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Sportswear Worker Campaigns:
Latest News
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1. FILA FAILS - Still Silent on Workers' Rights in Indonesia
Australian activists protesting
Fila's silence with regard to rights violations at
their supplier PT Tae Hwa, Sydney July 2005.
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Pressure is growing on FILA International to end its silence
regarding the fate of the 3,486 workers at PT Tae Hwa, Indonesia
who lost their jobs and did not receive their legal entitlements
to severance pay. Workers in Indonesia have staged a number
of demonstrations and are involved in legal action. To draw
attention to the issues UK activists staged a naked tennis
match near Wimbledon in July, Dutch activists made a short
film in support of Tae Hwa workers, that was shown in Dutch
cinemas, and Oxfam supporters in Australia staged a symbolic
protest at the Sydney Harbour Bridge by taping their mouths
shut.
For more information see:
www.cleanclothes.org/companies/fila05-06-27.htm
2. Trade Union Workshop in Hanoi
In July, the ITGLWF and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung ran
a workshop in Hanoi to move the Play Fair at the Olympics
Campaign programme of work on freedom of association forward
in Asia. Representatives from Oxfam and the Clean Clothes
Campaign joined union delegates from Thailand, Indonesia,
Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Malaysia
and Hong Kong. Research was undertaken in advance of the
workshop by NGOs in collaboration with ITGLWF affiliates
to map the sportswear sectors in the respective countries.
Also, in the lead up to the workshop, a joint seminar on
freedom of association was held with regional and global
CSR managers from Nike, Puma, adidas, Asics and Lotto. A
commitment was made to hold similar events with CSR managers
from the major brands and factory owners at a national level
in an effort to facilitate dialogue on trade union access
to workers in export processing zones and in sportswear
suppliers in general.
For more information contact Doug Miller at dmiller@itglwf.org
Finnish president Tarja Halonen
takes part in the sewing competition, organised at
the Maailma Kylässä ("World Visiting")
festival in the centre of Helsinki, attended by over
100,000 people in May 2005. |
3. Actions at World Athletic Championships in Finland
Trade unions cooperated in a number of public awareness-raising
campaign activities around the Helsinki 2005 World Athletics
Championships. The focus was on the responsibility for the
working conditions in the sportswear industry of the organising
committee, Mizuno (the official sponsor of the World Championships)
and Amer Group, the world's leading sports equipment company
(owner of brands Wilson, Salomon and Atomic), which still
sources products from Burma.
Finnish trade unions are campaigning to push the sportswear
industry to improve the working conditions of workers producing
for well-known international brands. The national campaign
called "Fair Play, Equal Rules" is planned to
become part of the international Play Fair at the Olympics
Campaign. The Finnish campaign is coordinated by SASK, Trade
Union Solidarity Centre of Finland.
For more information contact Jukka Pääkkönen
at: jukka@sask.fi
www.sask.fi/english/index.htm
4. Play Fair at the Olympics Campaign (PFOC):
An Evaluation of Company Responses
The CCC evaluated the responses received from the companies
targeted by the PFOC.
Overview available at:
www.cleanclothes.org/campaign/olympics2004-eval-company-response.htm
5. Evaluation of the WFSGI Response: Report Published
During the Play Fair at the Olympics Campaign (PFOC), campaigners
pushed the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry
(WFSGI), which represents over 100 companies and trade associations
in the sector, for an industry-wide response to address
widespread exploitation and abuse of workers in sportswear
supply chains. This report from April 2005 describes the
WFSGI's approach to corporate social responsibility, summarises
the recommendations made by the PFOC, and evaluates the
WFSGI response to the PFOC.
For more information see:
www.cleanclothes.org/campaign/olympics2004-wfsgi-resp-eva.htm
6. More on the WFSGI
Pressure has been maintained on the World Federation of
the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) and its newly-formed
CSR committee to respond to the Play Fair at the Olympics
Campaign (PFOC) "Programme of Work". Campaigners
are disappointed that, despite several meetings, by June
this year, the CSR committee response fails to meaningfully
address the PFOC proposals made to them. The most concrete
suggestions include the development of a remedial toolkit
for members which will include modules or guidelines on
occupational safety and health and employment rights and
the compilation of a list of NGOs, institutions and organisations
with whom they have had contact in the past for research,
standards or training. The WFSGI CSR committee also plans
to hold a series of meetings, including one for suppliers
(WFSGI members and non-members) in Vietnam in early 2006
and one with the Chinese Federation of the Sporting Goods
Federation and the China National Textile and Apparel Council
and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The ILO, at the request of the WFSGI CSR committee, hosted
another informal meeting between the Play Fair Alliance
(PFA: Oxfam, Global Unions and the CCC) and the WFSGI CSR
committee members in July. During the meeting, the WFSGI
made verbal commitments to a six monthly reporting process
to the PFA on the progress that they make in reaching the
PFA demands. Also, they agreed to discuss joint research
and education activities. Following the meeting, the PFA
wrote to the WFSGI, noting that while they had hoped and
expected that the WFSGI had taken more steps by this stage,
the meeting provided some useful possibilities for future
dialogue and joint activity. The letter also included the
delegation's understanding of the key points on which agreement
was reached during the meeting. The WFSGI have not sent
written confirmation of the commitments made at the meeting.
The International Olympic Committee also sent a representative
to the meeting, who, for the first time, offered to set
up a meeting between the campaign's representatives and
the IOC marketing department.
For more information contact Ineke Zeldenrust at:
ineke@cleanclothes.org
7. Supplier Disclosure Letter Response
In June this year, the Play Fair Alliance wrote to 13 sportswear
companies, encouraging them to adopt a similar approach
to Nike's in its 2004 Corporate Responsibility report by
making public their list of suppliers worldwide. So far,
only Reebok, Asics and Timberland have replied. Reebok noted
that it has already been following this policy for some
time, Timberland plans to disclose their suppliers for the
first time this autumn, and Asics is considering such steps.
For more information contact Duncan Pruett at:
duncan.pruett@novib.nl
