Austria - Clean Clothes Kampagne

Tchibo
We took over the campaign information from Germany at the beginning of April and started an Austrian campaign on Tchibo and Eduscho. By now 3.000 signatures are collected. They were presented around the Vienna City Marathon of which Tchibo is a sponsor. This got us very good media coverage and a threat for a lawsuit from Tchibo.
Let's run fair-Vienna City Marathon
We organised at the Vienna City Marathon 2005 over 300 runners with CCC-shirts and actions targeting Tchibo and the Marathon. Two days before the Marathon all the runners have to go to a "Marathon trade fair" to get their starter number. The years before we were present at the trade fair with a stand and paid 3.000 Euros for it. This time we weren't allowed at the fair, so we did a manifestation the two full days at the entrance of the trade fair which brought us very good response from the runners and two threats for lawsuits from the marathon organizer and the trade fair-Vienna company. The media attention connected to Tchibo was also very good.
The action was supported by platform organisations and GPA (employee's union), GMT (garment and metal workers union) and the AK (chamber of workers).

CCC on TV
CCC managed to get on state television (ORF) twice in the report time: Weltjournal (news magazine) and Schöner leben (living beautifully - a lifestyle magazine)

CCC song
The Austrian comedian Georg Bauernfeind (not very famous till now, but good) managed to get into the final of the protest song contest with a CCC-song and got the fifth place out of ten there, which brought good media attention.
You can listen to the song at: http://doku.cac.at/bauernfeind_flugblattgedicht_song.mp3

Action handbook
We are still planning to write a new CCC action handbook for organisations and individual activists. This should come out at the end of summer.

Information and education
We participated in several festivals etc with information stands, and had several talks in schools and groups.

The appeals on Tchibo (which is not really a UA) and Spectrum sweater came out at the beginning of June. Südwind (the coordinating organization of CCK) did a fundraising mailing on the case of Spectrum to 20.000 supporters. CCC will report about it in the newsletter and do an urgent action at the beginning of June.

CSR
- We participate in civil society CSR discussions with TUs and NGOs. Also we take part in public round table discussions on CSR on regular basis. These discussions are starting to get concrete and there will hopefully be a "CSR civil society network" formally set up in the Autumn (CORE in the UK is the model for that).
- The Austrian CCC managed to get nominated by AGEZ (Austrian platform of NGDOs) for the "Fachnormenausschuss" that develops an Austrian position for the new ISO-Standard on CSR.

Roundtable on CSR in the garment industry
On the 26th of April we organised a roundtable on CSR in the garment industry. We brought together all relevant stakeholders (industry representatives, unions, NGOs). The CCC and FWF explained about monitoring and verification. The main success is that it happened with all the stakeholders participating, and the industry representatives even agreed to distribute a one page article on the CCC to their industry members in their newsletters. This way the companies are informed and can get in touch with us and or the FWF if they want to work together.

Fair Trade
We have ongoing discussions with Fairtrade Austria about the fair trade cotton issue.

Belgium (French + German) - Campagne Vêtements Propres

Other activities and Events
- Launch of the new website and new logo
www.vetementspropres.be
info@vetementspropres.be
carole@vetementspropres.be

Urgent Appeals
Haïti - Codevi : We did a follow-up of the action we launched in July 2004. We had a second meeting with Michael Kobori, Levi's global code of conduct director.
There was an agreement reached between Codevi - Grupo M and SOKOWA (trade union of the factory). They needed to increase the orders to rehire 151 workers, which Levi's agreed to do.
Bangladesh - Spectrum Sweater
- We had contacts with Belgian companies Cotton Group (B&C t-shirts) and Carrefour on the 14th of April, with demands published by the CCC

- We did a press release and update on the website
- We have a post card action planned from the second half of June to continue during the summer.

Ethical Procurement
We are preparing a campaign on clean communities for 2006 (elections on 8th of October 2006).

- Do we have to boycott Chinese workers : a fact sheet on garment production in China

Belgium North - Schone Kleren Campagne

Campaigns
Workshop 'Undress'
During a two day meeting of the Christian trade union we organised a quiz for 60 people on the garment industry and CCC. Rules of the game: you get a point when you give the right answer; you take off a piece of clothing if you give the wrong answer. At least three trade union leaders want to do the workshop with other groups.
Clean Clothes at Work
An evaluation of the project is on its way. We received several reactions from unionists working at big companies (hospital with 3000 workers, port of Antwerp) starting to demand clean clothes from their employer.
Turin 2006
We have begun preparing for the Olympic Winter Games.

