Belgium North - Schone Kleren Campagne

Campaigns

Olympics campaign (Belgium total)
Common activities
Petition - 91 800 signatures, online and offline
Launch - 4 March - good press coverage
Fila - 2 actions - in June and September; manager did not want to receive us. Contact with Fila International to inform them

Torch

Activities per organisation

Oxfam in March and April

• Launch 27 March in Antwerp and Arlon.
• 27 March till 24 April (Oxfam Solidarity & Oxfam WW & Oxfam MDM): 300 local activities (stands, debates, leafleting).
• 22 April: seminar 'investments' (Oxfam Solidarity).
• 24 April: Brussels: '40 year Oxfam in Belgium' (Oxfam Solidarity, Oxfam WW, Oxfam MDM).
• A lot of press coverage.

International forum (Vêtements Propres)

Festival Mano Mundo (Wereldsolidariteitplein)

One of the big stages was turned into 'Olympic stage' with different acts + petition.

KBG Seniorensport

Petition work.

Bicycle tour (SKC en Govaka)

From Leuven via Luxemburg, France, Switzerland, Italy to Greece. 2150km in 13 days. Participants 25 Belgian men and 1 Dutch woman (Christa De Bruin from CCC Netherlands. First 10 days constant meetings with local organisation & press. Meeting with local authorities from Longwy, Contrexéville, Alessandria and Rapallo. Finally meeting with Belgian ambassador in Athens.

ACV/CSC
Petition work.

ABVV/FGTB
Petition work.

T shirts

We are conducting some market research on working conditions of different available T-shirts (nationally and internationally). This because we get a lot of requests for clean shirts from groups, festivals etc. Perhaps we might develop an education pack for schools as well.

Ethical brands

We are regularly updating our information on the ethical brands on the Belgian market.

Informal economy

The NGO Wereldsolidariteit is conducting an awareness raising campaign about the informal economy, not only garments, focus on social security.

Urgent Appeals

Gildan - Honduras
Belgian NGO FOS started action in cooperation with partner organisation FITH FESITRADEH.
Daiyin Lanka - Sri Lanka
Belgian NGO Wereldsolidariteit is preparing an action in cooperation with partner organisation National Workers Congress.

Maquilas

NGO -FOS and TU -ABVV continue their campaign on maquilas.
Visit to Honduras Summer 2004, preparation of event in April 2005.

Ethical Procurement

Clean Clothes Communities
Till now, 62 resolutions (out of 300 communities) taken.
Some communities included demands to public tenders; now collecting these tenders.
Questions for information keep coming in.

Social label
3 companies got the social label, evaluation in preparation.

Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey - partner organisations

Other activities and Events

15 - 16 April 2004, International Seminar in Bucharest, organized by AUR/ Romania on "Working Conditions and the Labour Market in Central and South-Eastern European Countries under the Context of Globalization" with participation of CCC Int representatives, The Romanian Garment Employers Association, the Research Institute for Life Quality, ILO Bucharest, TU confederations, National Labour Inspection, the CCC local partners.

24 June: first ever street action in Sofia, Bulgaria, for fair working conditions related to the Olympic Campaign, by participants of the EEM and supported by CITUB.

Urgent Appeals

Demir Kapiya - Tricolan/ Greece, Sotineks Kavadarci, - all in Macedonia
Since the first strike in summer, Stip (Macedonia) is following up this case.

Partner Activities

Bulgaria: 21 June 04 - first CCC platform meeting with representatives of CITUB, Podkrepa TU, BEPA, WAD and other NGOs, supported by IS staff.

17-18 April: Train the Trainers (ToT) workshop for the Romanian group and the CEE country coordinators in Bucharest, preparing a series of 6 national ToT workshops in Poland, Bulgaria (March), Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey.

