Urgent Appeals

We often receive appeals from workers producing garments for multinationals. For example, we might receive a request for assistance from workers who have been fired after participating in a strike, who are denied their rights to form a union - who dare to publicly cry out for help to improve bad working conditions and stop the abuse of their rights.

After following up the request through the CCC International Secretariat in Amsterdam and local contacts on the ground, we may then launch an urgent appeal via e-mail to mobilise CCC members to take action. Often this involves sending letters of protest by email to the company involved.

Help workers in their struggle to improve working conditions and to forge international solidarity links with labour rights organisations. Urgent appeals are posted on our international website
(http://www.cleanclothes.org/appeals.htm) and the websites of the national CCC campaigns.

What else can I do?

Keep asking questions to the store personnel where you buy clothes. Here are just some of the questions you can ask.

• Where does this garment come from?
• Do you know how much they've got paid for making this?
• Does this brand have a code of conduct?
• Is freedom to join a union and a living wage included?
• Is it monitored?
• Are the monitoring reports open for the people?

If they say 'yes' to any of these questions, ask them for proof and/or how they know it is 'yes'. Most of the time store personnel will not know the answers, but if we keep asking, their managers must, at some point, try to get some answers from the brands, because they will be sick of being asked by their personnel and not having the answers.