Urgent Appeals
Daiyin Lanka - Sri Lanka
The Belgian NGO Wereldsolidariteit started an action in cooperation with the partner organisation National Workers Congress - the case is in court now.
Grupo M - Haiti
We had a second meeting with Michael Kobori, Levi's global code of conduct director. There was an agreement reached between Codevi - Grupo M and SOKOWA (trade union of the factory). They needed to increase the orders to rehire 151 workers, which Levi's agreed to do.
King Yong - Nicaragua
The Belgian NGO FOS started an solidarity action to support the Nicaraguan union STUFEKY in cooperation with the partner organisation La Mesa Sindical de la Maquila Nicaragua (MSLN) - the case is also dealt with by NLC, but we have no recent information. We gathered 510 signatures during a solidarity action day on May 17th. The participants (900 in total) received a piece of red cloth when they arrived. The pieces were sewn together by seamstresses to form a big red flag. This flag was also used for a Labour Day solidarity action.
Bangladesh
We followed up with Belgian companies (Carrefour, Cotton Group) and unions, and did a press release.

Monitoring and Verification
Nike
We did some press work around Nike's latest CSR report.

Ethical Procurement
Clean Clothes Communities
Till now, 71 communities adopted a motion (out of 300). Some communities included demands in public tenders; we are gathering information on this. We did a workshop during study day organised by the VVSG - Association of Flemish Communities.

Bulgaria - Women's Alliance for Development

Other activities and Events
We participated in two international meetings and three national ones, in Sofia and in Macedonia. On the last national meeting we finished our action plan for activities, and made an evaluation of the so far collected data. The main points in the action plan are:

Exhibition
After the 15th of September in three Bulgarian cities (Sofia, Dupnica and Haskovo) there will be three days' exhibitions related to the eight ILO work standards, and the working conditions in SEE countries. We prepared a detailed action plan for all events as part of the exhibition:
=The place -We decided that we need a popular place with a daily flow of people. Till now we arranged the lobby of the municipality building in Dupnica and the center space of the City-center-market in Haskovo. In Sofia we are negotiating with Sofia City Art Gallery.
=The music - We decided that our exhibition should have a music arrangement and we prepared an audio clip. In this clip we mixed sounds of textile/ tailoring factories, national music and child's laughter.
=The arrangement of different parts - Different parts of the exhibition will be separated with laundry ropes. On this ropes we will put different clothes.
=The exhibits itself - The exhibition contains:
· Main exhibits - eight pictures on textile, which will be the same in Macedonia and Serbia.

• Children's drawings (they made these drawings with different subjects - "I am alone at home because mama is working", "I grow up alone", "My mama in her work place")
• Cartoons on textile
• The eight standards printed on four big boards with pictures related to concrete situations.
• Jeans in parts - one pair of jeans will be cut according to percentages that show how much of the jeans price is for materials, for fabrics' owner, for work, etc. on each part we will put the exact amount.
• Solidarity T-shirt - on different T-shirts visitors will put paper buttons as expression of their solidarity. At the end these T-shirts will become exhibits expressing visitors solidarity.
• T-shirts for information material - on big T-shirt-shaped boards we will make pockets and on them we will put information materials and leaflets.

=Other activities during the exhibition - Official opening, mime sketch, free legal consultations during the exhibition for women workers who cannot afford a lawyer.

Partner Activities
Meeting in Bulgaria - Sofia, 17-19 February 2005
The first meeting of three country coordinators and their teams (Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia - two local activists from network organisations) was held in Sofia. Participants discussed and decided on the overall concept of the exhibition, technical solutions, ideas for public events (awareness raising and advocacy) and concrete work plan with specific deadlines. Baseline data will be collected in order to assess the impact of the project activities.
Meeting in Macedonia - Shtip, 27-29 May 2005
The second meeting of the three country coordinators and their teams took place in Macedonia. We combined this with an Advocacy training seminar. Action plans, the exhibition and public activities were discussed. We also designed the logo for our campaign.

France - Collectif De l'éthique sur l'étiquette

Campaigns
Play Fair Campaign ("Jouez le Jeu")
Second phase of the campaign: After phase one (national campaign) phase two is structured around local actions (meetings of ESE local groups with retail stores managers). Targets: Leclerc - Decathlon - Carrefour - Intersport - Auchan - Go Sport.
Among our 116 local groups in France, 44 have contacted store managers in their area - 160 stores have been contacted and about 50 meetings had taken place by the end of May. Decathlon in particular was a top target (Decathlon is the number 1 specialized retail chain for sporting goods in France, and the urgent appeal on MSP Sportswear coincided with the Play Fair Campaign). With a few exceptions, Decathlon local managers however refused all requests for meetings. Freedom of association and right to organize issues are likely to be on the top of the agenda. Other retailers were more responsive to requests for meetings at the local level, Auchan in particular.
Local groups have contacted local media for campaign updates and have organized press conferences with regional media to underline the importance of our call for transparency, not only at national level but also at the store level: consumers want to know and stores managers should know the position of their company. In one case, the mayor of a city which adopted ethical guidelines for public purchasing has asked to participate in such meetings to underline the link between ethical purchasing guidelines at the city level and the behaviour of local retailers.