22-23 September: Evaluation and Strategic Planning Workshop of CEE/ Turkey coordinators in Meissen, Germany. Agreed priorities:

Project proposals planned:

August: Karat Poland submitted a proposal (continuing investigations, public awareness work, round tables) to the German chapter of World Day of Prayer, which was approved in November
November: Karat Poland became a partner in Suedwind Austria/ French CCC EU consortium proposal

Monitoring and Verification

April - September: monitoring activities in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey (55 workplaces, 265 workers interviewed), summary reports for each country are currently reviewed for publishing, 37 local investigators trained.

French and German speaking communities in Belgium - Vêtements Propres

Campaigns

Olympics campaign
The result of the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign in Belgium: two entire stadiums, crammed full of people demanding respect for the fundamental rights of sportswear workers! A poignant symbol for a meeting with the COIB (Comité Olympique et Interfederal Belge / Belgian Interfederal and Olympic Committee).

29th September, Brussels: A delegation from the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign today met the COIB to hand over a portion of the 91,806 petition signatures it has collected. M. DeBondt, Secretary General of the COIB and Mr Falon, Director of the 'Federation Services' department, were impressed by the size of the petition, and the commitment of the citizens demanding that they stop sitting on the fence and take serious action to protect the rights of workers producing sports shoes and clothing. A parallel action had taken place at the office of Fila's Belgian distributor, in Ostend, the week before.

This brings to an end - for now - in Belgium and across the World, the largest mobilisation for the respect of the rights of workers producing sports shoes and clothing. The key to its success? A rare combination and dynamic mix of trades unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the international level. In Belgium, the FGTB, CSC, Oxfam Magasins du Monde, Oxfam Solidarité, Solidarité Mondiale and the Campagne Vêtements Propres (and their Flemish counterparts) have combined their energies and their respective skills to make this an above-average campaign.

With hundreds of press reports, over 300 actions at the local, regional or national level, an epic cycle ride from Leuven to Athens, an open letter to Justine Hénin, a parade of honour for Belgium's Olympic relay team, Sports Days on the 1st May, an International Forum... and the centrepiece of the activities in Belgium, a petition demanding that Fila and Adidas respect the rights of workers in their production chains and demanded that the COIB take the initiative with concrete actions.

The COIB has shown some interest in the campaign. The attitude of the Olympic authorities has been constructive, although the members of the campaign note a lack of concrete commitments. The 91,806 signatures should push the COIB towards a more pro-active, credible attitude, consistent with the Olympic ideal. The COIB cannot on its own persuade sponsors and license-holders to respect the rights of workers, but, supported by the Belgian public, it can take a constructive step by aiming to include the respect for workers' rights in the Olympic charter, and therefore in its own sponsorship contracts and granting of licences, and those of the IOC. The latter have earned the Olympic Movement US$1.4bn between 2000 and 2004, a tidy amount. Will this question be on the negotiating agenda when the COIB's renews its contract with adidas? In either case, the Olympic Movement will not be able to avoid the issue for much longer: preparations for the next Games in China are already being scrutinised by NGOs and trades unions.

Toy campaign

Is in preparation for the end of 2004, and is focusing mainly on purchasing practices and their impact on the labour conditions in production (and retailing).

Three fields of work

Urgent Appeals
- Haïti - Codevi - Grupo M - Levi's
Together with Yannick Etienne, Batay Ouvriyé : press conference, action in front of Levi's Europe headquarter in Brussels and launch of a letter sending action to Levi's Europe. Excellent press coverage. No possibility for a dialogue with Levi's (refusing to receive Yannick).

Monitoring and Verification
Consultation Fair Wear Foundation - Under process.
Joint Sectoral Belgian code of conduct for the garment industry
Between FGTB textile and the federation of employers. It is based on the Clean Clothes Campaign's criteria's. It doesn't consider the Belgian public social label as an effective tool for the garment industry, and doesn't promote specifically the Fair Wear Foundation. It puts the social harmonisation system as the main and central tool to reach socially responsible production.

