Research underway

The reality of subcontracting
Increasingly, garment production work is being subcontracted, distancing brand name companies from their responsibilities and creating more job insecurity and pressure on garment workers. There is still a lot to be learned about the processes that effect the lives of so many women workers -- where is power located within subcontracting chains and who makes the important decisions that impact workers? Women Working Worldwide, a UK women's organization that is part of the UK CCC, moves into the second year of an ambitious two-year project on garment industry subcontracting chains. The first year of the project has focused on research. During this initial phase, ten organizations in nine countries have been documenting the structure of the garment industry in their countries and mapping the actual subcontracting chains of specific companies (all the way down to homeworkers, where possible). In the project's second phase the focus will shift from information gathering to education, organizing, and advocacy work. The project is action-oriented, involving workers and activists in the documenting the structure and problems in the industry, as well as ideas for solutions. For more on this project, see the Women Working Worldwide website http://women-ww.org.uk.

Tracking companies operating in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's garment industry, which includes 891 factories, according to 2001 government figures, is one of the country's fastest growing industry. Workers (approx. 70% women) report a variety of problems in the workplace, ranging from forged overtime, unreasonable high production targets, and union repression to sexual harassment and violations of national labor laws. In evaluating the effectiveness of campaigns to address these violations, labor rights activists in Sri Lanka noted that they often lacked adequate research and data on the companies involved. To remedy this situation the Centre for the Welfare of Garment Workers (CWGW), based in Colombo, launched a database project to compile information on garment, textile, footwear, and related industries. The English-language database will bring together information on foreign investment and export-oriented companies that operate in Sri Lanka. So far the project has gathered financial and corporate structure details on 500 garment companies, and has traced the international subcontracting chains for about 10 of these companies. In addition, 75 companies have been surveyed on basic working conditions. So far, 150 brand labels have been identified in the factories covered by this research project. Its estimated that these facilities produce for many more brands. CWGW reports that so far the database, accessible to unions, researchers, and workers rights organizations, has been a useful resource for campaigns, researchers, in factory disputes, and, in training programs. For more information on this project, contact CWGW at 141 Ananda Rajakaruna Mawatha, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.

Tracing Labels

Many databases can be found on the Internet to help research garment companies and determine which brands are owned by which companies, however there is often a cost involved. However, there are some useful Internet resources that are free of charge.

- A free database at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/rn/rn.htm can be used to look up who owns the brand name of a garment. By using an RN (for U.S. textile products), CA (Canadian) or WPL (U.S. wool product) number, found on the labels of garments sold in the U.S. or Canada, information can be found about brand names and companies.
- To find out more about the corporate structure of some multinational corporations, try checking Hoover's Online, a database of business information, some of it available for free <http://www.hoovers.com/ >.
- A detailed document on how to investigate a multinational corporation can be found at http://www.corpwatch.org/resrch/
invest.html under the heading How to Investigate an Individual TNC.
- Another useful website is the Multinational Resource Clearing House, found at http://www.essential.org/mrc/