Other activities and Events
MFA
We do ongoing media work in relation with the phasing out of the MFA.
Fair Trade
The growing interest in France for fair trade leads us to underline in this context the importance of issues related to human rights at work and demands and proposals of our campaign ESE.
Asia textile imports debate
We are doing media work on the topic. ESE organised with "forum citoyen pour la RSE" a debate at the National Assembly with participation of French garment and textile unions - attended by about 60 people.
Public meetings/Debates
About 20 meetings and debates have been organized locally - with presentation of experts, academics, etc. For instance with Christian Jacquiau, the author of a book on large retailers commercial practices ("Les coulisses de la grande distribution").
106 articles in print media have mentioned ESE since Jan 1st. We also gave occasional TV

Urgent Appeals
MSP - Meeting with Decathlon ESE and CFDT union took place in March. A press release was issued in March denouncing Decathlon's lack of responsiveness. Press coverage at national and local level followed. Communication focused on difference between Nike's role and Decathlon's.
Carrefour, Bangladesh - ESE has not taken a proactive role in the immediate aftermath of the factory collapse. ESE has been gathering the support of its members - unions in particular - toward relaying an urgent appeal from CCC on Carrefour. The appeal was launched in June in coordination with trade unions.

Partner Activities
Invitation of IFRT (India) in June
IFRT is an NGO partner in India of the CCFD, an ESE member organization, which is completing a study in order to gather feedback and observations of stakeholders in India in the textile, leather and garment sector, collecting views on our current activities and initiatives of other groups in the North as seen from India, the Southern perspective on various approaches on human rights at work including agreements involving unions and others, the role of public regulations and multi-stakeholders initiatives. Study to be completed between September and December.

Monitoring and Verification
A roundtable on monitoring and verification took place in Lille took place on June 2nd. This meeting was attended by around 60 people, including representatives from the EU, Fair Wear Foundation, local governments in France adopting ethical purchasing guidelines, representatives from national retailers and other companies, CCC groups and IS, IFRT (India) and AMRC (Hong Kong). The presentation of a global framework agreement signed at EDF (Electricité de France) including a clause on subcontracting attracted particular interest. Due to a transportation strike on the day of the event some participants could not attend. A follow up meeting will take place in Paris. The proceedings will be published in September.

Ethical Procurement
Cities members of the Public Purchasing working Group of United Cities France (CUF), a joint initiative of ESE and CUF, continue to meet regularly. One staff member of CUF is dedicated to this work. Ongoing work is taking place with them including discussion of initiatives on work wear and interest of the cities for a certification scheme of the supply chain (Yamana - "Fibre citoyenne"). Overall there is considerable and growing interest within the local cities and governments to work closely with ESE on this topic.

Factsheet on post-MFA (May 31).
New ESE institutional brochure published in June.

Germany - Kampagne für 'Saubere' Kleidung

Urgent Appeals
Evelyn Bahn started as an Urgent Appeals Coordinator for the German CCC in May 2005. She works at the INKOTA office in Berlin.
Spectrum Sweater
Various German Companies supplied from Spectrum/Sharia in the past years, including Karstadt and Steilmann. Two people from CCC attended the stakeholder-meeting of Karstadt/Quelle on April 24th in Düsseldorf and informed about the Spectrum Case.
Partner Activities
In cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, SÜDWIND Germany organised an evaluation workshop on codes of conduct and alternative labour tools' trainings for Indonesian unions and NGOs between 2002 - 2004 (12-16 May, 2005 Bogor/Indonesia). A report will be avaliable soon.

Monitoring and Verification
Hess Natur
A pilot project has been running since July 2003 with Hess Natur, the biggest nature garment (mail order) company and the German CCC. The aim of the project was to develop and to test a transparent verification system that is applicable also for smaller and medium sized companies. It was tested in Hess Natur suppliers in Germany, Poland, and Latvia.
On 28 April 2005 the results were presented at a press conference together with the German Minister for Consumers. The German CCC regards the outcome as very positive. The company has accepted all labour standards of the CCC Model Code, and has become the first one from Germany to join the Fair Wear Foundation. A multi-stakeholder group has been formed in Germany to cooperate with the FWF. Members are the IG Metall union (merged with the former textile union), CIR for the CCC Germany and Hess Natur.