Clean work wear
Initiative and support to regional FGTB trade unions of the glass and extractive industry to request clean work wear.

Ethical Procurement

Belgian Public Social Label
After having labeled two services, the first product is now labeled : the stone " petit granit " removed from local Belgian mines by the specific small company " Carrières du Hainaut ".

Germany- Kampagne für 'Saubere' Kleidung

Campaigns

Mode, Macht und Frauenrechte (fashion, power and women rights) of TERRE DES FEMMES : Film tour with the Mexican human rights activist Judith Galarza and the documentary "Senorita extraviada". The film is about the cases of disappearances of young girls and women in the Mexican-American border town of Ciudad Juárez. The majority of the girls/women work in textile factories there. The film was presented in towns all over Germany and Vienna in cooperation with local TERRE DES FEMMES activist groups. The press was informed and there were articles in newspapers.

Olympic Campaign:

Urgent Appeals
Bangladesh: Push BGMEA for action. UA has been sent around to several hundred people.
Partner Activities
June 2004: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and SÜDWIND - Training workshops, symposium, round tables on the phase-out of the ATC in Indonesia (unions, NGOs, government, employers) and Phnom Penh (unions from Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia as well as government and employers). Codes of conduct and urgent appeals training in Indonesia.
October 2004: Invitation of SDPI and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung to SÜDWIND - ATC and codes of conduct training for unions in Pakistan.

Ethical Procurement : in NRW pilot project and in Hamburg

Legal Action : The OECD complaint case of the German (Austrian) CCC against adidas was closed on 24 May 2004 after adoption of a final communiqué.

New Publications and Materials

International secretariat - Clean Clothes Campaign

Campaigns

Play Fair at the Olympics
Of course we have all been working extensively on the Olympic Campaign in the last months, up until the Olympics in Athens. The fairolympics website shows part of the activities that have taken place. It has drained the resources of the international secretariat, we have worked extensively on this, planning and plotting with the Global Unions and Oxfam in the lobby group, the popular campaigning group and the steering committee. It is an exciting campaign, also on national level. One of the main moments, the international gathering in Athens just before the Olympic campaign has been an important moment and also has drawn a lot of press attention. The campaign will be discussed further during the European coordination meeting.

Other activities and Events
Euromeetings : February (Brussels) / October (Amsterdam)
Two European coordination meetings were prepared by the International secretariat this year. The first one was in February (Brussels), where the agenda featured amongst others the Olympic campaign, the ongoing discussion on Reporting and Relationships and the preparations for the Enlarged Meeting. The second was in October (Amsterdam) and started with a special day on Monitoring and Verification. The subsequent days, Funding opportunities and the Internal website and communication were discussed, and the Olympic campaign and Enlarged Meeting evaluated.
Enlarged European Meeting
The IS, together with Bulgaria's BEPA, prepared the Enlarged European Meeting, which was held from the 23rd till the 25th of June. In February, a brainstorm weekend was organised in Belgium, to work on the programme for the meeting. This was then discussed at the Euromeeting, after which the practical and content-related preparations continued. For this first Enlarged European Meeting of the Clean Clothes Campaign, where not only national coordinators of CCCs attend but representatives from national coalitions join in as well, 50 people from 16 countries met in the Institute for Teachers' Qualifications in Sofia, Bulgaria. They had an intensive three days of review and discussion of the CCC's work and strategising for the future activities of the campaign ahead of them. Four Eastern European countries, ten Western European countries and Turkey were represented. The meeting took place in the midst of the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign, one of the CCC's biggest campaigns to date, and this was marked by a protest action held in the centre of the city on June 24th.
Bulgaria was chosen as the venue for the EEM specifically to strengthen the campaign in Eastern Europe, particularly in networking and campaigning. Although the CCC only began in Eastern Europe around 2000, several organisations in countries have now started working with the campaign.
The main aim of the meeting was established to be:
To evaluate and improve the campaign and its structure
This overall aim was divided into the following specific objectives:

Above all, the meeting hoped to harness participants' experience and imagination and to generate enthusiasm and inspiration for the coming years, building on the successes the CCC has had to date.

