CCC Task Force in India

Today India is the one of the largest garment manufacturing countries in the world. The textile and garment sector accounts for 30% of the country's exports and provides employment to 15 million people.

The knitwear industry is a unique and distinct part of the industry. As a center of the knitwear industry, Tirupur, located in Tamil Nadu in southern India (now popularly known as "knit city"), contributes extensively to the country's foreign exchange earnings due to its activity in this sector. The knitwear industry has also spread to the Madras Export Processing Zone and districts and regions adjacent to Tirupur.

To better address the needs and interests of workers in the garment and allied industries in the region, 19 NGOs from Tamil Nadu launched a network to November 2001 that will work in tandem with the Clean Clothes Campaign. Network members created a task force to work specifically on CCC projects.

SAVE [Social Awareness and Voluntary Action, based in Tirupur] is serving as the coordinating organizations in terms of logistics and communications among the Task Force members. A coordinator has been hired to carry out a variety of tasks, including:

collecting relevant data and creating a research database,
getting more people involved in Clean Clothes Campaign activities,
coordinating the work of the different members of the network in the region,
serving as a contact point and liaison office for trade unions, consumer groups, and other organizations,
initiating a dialogue with government officials,
raising public awareness of working conditions in the garment industry in India and worldwide, labor rights, and the CCC and the international movement to improve working conditions, and
facilitating communications between member organizations and distributing relevant information throughout the network.

Task force activities

The task force plans to publish a poster and a calendar, highlighting the concepts of CCC among trade unions, non-governmental organizations, labor agencies, consumer groups and other networks in order to attract more membership.

The task force's major activity in 2002 was a two-day workshop held November 29 and 30th in Chennai to discuss labor standards in garment and allied industries and the conceptual orientation of the CCC in Tamil Nadu. Sixty-two participants from NGOs; trade unions; consumer organizations; governmental institutions from Tamil Nadu, New Delhi, and Mumbai; UNICEF; the ILO; labor officials; labor researchers; and Asian CCC network partners joined this meeting. A representative of the India Committee of the Netherlands was on hand to represent the CCC International Secretariat.

The workshop aimed to clarify the concepts and context underpinning the CCC's work (including the development and use of the CCC's model code of conduct). Other goals included the development of a regional strategy in relation to labor rights issues, and specifically identifying new areas for attention within the Tamil Nadu context; the strengthening of the CCC movement in Tamil Nadu, and connecting to other workers rights advocates. Participants drafted an action plan for the coming year, which includes capacity building training sessions, fact finding, policy advocacy, and hte publication of a newsletter. The action plan is set to be finalized by the end of January 2003.

Contact information:
CCC Task Force - Tamil Nadu
C/o SAVE
5, IswariyaNagar
KNP Colony, Dharapuram main road
Near Government Hospital
Tirupur 641 608
Tamil Nadu, India
www.indiaccc.org