Brand related work
Tchibo
A CCC working group started a 20.000 piece protest card action addressing Tchibo. In various workshops, panels and at street festivals the issue of workers' rights violations at Tchibo suppliers was raised. The media reported in various newspapers.
adidas
Sandra Dusch (CIR) and Christiane Schnura (CCC Germany) spoke at the adidas annual meeting and confronted the company with labour rights violations in Honduras.

Ethical Procurement
On December 6th 2004 in Düsseldorf a panel with experts spoke about garment purchasing of local authorities and the adherence to social standards.

- CIR published a protest postcard which asks adidas to become active in Honduras because of labour rights violations in the adidas supplier Hugger, and an action newspaper with further information.
- The Tchibo working group published a protest postcard addressing Tchibo, as well as an information leaflet and a booklet about workers' rights violations in Bangladesh connected to Tchibo.
- CCC Germany published a newsletter, which deals with the issue of clean clothes in local authorities.

International secretariat - Clean Clothes Campaign

Visit United Kingdom
From March 21st till 23rd, the CCC IS visited Labour Behind the Label, the CCC United Kingdom. We visited some of the partner organisations, discussed current issues and met with the Management Committee.
Euromeetings Improvement project
We have been occupied with a project to improve the European coordination meetings. She formed a small task group, to discuss past, present and future of the meetings. As outcome, a document was compiled with recommendations for future meetings, which was presented to the coordinators for input and comments. Some of the ideas for improvement have already been implemented, such as working with one outside moderator.
Organisation Euromeeting
The IS, in cooperation with CCC Austria organised and coordinated the European meeting, June 6th, 7th and 8th in Vienna.
Internship IS - CCC Austria
From June 3rd till June 9th, Marieke Eyskoot was on an internship with the CCC Austria, learning about the regular activities and preoccupations of national coordinators.
ETI conference
The CCC organised a side meeting at the ETI conference on Purchasing Practices, which was attended by European CCC coordinators and other NGO participants to the ETI conference. Almost all participants stayed on for the ETI conference.

Urgent Appeals
Cases
The IS team continued to work on a number of active urgent appeals cases - see designated section of website.

Impact Assessment Study
Since the last Euro meeting the UA Impact Assessment study has been edited, based in part on feedback from the UA workshop held Feb. 2nd in Brussels. A report on the February workshop was finalized and distributed. A second workshop, to share/discuss the study findings with those interviewed for the study in Asia and other key UA partners in recent years in Asia took place May 24-26th in Jakarta, Indonesia (coordinated locally by GSBI). Workshop participants were enthusiastic about this research initiative and the feedback process. A report on the workshop is now being written. A final version of the UA IA study, including the two workshop reports as appendices, will be distributed shortly. Points for more discussion that come out of the workshops will be put on the agenda for the next Euro meeting.
Capacity
The project funded by the Sigrid Rausing Trust to build UA capacity at seven of the CCCs is underway. Funds have been distributed to cover the cost of hiring people people to work on UAs two-days per week for a one-year period.

Partner Activities
Visit Bangladesh - Spectrum case
Jenneke Arens visited Bangladesh for the IS from 4-13 May 2005. The objective of her visit was to interview survivors of the Spectrum factory collapse and some families of workers who had died in the collapse. The aim was to get first hand accounts of what had happened that night and afterwards and also to further look into the general labour conditions in the Spectrum factory. The second objective was to meet with trade unions and NGOs who are supporting the Spectrum workers and their demands, in order to discuss strategies to forward their demands and to discuss what the international secretariat can contribute in this regard. In total she interviewed 36 workers or their families, mostly in the workers' homes.
Visit Morocco
The CCC IS conducted a fieldtrip to Morocco from March 18th until March 25th, visiting potential union and NGO partners, together with a representative from the Dutch CCC. A report has been distributed, and organizations have been approached concerning follow-up activities.
Visit Tunisia
The CCC IS conducted a fieldtrip to Tunisia from the 28th of March until the 1st of April, visiting potential union and NGO partners. There was interest from several of the women NGOs, the trade union and the FES. An e-mail has been sent around concerning follow up activities. Both visits would need follow up activities and underlined the need for French language information to be regularly sent around.
Visit Swaziland
SOMO organised, together with the ITGLWF-Africa region, from the 28th until the 30th of May, a workshop in Swaziland about campaigning activities on improving conditions in Asian owned factories (triangular solidarity). The workshop was attended by shop stewards and union representatives from 8 countries in East and Southern Africa, as well as representatives from organisations in Hong Kong and an organisation and trade union from Taiwan and organisations from the US.
We participated in a research meeting on Chinese migrant labour in garment producing factories in Namibia and Mauritius, which also took place in Swaziland.