Campaigning strategies on informal labour in the global garment industry
Together with the Evangelische Akademie Meissen (Germany) and Dutch IRENE, the CCC IS organised this seminar, which was held in Meissen from the 23rd till the 25th of September. Representatives of CCC UK, Sweden, Belgium North, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands came together with participants and experts from Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, to discuss the best strategies for campaigning on the improvement of working conditions in the informal garment industry. The aim of the seminar was to share information on
(1) the current challenges facing workers in the garment sector's informal economy and
(2) organising, campaigning and other initiatives involving or in support of these workers; and
(3) to formulate specific goals and strategies for labour rights campaigns seeking to support workers in the garment sector's informal economy. The programme included sessions on the main challenges facing these workers, workers' experiences from Asia, Eastern Europe and Turkey, research and mapping in different countries, working groups on right to organise, legal status, migrant workers' rights and homework, campaigning on informal labour (to raise consumer awareness, towards governments, companies and MSI's), campaigning strategies in the context of the informal garment economy and the setting up of a joint agenda for action. The outcomes of the seminar will be compiled in a report.

Urgent Appeals
- UA Impact Assessment Study
The field research for the UA study took place in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Indonesia during September. Kelly Dent is now back in Australia and will begin work on the last phase of the project - writing up all the information gathered. The project is still on schedule to be completed by the end of the year. A date has been set for the workshop to share the study results with the European CCCs and discuss follow up - February 2nd. No date has yet been set for the workshop to be held in Asia to share/discuss the results with organizations from our wider network that have been involved in UA cases.
- Sofia outcomes in relation to urgent appeals work
During the Enlarged European Meeting in Sofia the workshops on urgent appeals work generated the suggestion that a training workshop be held for those within the European network who work specifically on urgent appeals cases (participants could also perhaps representatives from the North American campaigning groups we often join forces with on casework - MSN, CLR, Sweatshop Watch). Several people indicated that they would be interested in working on a proposal for such a workshop, however it seems more logical to wait for the findings of the impact assessment study and the workshop that will be held to discuss and debate those findings and recommendations, and then prepare a training workshop proposal based on the priorities that come out of that discussion.

Current CCC cases

Partner Activities

Train the Trainers
For the project where representatives of five countries from Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Serbia, Poland) and Turkey are trained to set up networks of investigators in their countries (Train the Trainers, coordinated by Bettina Musiolek and Regina Barendt), throughout the year representatives of the IS went to meetings in four countries. In November 2003, we visited a Karat women's network conference in Warsaw, Poland and a subsequent meeting of the TtTnetwork. In April 2004, We gave a presentation about the CCC at a Romanian conference on (national) labour conditions, and participated in a TtTmeeting. The participants in the project attended the Enlarged Meeting in June, which was organised in Bulgaria to help strengthen the Bulgarian and Eastern European network. A separate meeting on the local Bulgarian network was organised, with representatives of Bulgarian NGOs, TUs as well as Esther, Nina and Marieke of the IS. The final meeting of the project was organised a day before the start of the Informal labour seminar in Meissen, Germany. The outcomes of the project were presented, and future strategies for joint work discussed.
Asia regional meeting
From March 25-27 AMRC, TLC and CCC jointly organized a 3 day meeting in Cambodia, primarily to discuss the Olympic campaign (Asia chapter). The last day of the meeting also aimed to looked longer term at campaigning in Asia and cooperation on the global level. The meeting was well attended, about 50 representatives from most Asian countries and of several regional networks and a good mix of trade union and NGOs.
Workers' Olympics
In August TLC and AMRC jointly organized the Asian Worker Olympics Solidarity Day in a stadium in Bangkok. The event, which included workers from 8 Asian countries playing soccer, javelin and labour rights quizzes, was well covered in the local and regional, and some international media. The sports day was followed by a 2 day 'worker exchange' programme, where workers and TU and NGO reps shared their experiences as workers in their respective countries, as well as their experiences in the Olympic campaign and their ideas for follow-up. The meeting was very stimulating and interesting for all participants. A report will be published.
Africa
FES Madagascar, together with SOMO (for the CCC) and IRLF organized a meeting in Madagascar in August to discuss issues around the garment sector in the Exporting Processing Zone. The meetings was primarily organized for shop stewards and fitted into a longer training project of the FES together with NGOs and unions in Madagascar to support shop stewards with information and skills development.
SOMO is developing a database, together with a research organization in South Africa and the ITGLWF Africa on Asian companies in Southern and Eastern Africa, to collect and make available information collected by research organizations, unions etc. SOMO is also making company profiles on several large Asian companies that are active in Africa, to be used by trade unions in Southern Africa and by campaigning organizations.

