meeting with Tchibo representatives in March - In constant contact with Tchibo about the case - Coordination with partners in Bangladesh and other national CCCs - Articles in CCC-Rundbrief Basic Apparel/Bangladesh: - Meeting with Tchibo - Several talks with Tchibo about the case - Contact with partners in Bangladesh Hermosa/El Salvador: - Launched public appeal (March) - Contact with adidas - Speech at adidas' annual shareholder meeting - Extensive press work (articles in several national newspapers) Companies Monitoring and Verification - We are engaged in an ongoing pilot project with Puma in El Salvador. New Publications and Materials
International secretariat - Clean Clothes CampaignCoordination Organisation Euromeeting The IS, together with the German CCC, organised and coordinated the European meeting, June 6th and 7th, Berlin.Internship Belgium South CCC staff went on an internship with the French and German speaking CCC in Belgium, to learn more about the daily activities of national coordinators, in order to be able to support national CCCs in the best possible way. From the 25th till the 27th of April we took part in a platform meeting, meetings with several NGOs as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh and talked to the coordinator about issues related to national and European coordination. Cornell University CCC staff visited the conference at Cornell with more than 560 trade unionists and scholars from 53 countries: Global companies - Global Unions Global Research-Global Campaigns. They made a presentation during one session on global campaigning and one session on using the media. Solidarity Work Urgent Appeals Cases The IS team continued to work on a number of active urgent appeals cases. Development Training UA caseworkers The IS participates in the working group that is developing the training for UA caseworkers, scheduled to take place in the UK in September 2006. Development UA manual The IS is drafting a revised and more extensive manual to support CCC work on urgent appeals. Partner Activities Eastern European meeting in Meissen From March 23rd till 25th, CCC staff attended a meeting with our Eastern European partners in Meissen, Germany. The seminar aimed to facilitate an East-West-exchange between Turkish and Eastern European CCC-partners and CCCs. We created this space and time for intensive discussions on the topics, the partners in EE and Turkey are most concerned about and would like to work on. We presented the Quick Fix report and research, as well as the CCC work done on public procurement. Multi stakeholder verification processes were discussed (in the presence of reps from Puma and Hess Natur), as well as the possibilities for the Eastern European partners to conduct research on work wear companies in their regions, and work with the urgent appeals system.Public Authorities Ethical Procurement SweatFree Communities International Conference 2006 CCC staff participated in the annual international conference of SweatFree Communities (US) in Minneapolis, from April 7th till 9th. We gave a presentation on ethical public procurement campaigning in Europe, and participated in workshops on MSIs and public procurement, fair trade and ethical trade, organising and ethical public purchasing, organising in the age of CAFTA and marketing of alternatives as a campaigning tool. On the side she discussed several issues with US (partner) groups and campaigns.New Publications and Materials New international newsletter A new newsletter was published in May 2006, containing articles on the BSCI, OECD guidelines, Asian garment producers in Africa, the national CCC Sweden, urgent appeals and new resources. The Netherlands - Schone Kleren KampagnePublic Awareness Olympic campaign - February 17: The Dutch Prince of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, is a member of the IOC. The Dutch CCC went to his castle to hand over the 'Programme of work for the sportswear industry' and ask him to commit himself to improving labour rights in factories producing products bearing the Olympic logo.
