Index

NEWSLETTER 13, NOVEMBER 2000 Reading List

The CCC has received a variety of interesting publications in recent months. Here's a sample of what we've been reading. If you're interested in obtaining copies of these publications, please take note of the ordering information after each summary.

• Asia Pacific Labour Law Review 1999 , published this year by the Asia Monitor Resource Center Ltd. and APEC Labour Rights Monitor (AMRC and ALARM), provides a comprehensive summary of labour law in various Asia Pacific countries. This useful reference book covers Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan), South East Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand), North East Asia (South Korea), South Asia (Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) and Australasia (New Zealand). Each concise entry, written by various contributors, provides a brief general history, information on unions, labour law, the labour grievance system, migrant workers, and international labour standards of each of the places covered. Two additional entries on child labour legislation and migrant workers and labour law are included. AMRC reports that anti-labour legislation has been passed recently in many countries and that the trend towards increased informal work is also being incorporated into national laws. This volume is the beginning of an ongoing research project which will continue to monitor changes in national laws, international conventions and how individual countries implement (or fail to implement) laws in the coming years. To order a copy of this 122-page book, contact AMRC:

AMRC
444 Nathan Road, 8-B
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: 852-2332-1346
Fax: 852-2385-5319
E-mail: amrc@pacific.net.hk
http://home.pacific.net.hk/~amrc

• Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards by Lance Compa, is a study published in August 2000 by Human Rights Watch. Compa reports on workers' rights violations by employers, inadequate enforcement of workers' rights by government, and the legal obstacles that hinder workers' exercise of the right to freedom of association under international labor rights standards and offers recommendations to address these issues. Most of his suggestions call for legislative action. Interestingly, he finds that actions by U.S. courts in the arena of labor law have often acted to curtail workers' rights. Despite a trend in 1999 to halt declining union membership, worker self-organization and collective bargaining in the U.S. are currently at historically low proportions (13.9 percent of workers are union members, while in the 1950s more than 30 percent of the total workforce belonged to unions). This 213-page report also touches on rights of association outside the context of trade unionism (for example, the right of workers to seek legal assistance for work-related problems). But most of the Human Rights Watch investigation deals with workers' attempts to form unions and bargain with their employers. Among the various case studies included in this report is one on New York City apparel sweatshops. To order Unfair Advantage, contact Human Rights Watch at:

HRW
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299
Tel: +1-212-290-4700
Fax: +1-212-736-1300
E-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org
http://www.hrw.org

• Recently the Guatemalan organisation COVERCO (Commission for the Verification of Corporate Codes of Conduct) published their second public report (August 2000) on their independent monitoring pilot project with Liz Claiborne Inc. (LCI).

  In 1996, LCI initiated conversations with a number of representatives of Guatemala's civil society about the possibility of beginning independent monitoring of working conditions in Guatemala. As a member of the Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP), LCI has adopted the AIP Workplace Code of Conduct as their own Standards of Engagement and Human Rights Policy.

Following these conversations several of the Guatemalan participants came together in 1997 to form COVERCO, a not-for-profit NGO. By mid-1998, COVERCO began talks with LCI about implementing a pilot project on independent monitoring at their supplier factories near Guatemala City. The terms of the study were negotiated over the next several months, and COVERCO visited one factory in November 1998. The pilot project began in January 1999. LCI agreed that COVERCO would have uninhibited access to the factory, would be able to set up occasional meetings with factory management and would have full access to factory records.

COVERCO agreed to provide LCI with regular updates on the situation at the factory, highlighting cases of non-compliance with LCI's Standards of Engagement. In addition, COVERCO committed itself to presenting periodic public reports summarizing their findings. This is the second such report. In return, LCI agreed to maintain fluid communication with COVERCO and with management of the local factory, and to take appropriate measures to ensure compliance with their Standards.