Monitoring and Verification

Turkey project
The steering group of the Collaborative MSI project has met in January, May and August. The group has:

Early November meetings will be organized in Turkey with the different stakeholders to present and discuss the project, connected to this a next steering group meeting will be organized.

Ethical Procurement

CCCommunities
In the follow up of the CCCommunities meeting of October 2003, the IS tried to finish the reader containing the useful and important documents from the countries that work on this project already. Proposals were done for a follow up meeting as well, and contacts were made and information shared with other organisations working on the subject (SweatFree Communities / US, No Sweat / UK, NoSweat SFU / US).

New Publications and Materials

Olympic mailing
In April we sent out a mailing, containing a poster, some leaflets, a campaign update, press overview of the launch and the Global Campaign Framework to our contacts in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
Olympic material
For the Olympic campaign the CCC, together with the Global Unions and Oxfam, produced a report, an image (the T-shirt with statistics), produced newsletters for the Global campaign team and updates on the lobby and campaigning. Furthermore a poster was made, leaflets (translated among others in Bulgaria and India) and a Greek newsletter that was distributed in the days before the Olympic Games in Athens. We collected a lot of photos to be used for the Play Fair letters in from of the Acropolis and we will think about a way how best to keep all these and show to future generations! Several press releases were written and press attention was abundant. An overview will be made, and we welcome all your national press cuttings.
Internal website
At the beginning of 2004, the CCC internal website was set up. It contains a news section, a chat forum, contact and shared address book facilities and an events calendar. These sections are accessible for all national CCC network members. National coordinators can besides this share documents on several issues, including Euromeetings, Urgent Appeals, Joint campaigns (CCCommunities / Olympics etc) and Material. Throughout the year, various improvements were made, which still continue - including trying to integrate the Urgent Appeals database with this interface.
Gender newsletter
The newsletter is in the process of writing and editing, and is expected to be finished at the beginning of next year.

the Netherlands - Schone Kleren Kampagne

Campaigns

Fair Play at the Olympics (Play Fair op de Spelen, eis eerlijk gemaakte sportkleding)

National campaign coalition: CCC, Novib and FNV. Other organizations participated in distributing materials (action cards) to their supporters, linking websites etc.

Meetings with:

Material: leaflet, action cards on Asics, stickers, badges, 5 newsletters were circulated. We made a boomerang card 'Fail on Fair Play' targeting Fila. These boomerang cards (100.000) were distributed at sport schools. And for the flame action we ordered sweatbands, produced by a FWF member.

Other activities and Events

Workshops and lectures:

The Clothes She Wears: exhibition
On September 3rd, the Clothes She Wears opened in England. It is a fashion collection showing the actual clothes worn by women who work in the garment industry, from women in Lesotho, Sri Lanka, Mexico, The Netherlands, Britain, Australia, Thailand and Bulgaria. Stories about the women's lives are displayed next to each outfit.
The exhibition was produced by Siobhan Wall, who is an artist and volunteer for the CCC.
The Clothes She Wears was previously shown in Amsterdam and Utrecht Town Halls in spring 2004. The Clothes She Wears can be borrowed by museums, galleries, libraries and organizations and can easily travel to European locations.

