CCC Publications
For an overview of national CCCs' activities, including
resources published in various languages during the period
October 2004 to February 2005, please go to: www.cleanclothes.org/news/05-02-cccrep.htm
Implementing Codes of Conduct
ILO researcher Ivanka Mamic has looked in depth at how best
to implement voluntary corporate codes of conduct in global
supply chains. Her study focuses on three sectors: athletic
footwear, apparel, and retail. She interviewed hundreds
of managers, governmental officials, factory workers, workers'
representatives, and activists, relating to over 90 enterprises
and suppliers in the US, Europe, Vietnam, China, Thailand,
Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Turkey and Honduras.
One important conclusion she reaches is that the athletic
footwear sector has made greater progress in implementing
codes of conduct than the apparel and retail sectors. Another
is that companies should move away from "policing"
as the best way of ensuring compliance towards an approach
in which workers are empowered to oversee their own workplaces.
The book provides a detailed overview of the managerial
systems related to code implementation in the three different
sectors. It gives many examples of the problems corporations
face in this effort. However, the focal point of the study
is on management practices and systems, rather than assessing
the effects of the codes of conduct themselves.
Ivanka Mamic, "Implementing Codes of Conduct: How
Businesses Manage Social Performance in Global Supply Chains",
Greenleaf Publishing and International Labour Organisation,
2004, ISBN 1 874719 89 6, Price: Hardback, US$65.00
Sewing for the World Market
Published at the end of 2004, by SÜDWIND, an organisation
ac-tive in the German CCC, this report is on women's work
in export processing zones (EPZs) and the informal economy.
It features case studies from China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka,
and focuses on the supplier factories for KarstadtQuelle,
C&A, Otto, adidas-Salomon and Puma. The author, Ingeborg
Wick, analyses trends in the world market for textiles and
clothing, reflects the practical experiences of unionists
and consumers, and offers proposals for action.
Full report in German: €5 each for 1-4 copies, €4.50
each for 5-9 copies, and €4 each for 10+ copies. To
order, contact Ingeborg Wick, e-mail: wick@suedwind-institut.de.
English versions of the case studies from China and Indonesia
can be found at:
www.cleanclothes.org/publications/05-01-25.htm
Play Fair in India Workers Exchange Reports
In August 2004, as part of the "Play Fair at the
Olympics" campaign, the South India Coalition for the
Rights of Garment Workers organised a National Workers Exchange
Programme in Bangalore, India. Over two days, some 84 workers,
organizers and activists from manufacturing centres in India
discussed labour rights and labour standards in the garments/sportswear
industries, and how to bring more pressure on the industry
and the government to improve working conditions. Nearly
1,000 workers participated in a public meeting organised
on the concluding day.
The report of the event is available at:
www.cleanclothes.org/campaign/olympics2004-08-24.htm
A Critical Guide to Corporate Codes of Conduct
This booklet, from the Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC)
in Hong Kong, reflects the on-going attempts of labour organisa-tions
in the Asian Transnational Corporations Monitoring Network
(ATNC Monitoring Network) to understand the utility and
the limits of corporate codes of conduct. As well as introducing
the different types of codes and how they developed, the
contributors analyse their own experiences in trying to
use them.
Available from AMRC, for more information see www.amrc.org.hk.
Price: outside Hong Kong: US$12 (including postage), with
a discount for AMRC network partners.
Success at Gina, Thailand Studied
The struggle of the Gina Form Bra Company workers in
Thailand is familiar to many in the CCC network, being a
case taken up through the CCC Urgent Appeals system and
one where the workers won. This case has been written up
in "The Struggle of the Gina Workers in Thailand: Inside
a successful international solidarity campaign" by
Philip Robertson and Somsak Playoowong. Useful lessons are
drawn for future such cases.
Available at:
www.cleanclothes.org/ftp/04-11_Robertson_Somsak.
pdf
Latest Codes Memo
Codes Memo No.18, published by the Maquila Solidarity
Network in January 2005, focuses on code complaints proc-esses.
The Gildan case is used to take a closer look at how the
Worker Rights Consortium and the Fair Labor Association
(FLA) work. Also included are analyses of the FLA's second
annual report, and Mattel's first CSR report.
Available in English and Spanish at:
www.maquilasolidarity.org/ resources/codes/pdf/codesmemo18.pdf
Worker Rights Consortium Reports
New reports are available on Worker Rights Consortium (WRC)
investigations at Far East and First Apparel (Thailand),
Lian Thai (Thailand), and Unique Garments (Swaziland). Each
report describes the allegations, the investigation process
and the local experts involved, the findings and the recommendations
and current status (including buyers' responses).
