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NEWSLETTER 19, July 2005
Clean Clothes Communities: Focus on Work Wear
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Governments have a key role to play in ensuring that
good labour standards are enforced, not only by regulating
the pri-vate sector but in their own activities. At local
and national levels, they spend millions on uniforms, for
example. The CCC believes that all work wear worn by public
workers should be produced in workplaces that respect workers'
rights. Through community-council targeted action, lobby
and research, the CCC is already seeing positive results.
Each year, towns and cities across Europe spend a huge
amount of money on clothing for municipal services such
as the fire department, cleaning, and public transport.
Until recently, however, how well or badly the workers who
make this work wear are treated was not a factor in their
purchasing decisions. But all that is starting to change.
A plan to better coordinate CCC activity on this front
was develop-ed in October 2003, at a meeting in Paris of
CCCs from six European countries plus the CCC International
Secretariat. There it was decided that municipal buying
and procurement ought to be a key focus for community activists
looking to set up "Clean Clothes Communities"
or CCCommunities, as they've come to be known. It would,
for example, also help to strengthen local CCC campaigning
and public awareness-raising.
It was decided that the "CCCommunities" campaign
would mainly focus on social standards. However, municipalities
should also address ecological issues, and so this is an
area where CCC groups can work together with environmental
activists. At the meeting, the CCCs decided what they would
demand of the communities, and set out these demands in
a model resolution that communities should be pushed to
adopt (see the box).
Some national CCCs had already been working on this area
prior to the meeting, and since then, CCCommunities campaigns
have taken off in a number of countries. Today:
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In France , no fewer than 250 communities,
large and small, have adopted a resolution to take labour
standards into account when tendering for new clothing
orders. The campaign has developed a model resolution,
and a guide on how to implement it.
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In Belgium North , 60 municipalities
have become CCCommunities. In addition to this, the Clean
Clothes at Work project has been set up, in cooperation
with two unions. Here, the purpose is to get people in
the workplace to look critically at the clothes that their
employers make them wear, and to ask for "clean clothes".
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In Amsterdam, the Netherlands ,
following a resolution adopted by the City Council in
December 2000 and subsequent research by the Dutch CCC,
a "guide" for the purchase of clean work wear
was written. This was presented in 2004 to the thirty
city employees who handle purchasing decisions. In 2004
Amsterdam won an award for this handbook from the Dutch
Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environ-
ment (VROM) for governments who inspiringly integrate
sustainability into their buying practices. Meanwhile,
the city of Enschede became the first Dutch city to implement
the procedures.
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In Spain , an extensive programme
on ethical procurement was initiated in the Catalonia
region in September 2004, with three different local governments
involved: Barcelona, Manresa and Badalona.
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In the UK , the project is part
of a broader campaign on public procurement, in which
the CCC UK cooperates with many other organisations and
the University of Cardiff. A prelimi- nary study of the
UK legal framework for public procurement was done in
2004, and a questionnaire has been sent out to all local
authorities to establish their purchasing practices and
policies with regard to work wear.
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In Sweden , in February 2005, the
Swedish CCC Rena Kläder began campaigning on public
procurement. The campaign is called Se Upp which is a
short form of the Swedish for "Community for Ethical
Procurement" but also means "Watch Out!".
The campaign brings together the CCC with other Swedish
fair trade groups and, as in the UK campaign, does not
focus on clothes alone but takes them as a useful focus.
Others participating include the Swedish Association of
Health Professionals (Vårdförbundet) and the
trade union for community officers SKTF. Among the first
activities, there have been seminars for local authority
buyers, and the release of a book about public procurement.
Rena Kläder says that, after a gentle start, "this
could be big".
Work wear company research
Past campaigning experience has made it clear that it is
vital to understand the make-up of the market you are dealing
with. Also, the CCC feels it is necessary to be able to
confront the work wear companies themselves with their responsibility
to ensure decent working conditions.
So, in April 2005 the CCC commissioned the Dutch-based
Centre for Research on Multinational Companies (SOMO) to
research the CSR performance of work wear companies.
To kick off the research, national CCC coalitions compiled
lists of the biggest work wear companies supplying their
(local) authorities. Out of this seven companies have been
selected which sell to authorities in various European countries.
The companies are themselves from different countries, and
of various sizes and background. The seven are being investigated
for their CSR policies and implementation, supply chain
structure, and past history of labour rights' violations.
The research will be presented at a two-day seminar focusing
on public procurement in October 2005, hosted by the Spanish
CCC. As well as national CCCs and SOMO, those invited to
the first day might include the companies researched, campaigns
working on similar issues, the Fair Wear Foundation, and
representatives of (local) authorities who have or haven't
passed a motion. They will hear the outcomes of the research
and discuss the consequences for (local) authorities. The
following day will be used by the CCC representatives to
plan their joint future strategies and campaigns on this
theme.
So how does it work?
A city or municipal authority that wants to become a "Clean
Clothes Community" first adopts a resolution that says
that only work wear made under good labour conditions will
be pur- chased. They then have to formulate an ethical procurement
policy and develop a plan of action so that within a specified
period of time buying "clean" uniforms becomes
a reality.
Before they start, they need to determine exactly who is
responsible for the purchases, who their suppliers are,
where their current uniforms are actually produced, what
is known about the labour conditions there, and which labour
criteria they now want to take into account.
What the CCCommunities Model Resolution says
Communities should:
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