Urgent Appeals

Global Sports Lanka (North Sails Lanka)
In December, a Memorandum Of Understanding was reached between union and management. Campaign suspended. However, since then, no progress has been made, management is unlikely to make any substantial steps. Union wants to restart the campaign. Dutch CCC and IS wrote a letter, threatened to restart the campaign. Prepared a letter for European coordinators to sign. (in the meantime, the campaign has been re-launched, re.)
PT Busana Prima Global
In 2003 we had a letter of protest written on PT Busana Prima Global, which is also supplying Head, Dutch sportswear brand. We had some actions at Mees Pierson, investment bank, and Head's representative. Mulyani, who worked for PT BPG, visited the Netherlands in December 2003. We made a video tape with a message from Mulyani to Head, sent it to Head. Never got a response on that. We feel we can't let Head go away with this, without any reaction etc. We are considering actions on Head in future. Because the dispute wasn't solved, and also because Lotto was one of the brands targeted in the Play Fair campaign, we decided to write another letter of protest on this case, sent it to the importer of Lotto in the Netherlands, no response.

Letter writing on:
- Gildan El Progreso : CCC received a letter from HMZ Fashion group (importer).
- PT Doson : In 2003 we had some actions organized around this case and collected a lot of signatures, but we lacked to follow it up. We've sent these signatures to Nike NL.
- Codevi : We've sent a letter to the World Bank, no reaction.

Monitoring and Verification

- On the 24th of March, The Fair Wear Foundation made public for the first time which companies are FWF members and have signed the FWF Code of Labour Practice. 11 companies at that time had become a member. The FWF is in dialogue with more companies of which some seem to be very interested. The FWF wants to become operational in more countries. China is the most important producing country for the current FWF members. Work has been done in China, India, Macedonia. Audits for Tunisia and Turkey are planned.
- Producers of work wear seems to be an important group for FWF, the largest producers of work wear are FWF members. FWF started a working group with FWF members, FWF staff, CCC staff, representatives of municipalities in order to exchange experiences on clean purchasing. On 13 October 2004, a yearly meeting was organized by Bureau Sustainable Purchasing. Amsterdam is nominated for a price because of the guide they wrote on public procurement (and won, re.). This guide contains directions for purchasers on how to purchase work wear in a sustainable way. It refers clearly to FWF membership. Enschede has recently published a document for tender in which social and environmental criteria are inserted and that refers to FWF membership.

Solidaridad releases Made by label
Solidaridad, one of the Clean Clothes platform members, is releasing a new label, called Made-by. Kuyichi, Imps&Elfs and X-as are member companies. CCC regrets this initiative for a couple of reasons:

Ethical Procurement

Clean Clothes Communities
- We tried to create support in the municipal organization through public servants and buyers involved with the purchasing of work wear. This resulted in two meetings:
- 19 February in Utrecht: about 35 people attended this meeting, also from other municipalities. The Fair Wear Foundation was present as well. Utrecht prepared a resolution concerning clean purchasing policy.
- 26 March in Amsterdam (in cooperation with the Amsterdam bureau for municipal purchasing): 40 people attended this meeting. Amsterdam has become an important partner in the Clean Clothes Communities campaign. The bureau for municipal purchasing presented its guide on public procurement, which is adopted by the City Council of Amsterdam. This guide contains directions for purchasers how to purchase in a responsible way and has been widely spread, also to other interested municipalities, national government services, national platforms / organizations etc. Parties agreed upon a yearly evaluation on experiences and progress that has been made.
- The largest Dutch producers of work wear have become members of the Fair Wear Foundation. For municipalities, and for the Ministry of Defense, it becomes easier to purchase in a responsible way.
- A working group has been set up consisting of FWF members, CCC, and representatives of municipalities (a.o. Amsterdam). In June they met for the first time. Aim: exchange experiences and bring sustainable purchasing into practice. Many (local) governments don't know how to insert social criteria without conflicting European rules e.g. The FWF is preparing an information package which aims to inform buyers and member companies on sustainable purchasing.
- SOMO did research on the purchasing policy of the ministry of defense following the resolution adopted by the Dutch government end 2002. The conclusion is that the ministry of defense didn't want to be transparent on the accomplishment of the pilot project (part of the adopted resolution). Research also shows that the new European guidelines offer enough space to insert social and environmental criteria with public tendering.
- On request of a regional development organization in Groningen, CCC gave a training on its CCCommunities campaign, as inspiration for a possible future campaign.