Monitoring and Verification
Austria roundtable
The first of three 'national roundtables' planned under the DG Employment funded project was held on April 26th in Vienna. We gave a presentation of CCCs work, and Frans Papma presented the FWF , after which a discussion followed with about 20 Austrian industry, union and NGO representatives.

Brand related work
'CSR and responsible competitiveness'
The IS participated in a panel debate organised by the European Commission (DG Employment) about CSR and responsible competitiveness' on April 19. About 350 people attended the conference. Copies of the presentations of the different speakers can be found at DG Employment's CSR website.
Second rating and ranking meeting, Paris
The IS attended the second ("technical") meeting of the working group "rating and ranking companies" in Paris, May 9. In preparation for this meeting, the French and Swiss CCC had merged their instruments to rate and rank companies. Technical and more fundamental questions were discussed. In May and June the IS - with input from national CCCs - will continue to work on a proposal for a common database (incl. guide of terminology) and an outline of possible rating and ranking models.

Ethical Procurement
Public procurement research and meeting
The CCC has asked SOMO to in the coming months do research on companies that supply (local and national) governments. We want to extend our knowledge about the work wear market, and expand our entry points for the CCCommunities project. The targeted companies are selected out of the input the national CCCs have provided, on the basis of their European supply coverage (two of them are FWF members). About the seven companies a profile will be made, which deals with policy, codes, MSI-attendance, implementation of policy, (negative) press and what is known about the supply chain.
The outcomes of the meeting will be presented at a meeting in Spain, October 19th and 20th, which is organised by Albert Sales of Setem Barcelona. The first day could consist of presenting the outcomes of the research, and the consequences for and experiences of (local) authorities. We would like to invite CCCs, researched companies (part of the programme), SOMO, FWF, representatives of (local) authorities who have or haven't passed a motion. The second day could be for CCC only, discussing the strategical and campaign ideas taken from day one.
The steering committee has started preparing from June on.

Report informal labour seminar
The report of "Campaigning strategies on informal labour in the global garment industry" (Meissen, September 2004) is finalised and designed for the internet (English version only). It is also translated in German and Spanish, with a Russian version to come. Please distribute the report, together with the accompanying background paper, as widely as possible. See http://www.cleanclothes.org/campaign/homeworkmain.htm.
BSCI
The "Critical Assesment" of the BSCI paper is also finalised, and has been published in the last week of May.

Italy - Campagna Abiti Puliti

Campaigns
Olympic Campaign- toward Turin 2006
We're now planning the activities for Turin 2006 in collaboration with the CCC IS and grassroots groups in Turin.

Urgent Appeals
Spectrum Sweater - Bangladesh
We're undertaking the follow up of the case; since the beginning we tried to work very closely with the TUs, involving them in deciding the strategy with the companies.

Actions and media coverage:
- Release and updating on the case, information to activists and media, website.
- Common letter to the brands signed with TUs, sent in June, asking for a meeting.
- Negotiation with companies to get answers on our requests.
- Interview for an article published in "Io Donna" (Corriere della Sera weekly magazine).

CNMS (member of the coalition) is preparing the first Italian critical guide to textile and garment, focusing on the alternatives as well.

Alliance building with textile TU's in Italy
A collaboration agreement has been signed between the unions and the organizations in Abiti puliti; we're now trying to extend it to other organisations from the civil society.
After a joined seminar (NGO's, associations and TU's) held in June on Codes of Conduct and monitoring systems, the expected result is to build up a code of conduct integrating all concerns coming from CCC experience and to identify a process to negotiate it with companies in Italy. Our aim would be to become active part of this process, being involved in preparing the content and in the monitoring phase.

the Netherlands - Schone Kleren Kampagne

Campaigns
The follow-up of the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign is scheduled for the second half of this year.

Other activities and Events
Workshops and lectures:
- Lecture at school in the context of their fashion project
- Lecture and kick-off action at school for design, advertisement and communication: 200 students
- Belgian University students visited the CCC office to discuss CCC issues
Morocco visit
- We went on a fieldtrip to Morocco (March 18-25, 2005) in order to meet with organisations and unions and build up the network. The Dutch CCC will soon work out a 'Morocco plan' including a workers tour with Moroccan speakers and probably a publication.

