Index

NEWSLETTER 21, May 2006 Editorial

In pursuing its goal of improving conditions for workers in the global garment industry the Clean Clothes Campaign encourages companies at the top level of industry supply chains - the brand name clothing companies and retailers - to take responsibility for conditions where their products are made.

In many CCC activities, campaigners strive to make clear the role that these companies can and should play in ensuring that the rights of workers are respected. Over the years the response from these manufacturers and retailers in various countries has been varied; some companies appear to take to this task more seriously than others, who hesitate to engage in serious efforts to do something about the widespread violation of workers' rights. In this issue of the CCC newsletter this point is made clear, for example in the response or lack of response of some companies to the recent tragic death and injury of garment workers in factories in Bangladesh (see page 20 for more details). Work needs to be done by all companies that choose to produce their clothes in Bangladesh, where it is widely known that conditions are unsafe for workers. However, despite being presented with indisputable evidence, not all companies have acknowledged or acted upon their responsibility to take action to alter this unacceptable status quo.

It is important to recognise that all initiatives undertaken by companies to address their responsibility for workplace conditions are not equal. While some companies are taking steps to participate in the development of systems and processes that genuinely involve workers and their organisations in identifying problems and drawing up and implementing sustainable solutions, many others still make only superficial attempts to follow-up on outstanding issues. While some years ago it was internally-drafted codes of conduct that companies were pushing as evidence of their commitment to workers' rights, now, increasingly, it is membership in code compliance projects.

The public, as well as industry itself, needs to cast a critical eye over these initiatives to see what they really involve. In this edition of the newsletter an article on the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), an industry-led group that brings together European garment retailers, discusses how this initiative presents itself as something that it is not (see page 10).

While this might make things sound a bit confusing, from the CCC's perspective there is absolutely no unclarity about what the top priorities are: the input that we receive from workers and their organisations is that organising remains a critical issue. If companies are serious about their commitment to ensuring good conditions for the workers in their supply chains they will have to take concrete action to see that workers can form the organisations that they chose to, in order to be able to voice their needs and negotiate collective agreements with their employers. The initiatives they join or support should be those that clearly and concretely support worker organising and have clear channels of participation for workers/their organisations. For the CCC international solidarity action to support worker organising is the ongoing initiative that we're committed to - we hope you will join us!

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

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) aims to improve working conditions in the garment industry worldwide and empower (women) garment workers. The CCC is made up of coalitions of consumer organisations, trade unions, researchers, solidarity groups, world shops, and other organisations. The CCC informs consumers about the conditions in which their garments and sports shoes are produced, pressures brands and retailers to take responsibility for these conditions, and demands that companies accept and implement a good code of labour standards that includes monitoring and independent verification of code compliance. The Clean Clothes Campaign cooperates with organisations all over the world, especially self-organised groups of garment workers (including workers in factories of all sizes, homeworkers, and migrant workers without valid working papers).

Editors: Celia Mather, Marieke Eyskoot and Nina Ascoly