We are in regular contact with C&A on this case. - Spectrum We participated in the worker tour with Nura and Jahangir: - meeting with Scapino on February 15 - public meeting in the Textile Museum in Tilburg on February 16, attended by NGO's, students, consumers and press. We were welcomed by a representative of the city council. - Paxar We sent a letter to C&ACompanies - Dutch BSCI members Related to the tragedies involving garment factories in Bangladesh, we sent letters to the Dutch companies that joined the BSCI to ask them if they are producing in Bangladesh and if so, how they guarantee that workers in Bangladesh have a safe and healthy workplace. - G-Star CCC received new reports on labour rights violations (including physical abuse) at production units in Bangalore, India, producing for G-Star. G-Star is informed about this from early January onward. G-Star works on a CSR programme for all their suppliers, it says, but refuses to act properly to resolve the problems at the India production units. In cooperation with the Indian Committee of the Netherlands, we wrote a protest letter, sent to our 1050 subscribers and our network.New publications and materials - Dutch newsletter 'Schoon Genoeg', May 2006 - Protest letter on G-Star, May 2006 Spain - Campaña Ropa Limpia Public Awareness Other activities and Events Press eventsPress releases:
- May: CRL Spain, TVE (Spanish national TV); programme about labour. - May: CRL Galicia, TVE; programme about consuming. - CRL Aragón: interviews on radio, newspaper and local TV. Street actions:
Spectrum, Bangladesh
Manual The UA manual is translated into Spanish, which we plan to publish.Companies Brand related work EL CORTE INGLÉS: - Street action against El Corte Inglés/Induyco: 30 activists of the CCC participated in the annual popular race organised by El Corte Inglés in Barcelona with big banners asking about the origin of their clothes. 7th May 2006 INDUYCO
INDITEX Next shareholder meeting is about mid July. A representative of CRL will attend the meeting. Canal Arte contacted CRL recently to invite us to participate in a project documentary (where CCC Germany is involved). They will be filming in A Coruña and will be interviewing responsible people from Zara-Inditex.Public AuthoritiesEthical Procurement Ethical public procurement in Catalonia We published a new "Hand book for the introduction of social clauses in public work wear purchasing" (in Catalan). Also, we are assessing the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia Regional Government) about ethical public procurement of work wear and we expect to have some first results in the first half of 2007. New Publications and Materials
Sweden - Rena Kläder Public AwarenessCampaigns Public Procurement - Mina Skattepengar - My tax money In twelve cities a campaign education meeting for activists was held. In seven of those cities local campaign groups were formed. On the 13th of May the campaign was launched. There were a lot of activities and street actions. At the same time a campaign website also was released - www.minaskattepengar.nu - where pictures from some of the actions can be found. A couple of days after the campaign launch the youth association of the liberal party published an Op-Ed together with the trade union (and platform member) SKTF. Now the campaign will continue on a local level. The next big national event is during the annual "Politician week" (a big PR/politician/media event) on Gotland, where we will - among other things - arrange a seminar/panel with the title "Social responsibility - what can the public learn from the private". Participants will be Ingrid Schullström from H&M, Wanja Lunby Wedin, president of the biggest trade union confederation, Kristian Karlsson from the neoliberal think thank Timbro and Fredrik Malm, president of the Youth Association of the Liberal Party. We also sent a questionnaire to all parties in the parliament about there position on ethical demands in public procurement. Play Fair 2006 The Swedish Play Fair 2006 put focus on two Swedish sportswear retailers, Stadium and Team Sportia as well as the Swedish Olympic Committee. In April a letter was sent to all the targets. Both Stadium and Team Sportia answered and meetings are scheduled with them in May and June. We have not received any answer from the Swedish Olympic Committee. During May the run "Vår Ruset" took place in several Swedish cities. In this race only women are allowed to participate. In six of these cities, Malmö, Göteborg, Örebro, Uppsala, Stockholm and Umeå, Rena Kläder teams participated in the race and also collected signatures and postcards to the Swedish Olympic Committee. In June, July and August the platform members Youth of The Swedish Church and Red Cross Youth Association will arrange a tour to several music festivals as a part of this campaign. Other activities and Events Rena Kläder education 20 - 21 May Rena Kläder held a activist education. 