Index

NEWSLETTER 12, MAY 2000 The Clean Clothes Communities

The Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign started independently from the European CCCs on Labour Day in 1996. Since then, over 7,800 people have signed the petition which states that the garments that are being sold in Bangor should be produced ethically.

In June 1997 the city council adopted a resolution: 'We, the Bangor City Council, declare that all garments for sale in our community, produced in the US or abroad, should be manufactured in accordance with established international codes of corporate conduct regarding wages, workplace health and safety, forced labour, child labour, and freedom of association, as embodied in United Nations (UN) and International Labour Organisation (I.L.O.) conventions'. This is a non-binding resolution.
Now, more and more retailers are joining the Clean Clothes Retailers Partnership. They are developing a Clean Clothes inventory section which is based on clear and verifiable data. These criteria include designated union labels, Clean Clothes certification from independent monitors and Fair Trade Federation endorsements. Furthermore, they should support anti-sweatshop campaigns.
Consumers can join the Bangor Clean Clothes Consumer network. It publishes bulletins for consumers, alerts them to the worst offenders in the global sweatshop industry and gives them ideas about specific actions they can take. The network conveys a strong message to name-brand companies who use sweatshop labour in the production of garments. Activated shoppers will enlist Bangor retailers who sell garments that violate Clean Clothes standards. These retailers will be pressured to adopt ethical production practices.

For more information on Bangor see: http://www.pica.ws/cc/bgrccc.htm

The Netherlands
The campaign towards Clean Clothes Communities in the Netherlands is inspired by the example of the Bangor community. The campaign encorporates all kinds of local activities on a municipality level, performed by local groups and directed towards companies, consumers and local government and politicians. The aim is to get more attention on labour conditions in the garment industry in different parts in the Netherlands and to offer consumers concrete steps to work towards improvements in this sector. In addition to labour standards, environmental regulation also plays an important role in the Clean Clothes Communities campaign. In the factories where sport shoes and garments are made, a lot of unhealthy materials are being used in the manufacturing phase of the textiles, which is damaging both the environment and workers' health.

Plan of action
The Clean Clothes Campaign is contacting local groups in different parts of the Netherlands. There are now active groups in three cities. Groups in ten other cities will be contacted in the near future. The groups receive a manual which gives them practical information on companies, municipalities and consumers. It also includes information on organising actions and activities, how to reach the press, and how to raise money. Ideally, the local groups are going to develop actions such as a postcard-campaign (for example together with the fair trade shops), organise a skate-marathon for youngsters or an information/discussion evening, an exhibition, an alternative fashion-show with clean clothes etc. All the publicity and interest that is thus generated can serve to push the local government into accepting a resolution to become a Clean Clothes Community and to get local shops and companies to become active in improving labour conditions.

Local agenda 21
The basic idea is to hook up with a "local agenda" on international trade relations. This Local Agenda was set up after the UN-conferention in Rio in 1992. The idea was that local communities should work with citizens on a local level to achieve a more sustainable world in the 21st century. Sustainability is used here in the broad sense so that both a more environment-friendly as well as a socially fairer world should be the goal. Local campaigns are offered a means of addressing international solidarity issues and influencing companies, (other) consumers, and local political parties. The Clean Clothes Community fits in very well with this idea and enables us to connect with groups who are already working on local agenda 21.

Fair wear
Fair wear, the trademark for the Fair Wear Charter in the Netherlands, aims to guarantee that products in the shops that carry the trademark are made under good labour conditions. In March 1999, a foundation was formed, which consisted of labour unions, NGOs and associations of companies. Besides the basic code of conduct, a very important part of the Fair wear trademark is independent monitoring and verification. At this moment, the foundation is engaged in a pilot project which will be used to set up a workable monitoring system. If everything goes well, we hope to welcome the first Fair wear garments on the Dutch market at the end of 2000. There are already labels for environmentally-friendly clothing. In the Netherlands this means that the material for the garment is produced organically.

Consumers
In order to achieve anything in this area it is an absolute necessity to inform and mobilise consumers. To make the Fair wear trademark successful, consumers have to let companies know that they think it is important that the garments and sportshoes they buy are being made with respect to labour conditions and environmental laws. It is therefore important that the local groups provide consumers with information on the violation of labour laws in certain factories which produce for the shops they buy their products in. Actions directed towards a certain company or shop can then be organised, asking the company to improve labour conditions in their factories.

