Bulgarian workshop on Clean Clothes

Quotations from the workshop:

• "10 years ago we had a few garment factories in some major Bulgarian towns,
  now we have hundreds, but we still have the same number of labour
  inspectors" (a labour inspector)
• "We will launch a code of conduct soon" (chairperson of the Bulgarian
  Garment Exporters Association)"

The workshop was organised by the Bulgarian Clean Clothes Campaign(CCC-Bulgaria), a programme within the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (BGRF) as part of the project "Clean Clothes in Bulgaria and Romania an Exchange, Education and Research Project in the Garment/Sportswear Sector". Further partners in this project are the Bulgarian trade union Podkrepa, the Romanian coordination for the Balkan of the East European ICFTU-women network, the German women's rights NGO Terre des Femmes and the French trade union CFDT. Terre des Femmes is the host of the East Europe coordination of the international Clean Clothes Campaign. And CFDT is mandated by the French Collectif "De l'ethique sur l'Étiquette".

It was the first project seminar, that aimed at presenting results of initial research, at facilitating regional and European exchange on social initiatives to improve working conditions in the garment industry and to form coalitions for future action. And it was the first multistakeholder, international meeting on this issue in Bulgaria.

Participants from the Bulgarian side were consumers' and women's NGO activists, trade union representatives from national and local levels, researchers, lawyers, labour inspectors, representatives from the ministry of labour and the ministry of the economy and the Bulgarian Garment Exporters Association and from Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in Sofia. Furthermore, researchers, NGO and trade union activists came from Turkey, Yugoslavia, Romania, the Netherlands, France and Poland.

During the lively and topical discussions, a high need for further research and information on the actual situation in the garment industry and above all on international supply chains was expressed. Moreover, organisations were interested to get more information and education on the issue of codes of conduct and their independent monitoring/verification, specifically the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises and the Resolution of the European Parliament on the conduct of multinational enterprises. Activities within the European Social Dialogue were presented.

The presentation of initial research results encouraged a very interesting discussion between Bulgarian participants. These results include:

• Workers in the garment industry do not have job alternatives.
• The bad economic situation of many families and of the country forces them to accept the worst working conditions.
• Usually in the factories, it is hot during sommer and cold during winter.
• Even in unionised factories there are no legally equired committees on Occupational Health & Safety.
• As a rule, overtime is not properly accounted for, paid less than required and longer than required by law (the interviewees stated between 20 and 180 hrs. per month).
  Furthermore, in most interviews workers stated that their labour contracts include a wage that equals the legal minimum wage (appr. 50 Euros), hence the social contributions are paid on this basis. The rest of the wage is paid off record.
• There are generally no unions in smaller shops (less than 300 employees). In the bigger ones, there are some that are organised.
• Cases of illegal dismissal of trade unionists were reported. The management obviously has a very bad attitude towards trade unions.
• Wage is paid on piece rate, but hardly regularly. It is between 60 and 200 Euros net per month including overtime.

All investigated companies produced under "Lohnsystem"/Outward Processing Trade scheme (*) and exclusively produced for export.

For the continuation of the project it was decided to intensify the regional cooperation on the Balkan and with Turkish and Greek organisations, because in the search for lower social standards there is continious relocation of production around the region going on. Simultanously, there will be meetings on local level with trade union activists, workers, NGO activists, researchers and labour inspectors. The CCC-programme in Bulgaria will also continue its close partnership and cooperation with the European CCC and continue to raise public awareness on working conditions, on opportunities of multistakeholder initiatives for improving labour standards and on good practices in the sector. Further attention will be given to the issue of how to find mechanisms and public pressure for more rigid implementation of domestic labour law and for new legislation such as signing Collective Bargaining Agreements, for labour disputes resolution, and certification of products.

Bettina Musiolek
TERRE DES FEMMES/NGO Women's Forum, Germany
Coordinator East Europe of the CCC
B.Musiolek@knuut.de
FON/FAX +49-2103-63375

Verka Vassileva and Ivan Tishev
Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation CCC-programme
Sofia 1000
ul. Han Krum 34
Bulgaria
tel/fax 00359/2/9804011, 00359/2/9814375
ccc@mbox.cit.bg