This year many national CCC coalitions
mark their tenth anniversary. The Dutch CCC and the International
Secretariat will even be celebrating fifteen years of existence.
In 1989 a lockout at a clothing factory in the Philippines
became the focus of attention for a number of groups active
in the solidarity movement in the Netherlands and the UK.
One of the first CCC actions,
in front of a C&A store in Amsterdam, March 1991
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The women workers at a C&A subcontractor demanded their
legal minimum wage, and were fired for it. They started
a picket that lasted over a year. Back then, it was considered
news that companies like C&A produced in faraway countries
under bad conditions, that there were women involved, and
especially that some people believed that a retailer who
sold their products had a responsibility to help solve the
dispute. After all, what did C&A have to do with what
was happening in the Philippines? Not their company, not
their employees, not their business. After a public burning
of clothes in front of C&A's main store in Amsterdam,
C&A took some steps. The workers got some back-pay as
a result of continued pressure but the main demand, re-opening
of the plant, was not met.
Campaigning for "clean clothes" provided a concrete
way of taking up the demands of grassroots women's and worker
organisations and so the Dutch activist coalition involved
in this case decided to continue to take action. The Dutch
Clean Clothes Campaign was officially founded in 1990.
Later, the Dutch coalition decided to "go European",
to gather support for their demands. They started in 1995
with workshops and joint actions in the UK, Germany, France,
and Belgium, and meetings and research were organised in
eight Asian countries.
The CCC now consists of coalitions in Austria, Belgium,
France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
and the UK. We collaborate closely with organisations in
many more European countries, as well as with similar campaigns
and initiatives worldwide. We cooperate with partner organisations
in Asian, Eastern European, African and Latin American countries
where garments are produced.
After ten to fifteen years we are by no means there yet,
but some results speak for themselves. Many companies now
take responsibility for the workers in their supply chain,
and cases of rights' violations are won, at least on a case-by-case
basis (see www.cleanclothes.org/appeals-archive.htm). This
issue of the newsletter brings you more news on current
calls for action from workers. Also, companies' purchasing
practices, and how they can undermine compliance with codes
of conduct, are analysed. The workings of a national coalition
(Austria) are described, and we report on new campaign activities
in Europe. From South-East Europe comes a story of a new
exhibition being used to raise awareness of consumers, as
these producer countries become increasingly important consumer
markets. Based on information collected during a CCC staff
visit to Tunisia, a profile of this significant exporting
country to Europe is presented. We also update you on the
sportswear campaign, one of the biggest examples of joint
garment worker-activists international solidarity campaigning
to date.
The CCC thanks everyone who has supported and participated
in the campaign over the years. These anniversaries are
above all a celebration of those (women) workers all over
the world who have been, and continue to be, heroic enough
to stand up for their rights despite the harsh, insecure
and unfair situation they are in. The CCC is honoured to
work together with, and to be inspired by, such brave people
and will continue to fight for their cause. We hope we can
keep counting on you too.
We encourage readers to share, reprint or distribute
any information found within this newsletter. A digital
version can be found at www.cleanclothes.org/news.htm