Urgent Appeals
Global Sports Lanka (North Sails Lanka)
- March 5: flyer action at the Hiswa, water sport exhibition in Amsterdam.
- March 29: three years ago the 207 North Sails workers were dismissed by the local management. This is the reason for the FTZ&GSEU to call for an international action day. In Sri Lanka, North Sails workers and union members gathered in front of the FTZ gate, demanding to get back the dismissed workers and to respect the earlier agreed upon Memorandum of Understanding. The Dutch CCC organised a 'message in a bottle' action: 207 bottles with letters to North Sails were thrown in the sea, to make the North Sails case known worldwide. Got some media attention (radio and newspapers). A local surfing club requested the North Sails action cards after they heard it on the radio.
- Since last updates and appeal (Dec. 2004) no progress has been made: negotiations between CCC and GST/local management are deadlocked, despite a facilitator who tried to streamline these negotiations.
PT Tae Hwa (Fila)
- We wrote a New protest letter to Fila, including example letters to Robert Erb, Chief Marketing Officer of Fila, and the Dutch importer of Fila. This protest letter also contains updates on the Codevi (Haiti, Levis Strauss) and North Sails case, and introduces the Spectrum case in Bangladesh.
- We have done an action on June 28th: we made a short movie and tried to get regional TV and radio interested to broadcast it. On the same day we've shown the movie on a big screen in Amsterdam and distributed the protest letter.
Spectrum Sweater
- We've sent updates to the press, mailing lists and posted it on different websites.
- We had coverage on two national radio stations, and two short articles in magazines.
- We sent letters to members of the commission Economic Affairs (Dutch Chamber).
Dong Bang - Guatemala
Through one of the organizations in our platform, the Dutch CCC is involved in an urgent appeal for international assistance for a case of labour rights violations in a Guatemalan maguila (Dong Bang Fashions). Campaign for Labor Rights is following up on this. The Dutch CCC is preparing letters to Dong Bang management and ministries in Guatemala.

Monitoring and Verification
Fair Wear Foundation
- 28 April: the German company Hess Natur announced in the presence of German minister Renate Kunast that it is going to participate in the FWF.

Ethical Procurement
Clean Clothes Communities
- We had speaking time (twice) in council meetings of Amsterdam concerning the evaluation of the brochure ´clean clothes´, with which Amsterdam won a price in October last year. Conclusion was that the municipal buyers of work wear known this brochure, but are not following up the advices written down in it. The responsible civil servant promised improvement. Enschede used the Amsterdam guidelines in its public procurement document.
- We contributed to a meeting in Barcelona organized by CCC/Setem.
- Input has been given to the CCC research plan on work wear companies.
- The majority of the Dutch industrial garment producers are FWF member.

Dutch newsletter 'Schoon Genoeg', April 2005, with an article on the Urgent Appeal Impact Assessment Study, on BSCI and the Tamil Nadu Task Force.
Protest letter, May 2005, PT Tae Hwa (FILA suppliers) in Indonesia.
New exhibition: pyramid of cloth with pictures and text.

Serbia and Montenegro - Citizens' Association Felicitas

Campaigns
We focus on research, contacting workers, TUs, and other stakeholders.

Other activities and Events
For now we are collecting all sorts of information relevant for and related to the garment and sportswear industry in Serbia and Montenegro. During May and June we have prepared an exhibition about working conditions of women working in garment industry, as well as promotional material. With the exhibition we will prepare a programme for public debate and classroom activities, all of that for September 2005.
Collecting for and updating of our data base on garment and textile production in Serbia and Montenegro is an ongoing process.

Urgent Appeals
We translated the CCC booklet on Urgent Appeals, and we are trying to raise some money to print it in Serbian and distribute it to our partners in the country. We are also thinking about how to raise some funds to invite the coordinators of our region to inform us about it and to train people in our country.

Partner Activities
We work with Macedonia and Bulgaria on a joint project: an exhibition about workers' rights.

In Serbia, we work with Uzice Center for Human Rights and Democracy - Uzice and Center for Democratic Action - Lebane, on preparing the exhibition and promotional material, as well as meetings with TU representatives to establish more solid and concrete cooperation on the subject of garment and textile.

In preparation we have brochures, illustration material, photo exhibits, postcards, comic books, and leaflets in Serbian

Spain - Campaña Ropa Limpia (CRL)

Activities and Events
Press Events:
- Press release, 16th of April 2005: International Day against Child Labour
- Press release, 19th of April 2005: Spectrum Sweater case
- Press release, 25th of May 2005: CRL buys shares of Adolfo Domínguez to evaluate its commitment with Corporate Social Responsibility. CRL will participate in ADZ' shareholder's meeting.

- Interviews on TV and radio : following press release work, several representatives of SETEM (the NGO leading Spanish CCC) have been interviewed on the TV and radio in Basque Country, Madrid, Valencia, Galicia and Barcelona during April, May and June. The interest of journalists was mainly actions of CRL focusing 2 Spanish companies: ADZ and Inditex.

Urgent Appeals
We have taken up two cases:
* Spectrum Sweater case (Bangladesh) : e-mails and phone calls of concern to Inditex. Quite fluent relation between CRL and Inditex' CSR responsible person. But more pressure on Inditex has to be done.
* Shan Knitting case (Bangladesh): letter of concern sent to KELME. No answer from the company, which needs follow up.