New Publications and Materials

Spain - Campaña Ropa Limpia

Ethical Procurement

The Spanish Clean Clothes Campaign has initiated a new programme in September 2004, related to the ethical public procurement. For now, they are working around Barcelona and in the near future expect to extend this programme to other cities in Catalonia.

They are financed by:

There are three cities preparing their first "clean" order during 2005:

These three cities are going to take into account the degree of conformation to the basic ILO conventions.
CCC Spain has formed a work commission between civil servants to study the legal options to include this social criteria in their clothes purchases.

Activities

Sweden - Rena Kläder

Campaigns

Play Fair at the Olympics
The Play Fair Campaign resulted in more than 40 activities in nine different cities. This resulted in 16 000 signatures and signed action cards. Some of the activities:

After Play Fair at the Olympics
During "Play Fair" we didn't focus on Swedish Sportswear retailers, but they were approached by media during "Play Fair". After the campaign we will look at them more specifically.
Rena Kläder i skolan - Clean Clothes in School
From the 4th to the 8th of October approximately 70 high schools all over Sweden were visited by the local Trade Union Confederation office. The Trade Union activists brought an exhibition and brochures. They had small workshops in class rooms and showed the 10 minute version of "We Shop - Who Pays?". All material, including manuscript and power points for the presentations, was provided by Rena Kläder. The work was done by members of LO.
Young Swedish Fashion
There are a lot of popular Swedish brands with a high fashion profile. We have never paid too much attention to these brands but Fair Trade Center is going to do some research on these companies and their codes and purchasing policies. Depending on the results from the research we are planning a campaign in spring and summer 2005. These brands are new and very strong and a campaign targeting these companies will get a lot of attention in media. Some of the brands act on a bigger market then just in Sweden.

Other activities and Events
Book and library fair
On the Swedish Book Library Fair there is an area called "the International Square". Here you don't find publishers and authors, but solidarity organizations, activist networks, youth organizations and so on. This year you could also find Rena Kläder. Visitors could write action cards play the game "Match right scandal with the right brand". This game were designed for the festival tour, but used again on the fair. Rena Kläder was also introduced to the visitors on a stage two times.

Urgent Appeals

Ariya Textile Co Ltd., Thailand
A new case. The factory is a supplier to the Danish company B-Young and also to a Swedish sportswear retailer (with own brand) Stadium (the official supplier of the Swedish Olympic Team). So far we only sent faxes to the factory management, and to B-Young's sales office in Sweden.

Brand related work

Etikbarometern
Fair Trade Center did a comparison of the 14 biggest sport brands and retailers in Sweden. The research was published in Råd & Rön (Sweden's biggest consumer magazine). The clean clothes campaign in Sweden has decided to contact the companies that scored lowest in the comparison to put forward the CCC "demands".