Companies
Consumers are in the position to put pressure on companies. They can ask the companies to implement a good code of conduct and to prove to them that the labour conditions really do improve by having an independent monitoring and verification system. But also shops, even local shops, can ask their suppliers to accept codes of conduct. Local branches can ask their headquarters to take action. And we don't have to restrict ourselves only to shops and producers. In different sectors, for example in hospitals, employees are required to wear uniforms. The majority of these uniforms are being made in Eastern Europe or Asia. These institutions and companies could be approached.

In the Netherlands, in the coming period, we will be asking groups to focus on Dutch companies who have inadequate codes of conduct that fail to mention important labour rights, and who have no form of control to make sure that this deficient code is indeed being followed. These companies, Hunkemoller, Bijenkorf, Vroom & Dreesman and the Hema, have shops all over the Netherlands.

Municipalities
If groups can persuade their city governments to adopt a resolution, they can become a 'clean clothes community'. In order to achieve this, the city council has to accept the following: 'The city council has to accept the demands of the Fair Wear Charter, similar to the CCC-code of labour practise. The city council should have a critical look at the internal policy, evaluate this on a regularly basis and should make plans to 'clean up' the city, which means that as part of government procurement or when making investments they should ask for clean clothes; both socially and environmentally.'

The government in the Netherlands is, in general, the country's biggest consumer, although this is not true for garment ofcourse. Therefore by asking them to clean up their buying policy, and requesting selective purchasing, there would be yet another incentive for business to start taking workers' rights seriously. The Dutch government spends twelve million Euro on garments and all the municipalities together spend twenty million Euro. Different sectors of the municipalities wear uniforms, such as the fire department, or the public transportation sector. Unfortunately, the municipality does not act as one large buyer. On the contrary, most departments of the municipalities procure independently. To channel the efforts, the best approach might be to make an appeal through the city councils on all the departments together.

In Amsterdam, different political parties are now studying a resolution written by the Clean Clothes Campaign, asking the city council to take labour and environmental conditions into account in their buying policy. So far, reactions are positive and who knows, Amsterdam might well be the first clean clothes community in the Netherlands.

Government procurement
Since 1 January 1996, certain government procurements fall under a treaty of the WTO. If a government (this also includes municipalities!) is making a purchase above 222,000 Euro (for national government this amount is 144,000 Euro), it has to put out a call for a tender. When procurements fall under the WTO treaty, one is not allowed to make distinctions between products concerning the way that they are made. This means that it is practically impossible to demand from a company that it uses the Fair Wear Charter because that would be discrimination. If a government decides to do business with a company because this specific company respects labour rights, other companies who did not get the assignment can complain at the European Court of Justice.

France
Campagne 2000 : pour l'école, consommons éthique (for schools : be ethical consumers)
The French Clean Clothes Campaign has started actions aimed at institutions on a local level. Towns, public administrations, schools, universities, hospitals, post offices, etc. are all important consumers and their involvement will strengthen the campaign. Besides this, there will be a lobby of those companies that are suppliers of the schools that are paid out of town council's budgets, and of retailers where parents and children buy their garments, shoes, books, school bags... to enlarge and strengthen the pressure on of companies.

They will focus on all articles that are bought by the towns, by teachers and by families for schools, with a special focus on garments and shoes. The importance of this becomes clear when knowing that purchases of garments and shoes - often sportswear - represents more than 30 percent of the family budget before the start of the new school year in August and September each year.

The goal is to have, between February and September 2000, 50 town councils that will vote in favour of a statement in which they say they want to be ethical consumers and will act accordingly. They should ask their suppliers to give information on their sourcing policy: do they have a code of conduct, how is it implemented and monitored?

French parliament law
In May 1999, the French parliament voted on a law saying that towns, schools and families should not buy products made by children. The law is not an obligation, more an encouragement. The law also stipulates that children should be educated/informed on children rights. The French Clean Clothes Campaign will use that law to convince towns to become "ethical consumers" and to participate in the creation of a social label and in the information/education of the inhabitants of the town (children and adults) in favour of ethical consumption. Of course, the towns will be asked not to work only on child labour but to engage on all the workers' rights included in the model code of conduct.

Actions :
The campaign started in February 2000. 20 May is a national action day: the beginning of an educational and lobby campaign aimed at the large French retailers linked to the time that families will go shopping for the beginning of the school year. The French campaign will disseminate a "report"card, inspired by the reports that are given to students by schools every three months in France. After three postcards campaigns targeting companies the time had come to find a new campaigning tool. In September, when the schools open again, a press conference will be held to report on the results of the campaign.