The first COVERCO report covers the project period November 1998-July 1999, the second deals with developments between August 1999- May 2000. Both reports are available at the CCC website: <http://www.cleanclothes.org/codes/monrep.htm>
Or can be ordered directly from COVERCO, contact them at:
Comisión de Verificación de Códigos de Conducta
1 Calle 7-68, Zona 1, Edificio Peña segunda nivel, Oficina B
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala, C.A.
Tel: (+502) 232-0195 Fax: (+502) 253-5025
e-mail: coverco@terra.com.gt
mail only: GUA 629, 8424 NW 56th St., Miami, FL 33166 USA

• Sustaining the Rag Trade: A Review of the Social and Environmental Trends in the UK Clothing Retail Sector and the Implications for Developing Country Producers by Nick Robins and Liz Humphrey (April 2000) is a report published by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) on the clothing sector in the UK and their purchasing and supply chain policies. The sixty-page study includes case studies of five leading clothing retailers in the UK (Marks and Spencer, Next, C&A, Bhs and Littlewoods) that represent different positions and entry points into the mass fashion market in the UK and at the same time reveal different priorities and understanding of sustainability. The case studies are based on a mix of interviews, corporate literature and secondary sources.

  The authors believe that "the challenge now facing the 'rag trade' is whether its largely defensive efforts to minimize social and environmental risk can be transformed into a coordinated strategy for the sustainable development of the supply chain: improving performance, sharing benefits and broadening accountability." Their report, part of IIED's Stimulating Sustainable Trade project which aims to provide practical guidance on how to expand exports of sustainable goods and services from the developing world to the European Union, attempts to answer this by looking in detail at the UK clothing retail sector. The report "emerges out of a need expressed by IIED's partners in the South to better understand the demand-side factors that are driving social and environmental performance into the heart of trading realities."

A summary of this report can be found here on our website
To order Sustaining the Rag Trade, contact:
IIED
3 Endsleigh Street
London WC1HoDD
+44-171-3882117
mailbox@iied.org
http://www.iied.org/

• In Business and Human Rights in a Time of Change , published in February 2000 by Amnesty International's UK Business Group, author Christopher Avery tries to shed light on the "context and the drivers of change which are propelling companies towards new norms of policy with regard to the protection of human rights." The purpose of the report is "to provide terms of reference and sources of material for company managers responsible for policy development in this area." This 108-page report looks at initiatives by companies, human rights advocates, governments and the United Nations and includes a case study on Nike. Avery, an international lawyer, is also the author of Liability of Multinational Corporations under International Law (Kluwer International Law).

To order a copy of this report contact:
Amnesty International UK
99-119 Rosebery Avenue
London EC1R 4RE
Tel: +44-020-7814-6200
Fax: +44-020-7833-1510
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/business

• Another recent report that looks at the behavior of corporate actors is Business Responsibility for Sustainable Development , written by Peter Utting and published by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. "This paper assesses the reality behind the claims of some sectors of business that an increasing number of large firms are adopting policies and practices conducive to the promotion of sustainable development, particularly in developing countries….The question of why some sectors of business are changing reveals an answer that has less to do with a new-found ethical concern among corporate executives for the environmental and social condition of the planet, than with economic, political and structural factors. These include so-called 'win-win' opportunities, the possibility of enhancing competitive advantage, 'reputation management,' pressure group and consumer politics, regulation or the threat of regulation, and changes in the way production and marketing are being organized globally." The report concludes with some reflections on how the trends associated with corporate environmental and social responsibility might be "scaled up and 'deepened" so that business can make a more meaningful contribution to sustainable development. To order this 48-page report, contact:

UNRISD
Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Tel: +41-22-917-3020
Fax: +41-22-917-0650
E-mail: info@unrisd.org
http://www.unrisd.org

• Behind the Label: Inequality in the Los Angeles Apparel Industry by Edna Bonacich and Richard P. Appelbaum (2000, University of California Press) is a fascinating case study of the Los Angeles garment industry, the largest garment-producing center in the United States. The authors, both residents of Southern California say that they are appalled by the growing social division of their society, and with this book their goal is "to describe in detail the way in which race and class inequality is reproduced in one industry in one location." While the topic might be limited, they say that it's paradigmatic and an example of the social system works. "We believe something is horribly wrong and we want to demonstrate how this has come about," write authors Bonacich and Appelbaum, in their preface. They note that in the past, some authors (usually economists or business school people) have focused on the top end of the industry (fashion and business development) and others (usually sociologists) have looked at the experiences of garment workers and contractors. The literature, they write, mirrors the polarization of the industry. With their nearly 400-page volume, which presents ten-years of research, the two try to bridge that gap. In detailing the garment industry in Los Angeles and the return of the sweatshop, Behind the Label tells the story of an industry that serves a niche market and demands quick turnaround -- the smaller companies and those that specialize in womens wear that has short runs and constantly changing styles; which employs immigrant (often undocumented) workers at low wages.