- The main tool used by CRL for UA work has been press releases.
- We are working on creating a coalition of organizations around UA work and a group of cyber activists.
The organizations that we have contacted to reinforce UA work are: CECU (critical consumer organization), CRIC (Centre for Research on Responsible Consume), IO (Oxfam), Canalsolidario (internet Solidarity channel), Consume Hasta Morir (part of Ecologistas en Acción; ecologist NGO).
We have made contacts with two womens' organizations (one in Galizia, the other in Zaragoza) that have realized street actions against INDITEX in March and June.

Brand related work
INDITEX:
UA work (Spectrum Sweater case).
Shareholder's meeting: a representative of SETEM attended the meeting.
ADOLFO DOMÍNGUEZ (ADZ):
In May CRL-Setem bought shares in order to participate at ADZ shareholder's meeting. Good coverage in press, mostly media from Galizia (where headquarters of ADZ and Inditex are, North West region in Spain).

Ethical Procurement
Ethical public procurement in Catalonia
The Spanish Clean Clothes Campaign has initiated a new programme in September 2004 related to ethical public procurement. By now, we are working around Barcelona, and in the near future we expect to extend this programme to other cities in Catalonia.
Three cities are preparing their first "clean" order during 2005: Barcelona, Badalona and Manresa.
These three cities are going to take into account the basic ILO conventions.

Activities
- We have studied other experiences in Europe.
- We have distributed a guide about ethical public procurement to all municipalities in Catalonia.
- We have created the "Xarxa per la Compra Pública Ètica" (Ethical Public Purchasing Network). By now, this network is formed by 6 cities: Barcelona, Badalona, Manresa, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Gavà.
- We have created a technical commission which is working on the legal aspects of Ethical Public Purchasing. This commission is formed by the coordination team and civil servants and jurists from Barcelona, Badalona, Manresa and "Diputació de Barcelona" .
- We have created a website: www.ropalimpia.org/comprapublica
- In March we organised a meeting/workshop with more than 60 civil servants from 36 cities and towns.
- During 2005, Barcelona, Badalona and Manresa city councils will have realized their first "clean" order.
- We expect to be able to include at least 5 more cities in the programme during 2005-2006.

Sweden - Rena Kläder

Campaigns
Se Upp - Public Procurement
- Fair Trade Center gave two lectures on ethical public procurement at the yearly meeting of the national organisation of public servants working with public procurement. There was a big interest for this issue, around 100 persons came. We got two sorts of reactions: very positive by people already working or wanting to work with ethical demands, or negative from those who just consider this another thing that could increase their workload.
- The Swedish Association of Health Professionals adopted a motion that they will push for Clean Clothes in the Swedish health care.
- Action cards for Se Upp are printed in June.
Clean Clothes in School Phase 2 - New educational material
In 2004 we did a tour together with the Trade Union confederation to schools in Sweden. We decided to develop educational material for the schools to use themselves. We are developing ten workshops, which we are going to print in a book. A reference group of high school teachers is set up to give feedback on the material. The material covers more then just the garment industry and is developed together with Rättvisemärkt (Max Havelar in Sweden). The release of the material is scheduled for the end of September on Teachers day on the Swedish Book and Library Fair. Rena Kläder will work together with the education department of Swedish Teachers' Union to spread the material among teachers in Sweden.
- Fair Trade Center is planning to arrange a school tour in the Northern part of Sweden together with The Study Promotion Association.
Toy Campaign
Fair Trade Center released its translation of the report on toy production in China. The report confirms the widespread cheating at ethical controls and prevailing breaches of national law and international labour standards at factories audited by large international companies.
Clean Clothes Festival tour
The summer tour will start in June with Hultsfredsfestivalen. Petitions, action cards, games and fun will be presented there.

