| | NEWSLETTER
16, February 2003 New Report Documents Working Conditions in
Southern Africa |
A just-released (December 2002)
report entitled "Made in Southern Africa" documents the findings of
a two-year research project that investigated garment industry conditions in Swaziland,
Botswana, Mauritius, Madagascar, and Lesotho. The picture is not pretty.
Researchers,
from the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) in the Netherlands
and the Trade Union Research Project (TURP) in South Africa, found a variety of
serious workplace problems, ranging from union repression and low wages to forced
overtime and health and safety concerns. This lengthy report (97 pages) includes
a profile of the industry in each of the countries studied, as well as individual
factory profiles and a discussion of the impact of the African Growth and Opportunity
Act (AGOA), the expansion of the US General System of Preferences that went into
effect in 2000, on the garment industry.
Prior to this study, carried out
between 2000 and 2002, there had been little documentation of working conditions
in this sector in the region. The vast amount of information gathered together
in this report will be useful to those seeking to get a better grasp of the reality
faced by garment workers in Southern Africa. The researchers involved in this
project stress that their aim was to carry out campaign-oriented research, i.e.
connect their findings to good use by having a link to worker organizing or education
efforts, and direct action initiatives to pressure companies for improvements
in the industry and the empowerment of garment workers. The chapter on Lesotho
demonstrates the potential of a commitment to such follow up to research, documenting
the events that took place to date following the dissemination of the research
findings there, including a government level investigation into industry conditions.
To get a copy of this informative report, please contact the CCC International
Secretariat (e-mail: info@cleanclothes.org).
Or
download it in pdf from
this website: 
3284 kb)