Available at: www.workersrights.org
Fair Wear Foundation Country Studies
The Fair Wear Foundation commissions local researchers
to do a background study for each country where it becomes
active, in order to help build partner networks and guide
the set-up of (locally-trained) audit teams. Each country
study includes a description of the garment industry and
labour conditions there, and compares local labour law against
the standards of the FWF code. Each also describes the trade
unions, NGOs, industry and government bodies active in the
country and their priorities for improvement of labour standards.
English language studies are available for China, India,
Macedonia, Poland and Turkey, at: www.fairwear.nl/?p=112
Jo-In Website
The CCC, FWF, ETI, FLA, WRC, and SAI have formed the Joint
Initiative on Corporate Accountability and Workers' Rights,
known as "Jo-In" for short. The partnership aims
to lessen the confusion generated by the multiplicity of
codes and related initiatives. A first pilot project is
underway in Turkey, to test and compare a variety of code
implementation strategies and approaches. Project materials
in English and Turkish can be found at the Jo-In website.
For more information on this initiative, see the project's
website:
www.jo-in.org
MFA Phase-Out Info
The phase-out of the world trade agreement called the
"Multi-Fibre Arrangement" (MFA) may have disastrous
consequences for garment workers and industry in certain
countries. A seminar organised by the Ethical Trading Initiative
(ETI) in the UK in October 2004 looked at how workers and
industry in vulnerable countries can be protected from the
worst effects. The outcomes are to be fed into the work
of the MFA Alliance, an international group of public institutions,
companies, unions, multi-stakehold-er initiatives and NGOs,
set up to identify ways of tackling the fall-out from the
phase-out.
The seminar report is available at:
www.ethicaltrade.org/Z/lib/ 2004/10/sem-mfa/ETI-semrep-MFAphaseout-200410.pdf
More information on the MFA Alliance is available at:
www.accountability.org.uk/research/default.asp?pageid=180
Two Dutch Clothing Companies
The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO),
based in the Netherlands, has analysed how two Dutch clothing
companies are handling their corporate social responsibilities.
One is a member of the Fair Wear Foundation and the other
uses the SA8000 standard. The reports also analyse the strengths
and weaknesses of these initiatives.
GSUS Clothing Sindustries is a relatively new, small but
fast-growing company specialising in youth "street
wear". While taking environmental and social principles
seriously, GSUS sen-ior management had merely made assumptions
about labour conditions in their supplier factories. However,
in early 2004 GSUS joined the FWF and has become enthusiastic
about CSR, including transparency.
The report is available at: www.somo.nl/html/paginas/pdf/GSUS_
Profile_2004_NL.pdf
WE Europe is a family-owned fashion retailer, with stores
in six European countries. After six years of claiming to
use the SA8000 standard, researchers found that few WE supplier
factor-ies appear to have achieved SA8000 certification,
though WE refuses to make the information public. The report
describes the kinds of problems, delays and hurdles involved,
even where intentions might be good.
The report is available at: www.somo.nl/html/paginas/pdf/WE_
Profile_2004_EN.pdf
Trade in Used Clothing Studied
Used clothing from countries of the North is being resold
in great quantities in Africa, affecting the development
of the cloth-ing and textile industries in the continent.
A report "Developing a Strategic Response to the Trade
in Used Clothing in Africa" was prepared for the 8th
International Congress of the International Textile, Garment
and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) in October 2004
by the Civil Society Research and Support Collective, with
the aim of informing union policy. Field and desk research
was conducted in a number of African countries, predominantly
in South and East Africa.
The report is available at:
www.cleanclothes.org/publications/04-itg.htm
"Behind the Brand Names"
This report from the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU), published in December 2004, focuses
on what the ICFTU calls "the sharp end of globalisation"
-- working conditions and labour rights in export processing
zones. It has a particular emphasis on the experiences of
workers in the electron-ics industry and includes case studies
from nine countries.
Available at: www.icftu.org/www/PDF/EPZreportE.pdf
Homeworkers Campaign Guide
Homeworkers Worldwide recently launched a new campaign guide
for homeworkers and others working in precarious and informal
employment. "Campaigns at Work: a Guide to Cam-paigning
for Home Worker Groups, Unions, Campaign Groups and Activists"
provides practical examples to assist with the development
of campaigns, including the engagement of consum-ers in
lobbying corporations.
Available at:
www.homeworkersww.org.uk/resource&material/campaign%20manual.pdf
OECD Watch
Several CCC partners have filed cases under the "Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises" of the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). OECD Watch
has been set up to inform civil society about the policies
and activities of the OECD's Investment Committee and to
test the effectiveness of the OECD Guidelines.
See the OECD Watch website (www.oecdwatch.org)
for a report of a "Training and Strategy Seminar on
using the OECD Guidelines" organised by SOMO and IRENE
in October 2004, and a database of cases filed so far. OECD
Watch has also recently published its first newsletter:
www.oecdwatch.org/docs/newsletter%20E%202005
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