Other activities and Events
Jag:Konsument
The city of Stockholm runs a project, Jag:Konsument, with the purpose to teach teenagers to have a more critical view on their role as a consumer. On February 26 Jag:Konsument arranged a winter break festival. Rena Kläder together with a school called "The Global Highschool" contributed with a fashion show. Swedish Television filmed it.
Seminar on University of Karlstad
University of Karlstad arranged a seminar on "Political Consumerism". Fair Trade Center contributed in the panel with our points of view.
Rena Kläder in the most popular TV-show
The very popular TV-show "Plus" made a story about codes of conduct and purchasing practices. Joel was interviewed in the studio. "Plus" got the largest number of viewers that week (1 000 000 viewers).
Action in Norrköping
Activists in Norrköping did a street action on April 15.
Panel Global Week of Action
Together with Attac Stockholm Rena Kläder arranged a panel on April 16. Represented were Joel Lindefors, Carina Carlström (journalist) and Sverker Lindström (journalist) - 100 people attended.
Science festival in Gothenburg
We were invited by the Science festival of Gothenburg to give workshops for schoolchildren. We did this together with Rättvisemärkt to try out some of our ideas for our new educational material.
Lecture on Uppsala University
Rena Kläder gave a lecture on Uppsala University on May 11th. 100 students showed up.
Meeting with Norwegian Trade Unions and NGO's
In the end of February Joel went to Oslo to meet with representatives of the Norwegian Trade Union Confederation, Norwegian Church Aid, Future in our Hands/NorWatch and IEH (Norwegian version of ETI) to discuss the option to start up a Clean Clothes Coalition in Norway. Results: Norwegian Church Aid and Future in our Hands/NorWatch will have a meeting to discuss the possibilities to start a coalition.

Urgent Appeals
Spectrum Sweater
The news show "Aktuellt" did a broadcast about the tragedy on April 12th . Rena Kläder made comments live from the studio. Updates are put on website.
North Sails Lanka
We put the case on our website.

Ethical Procurement
Se Upp
For an update, please see "Campaigns".

Action cards, "Johanna" and "Dan". Language: Swedish.
Book about Public Procurement, "Se Upp". Language: Swedish.
Action cards on Public Procurement, "Albin". Language: Swedish.

Switzerland - Clean Clothes Campaign

Other activities and Events
Global Week of Action (10.-16. April 2005) + new leaflet
We organised some public debates in St. Gallen (with Manor/Athleticum and Coop), Sursee (Calida) and a street action in Zurich (focussed on PKZ-Group). The week of action attracted media attention, which was used to comment on the Spectrum Sweater urgent appeal and about the Tae Hwa urgent appeal (article in the main consumer magazine with print run of 150.000 copies and on the daily talk in the national radio). Since April, the new leaflet for activists has been distributed broadly.
2005: UN Year of Sport, Development and Peace - public discussions
Because of the UN Year of Sport many people are interested in the sporting goods industries and order the report "Play Fair at the Olympics". Public debates on labour practices in sportswear industries and about the outcome of the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign were held in April and May in Glarus, Luzern and St. Gallen.
Article on MFA Phase Out
We published an article on the MFA phase out and the negative impact of trade liberalisation, which is against the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aim to reduce poverty (goal 8: role of private sector).
Public debates on China
We organised a public event with Harry Wu, Executive Director of the Laogai Research Foundation about forced and prison labour in China in March. There are also garments for export produced in labour camps and prisons in China. But it is extremely difficult to investigate in that sector.
HKCIC visit
In April there were some friends from HKCIC in Switzerland at the Baselworld - the biggest watch and jewellery fair. Ka Wai and Parry came to Basel for a public debate and for lobbying against bad labour conditions in the Chinese jewellery industries. Workers suffer under extremely poor working conditions. Polluted by the large amount of dust, they have contracted the horrible occupational disease of pneumoconiosis.

Brand related work
ISCOM (NEW: www.is-com.org)
ISCOM is a Swiss non-governmental organisation founded in September 2004 by Max Havelaar-Foundation (Switzerland), Bread for all and Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund in 2004. Partner companies sign a contract with ISCOM in order to underline their commitment for the verification. Switcher and Migros have been among the initiators of this Multistakeholder Initiative. In a first phase, in 2005, emphasis will be laid on defining and evaluating details of the verification methodology. Local networks in India and China will be built up. The Fair Wear Foundation (Netherlands) and ISCOM ex-change closely on their approach to verification. For the future, both ISCOM and FWF intend to be part of a European Verification Initiative.

Alternative Shirt Project
Design competition at the Design&Fashion School in Basle: in one class they design an outfit for a football team (shirt and short pants). As an alternative to the market this will be produced according to CCC-standards at the school for the whole team (fashion show in September 2005).

United Kingdom - Labour Behind the Label

Campaigns
Fila campaign: A 4 page briefing on FILA and campaign postcard to send to the UK subsidiary.

Urgent Appeals
Spectrum: We worked with ETI members to write a letter to the BGMEA and Bangladeshi knitwear association to fulfill the demands of the workers.
PT Tae Hwa: Fila have failed to respond to our letters about the factory.

Ethical Procurement
Desk research into the main work wear suppliers has been carried out. A briefing has been drafted for buyers in local authorities/public service providers, and for campaigners.
Communications with one local authority has taken place regarding a pre-tender questionnaire.

FILA briefing (see above).
Tesco briefing (see above).
New LBL leaflet.
Bulletin focusing on informal work.