18 activists participated, the majority were members of Red Cross youth association, some came from trade unions and some where on their own. The education focused on urgent appeals and public procurement. Solidarity Work Urgent Appeals Paxar We have been in contact with H&M on this case, they say that they are not buying from Paxar in Turkey. They are following the case and say that they are supporting they buyers that are in discussion with Paxar. They also say Paxar knows that H&M supports the demands put forward. Companies Brand related work H&M report Our H&M report was released on April 24th. The report got some media attention - the same day as the release there was a live broadcasted radio debate between Rena Kläder co-ordniator Joel Lindefors and Ingrid Schullström from H&M. Several newspapers also highlighted the report. Now, the H&M report is the most popular report to download from the Rena Kläder homepage. Text also available in English.Public Authorities Ethical Procurement Mina Skattepengar See "Campaigns".New Publications and Materials H&M Report Released and printed in Swedish. Text also available in English. Postcards For the Play Fair 2006 campaign. In Swedish. Leaflet New leaflet about Rena Kläder. In Swedish. Globala Röster Co-operation with several NGO's. Magazine about garment industry. In Swedish. Switzerland - Clean Clothes Campaign Public Awareness RatingWe published a detailed rating report for each of the 27 companies we evaluated (including Adidas, Carrefour, H&M, Puma etc.). We received several reactions from companies, incl. Adidas and Puma, and did some promotion for the new publication (German: "Etikette der Kleider"; Italian and French BD-Newsletter).Leaflet with Puma-Shirt from Swiss Worldcup Team We distributed some 70'000 leaflets on many events, in bars, schools, and through actions groups in the streets. We did a debate with Puma about living wage, which received good media coverage and many reactions from the public. Clean Clothes Campaign Events - Public debate in church of Nottwil, March 14th - Workshop at design collage in Zurich, March 30th - Public debate at a women's roundtable in Kloten, April 12th - Workshop at University of Luzern on CCC with students (intercultural animators), May 2nd Solidarity Work Urgent Appeals Spectrum / Bangaldesh We did some media Work and an homepage update. Hermosa / El Salvador We were visited by two guests from El Salvador, who gave a workshop in Zurich on May 1st. We updated the homepage and did some media work.Companies Monitoring and Verification ISCOM They started with verification in India (in cooperation with FWF) for Migros, Switcher and WWF/Panda. There is regular information exchange between CCC and ISCOM, and Frans Papma (FWF) met with ISCOM in Zurich. Meetings with companies We have been in ongoing discussions or meetings with Coop, Migros, Vögele, Switcher.Public Authorities OECD-Guidelines NCP Meeting There has been a meeting of government with NGOs to present the NCP on May 18th.Other relevant news Toys We have been talking with companies about NGO demands to improve labour conditions (focus on China), Feb. 14th We have been on a panel at the Swiss Toy Forum (with Migros, Manor, ICTI, LEGO, Intertek, Swiss government), April 28th - this received good media attention. United Kingdom - Labour Behind the LabelPublic Awareness Football Associations The report 'Sweet FA? Football Associations, workers' rights, and the World Cup' on their ethical policies is finished - see http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/content/view/118/56/.Solidarity Work Urgent Appeals Fortune garments case Newspaper articles and an urgent appeal online put pressure on companies, case now resolved! We met with the brands and sourcing agents at the ETI after the resolution to discuss how to move forward. Bangladesh We wrote to all the high street companies asking them what they have done about health & safety in Bangladesh. Only a few responses, we intend to put them online soon. Martin Barrios case Urgent appeal online. TLC/Lek case Urgent appeal online. Hermosa case Urgent appeal online.Companies Fairtrade We have been in touch with Marks & Spencer about their new Fairtrade cotton clothing. Report We have compiled a database of all the major high street companies and their policies on living wage, freedom of association and monitoring and verification, together with our comments. We sent the database entries to companies asking them if they wished to respond.Public Authorities Supermarkets The competition regulator is going to investigate supermarkets. We made submissions to their consultation to have them include non-food items.New Publications and Materials Action cards - we made a generic action card (people can stick their receipt/label on) and a new leaflet about LBL. They are very popular. Bulletin - we made a new one New website - we made a totally new website with lots of new content. It has been very successful - we got good feedback from users and our hits have gone up five times! Low-cost retailers/supermarkets - we are about to publish a briefing on them (Tesco, Asda, Primark, Matalan), talking about purchasing practices. Meanwhile lots of NGOs want to collaborate on research into supermarkets supply chains. More info:MoreCCC Activity reports
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LEADING SPORTS BRANDS, UNIONS, NGOs FORM WORKING GROUP For immediate release LEADING SPORTS BRANDS AND UNIONS WORKING TOGETHER GLOBALLY FOR BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS Brussels, 2 July 2008: A month before the start of the Beijing Olympics key sporting goods brands including Nike, adidas, New Balance, Umbro and Speedo are forming a ground breaking joint working group with trade unions and NGOs to explore... Tuesday, 1 July 2008 Read more |
Sportswear Industry Shamed by New Allegations on Working Conditions PRESS RELEASE- “No real progress” since Athens games, say PF08 campaigners- China: workers glueing sports shoes for less than $2 per day, stitching footballs for $0.50 eachBrussels - As the clock ticks down to the Beijing Olympics, workers producing for the international sportswear companies that spend millions on Olympic and athletic sponsorship d... Sunday, 20 April 2008 Read more |
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