Ethical Procurement

Clean Clothes Communities
A lot of preparation activities are going on. We will use a broader approach including more then just clothes. We will raise the issue, and ask other movements to do it as well (e.g. Fair Trade coffee). Ethical Procurements will be the special focus on the "Rena Kläder education weekend" in November. In January a book about ethical procurement will be published by Atlas. In this book the authors will sort out what is OK to do and what is not, according to the law, give examples on what has been done among communities in Sweden and in Europe, and an action guide both for politicians and citizens . This book will be the intellectual base for the coming campaign in Sweden and is sponsored by Rena Kläder. A lot of organizations outside the Swedish coalition are interested to work in this area. For example SKTF, the union for community officials, the union who are organizing the people that actually perform the public procurements.

- New Publications and Materials

Switzerland - Clean Clothes Campaign

Play Fair at the Olympics 2004

Results:
Swiss Olympics (=NOC):

Public Eye on Davos 2005
(=parallel conference to the World Economic Forum WEF, Jan. 2005)
Next January, the Berne Declaration and Pro Natura - Friends of the Earth Switzerland together with other NGOs will be hosting another "Public Eye" event. The highlight will be the award ceremony, which will be held on the evening of 25 January 2005 in Davos. Candidates for the awards are companies who have excelled in socially and environmentally irresponsible behaviour.

Assessment of retailers
In collaboration with a consumer organization a questionnaire has been send out to 34 companies. Very good response. Publication for a broad public: "Prêt-à-Partager". For the launch reports in newspapers, 10 minutes at the national radio at 8 o'clock in the morning and 2 pages in a magazine were spent.
Other relevant and inspiring news
Participation at the CSR-Group meeting of IGDS (the Intercontinental Group of Department Stores - including M&S, LaRedoute, K&Q, Manor, Jelmoli, and others) in Zurich (Sept. 9). Presented the position of CCC on CSR and the question of Monitoring and Verification.

United Kingdom - Labour Behind the Label

Campaigns

Play Fair at the Olympics
The Olympic report gave evidence of breaches of workers' rights by Umbro suppliers in China, Indonesia and Thailand. Umbro, not represented in the 2004 Olympics, was difficult to target by the PFOC but was targeted by LBL via its Euro 2004 campaign instead.
LBL's objectives were as identified by international campaign, in particular to exert pressure on 'B' brands and the British Olympic Association (BOA) and to bring Umbro to the discussion table.

Activities:

A meeting took place with Umbro, which ended with a commitment to look into the specific violations of workers' rights raised at the meeting and organise a meeting between LBH Bandung and Reebok and Umbro's South East Asian representatives. Following this, Reebok and Umbro have made recommendations to PT Teodore and LBH Bandung has been invited to participate in worker education programmes in the Bandung area. However, there is no evidence as yet that Umbro has taken appropriate steps to address workers' grievances at PT Teodore or the mass redundancies imposed on the workforce of subcontracting factory PT AK.

Umbro is engaged in dialogue with the PFOA alliance (UK), has applied for membership of FLA and is working with Reebok on code implementation and with ITGLWF on workshops on freedom of association in Vietnam and China.

LBL also participated in the lobbying of Roots, the British Olympic Association, the Greater London Authority, representatives of the UK government and members of Parliament and played an active role in lobbying within the ETI for a focus on purchasing practices.

Other activities
Fashion colleges
LBL has been building links with the teaching staff of Central St Martin's, the London College of Fashion, Cavendish College and the Surrey Institute of Art and Design and discussing the integration of a global and ethical dimension to their teaching programmes. All four have agreed to be part of a steering group to oversee the formulation of a funding proposal to DG Development.

Urgent Appeals
PT Busana (GPS/Lotto). Also disseminated Levi's (Haiti) and BGMEA (Bangladesh) appeals.

Partner Activities
Indonesia: LBL is working with LBH Bandung over PT Teodore (one of the factories featured in Olympic report) and PT AK (where entire workforce was made to resign under pretext of closure).

Public procurement
LBL is working with Cardiff University, which is conducting research on our behalf on the public procurement practices of local authorities and the extent to which ethical issues figure in the decision-making process.

New Publications and Materials
Briefing and action cards on Umbro.