Index

NEWSLETTER 24, Oct 2007 New Resources

Corporate Responsibility
and Factory Closures

Long neglected as an issue by brands and retailers, the relationship between corporate responsibility, sourcing policies, and factory closures is finally being discussed. This CCC electronic bulletin looks into the issues at stake when garment factories close or significantly reduce their production causing widescale layoffs, with an emphasis on the responsibilities of the brand name companies and retailers at the top of the supply chain. It provides an overview of the existing regulations and agreements regarding closure and workers' rights in the international labour rights context.

"Expectations in relation to Factory Closures and Mass-Dismissals" by Ineke Zeldenrust and Tessel Pauli, CCC E-Bulletin, September 2007. Available at: www.cleanclothes.org/publications/07-09-e_buletin_ccc.htm

Hermosa:
Did the FLA Emergency
Fund Actually Help?

The closure of the Hermosa Manufacturing facility in El Salvador in May 2005 left workers without jobs, back wages, severance pay, health insurance or pensions. Some lost their homes. Many - in particular those who had organised a union at the factory - remain unemployed to this day (see Newsletter No. 23, May 2007 for more information).

This report analyses the support the Hermosa workers received at the time, especially the emergency fund set up by the Fair Labor Association (FLA). This report, prepared by the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) for the FLA, provides good insight into the debates around the role of the state vs. the role of brands, and the different positions of unions and NGOs. MSN interviewed many of those involved, in El Salvador and elsewhere, including the organised former Hermosa workers, companies sourcing at Hermosa, unions and NGOs.

"Emergency Assistance, Redress and Prevention in the Hermosa Manufacturing Case", Maquila Solidarity Network, June 2007
Available at: en.maquilasolidarity.org/sites/maquilasolidarity.org/ files/HermosaReportFinal_1.pdf

Lessons from Cambodia's Garment Industry

This 13-page paper investigates labour monitoring in Cambodia. Based on field research, it identifies lessons for the garment industry in Africa and elsewhere. Broader development paradigms that undermine workers' rights are also discussed, as well as recent attempts to use improved labour standards as a competitive advantage in international trade. The author highlights the need for greater international collaboration in this area.

"Labor Monitoring In Cambodia's Garment Industry: Lessons for Africa", by Ama Marston, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, May 1, 2007
Available at: www.realizingrights.org/pdf/Labor_Monitoring_in
_the_Garment_Industry_May2007_A_Marston.pdf

Wal-Mart "Discounting" US Workers' Rights

This 210-page Human Rights Watch (HRW) report reveals how Wal-Mart - the world's largest company - employs a sophisticated strategy to prevent unionisation at its US stores. Quashing union activity wherever it starts, Wal-Mart aggressively interferes with US workers' fundamental right to organise. HRW says, "Wal-Mart asserts that 'respect for the individual is one of the core values that have made us into the company we are today.' Wal-Mart's systematic interference with individual workers' right to freedom of association flies in the face of this professed core value". HRW continues to urge the United States to bring US labour law into conformity with international law on the crucial issue of workers' right to organise.

"Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart's Violation of US Workers' Right to Freedom of Association", Human Rights Watch, US, May 2007
Available at: hrw.org/reports/2007/us0507

What's Behind Aldi's Clothing Bargains?

In this new study, the SÜDWIND Institute, a part of the German CCC, provides evidence of widespread violations of labour laws in Chinese and Indonesian factories which supply Aldi, the largest German and European discounter. Discounters have become Germany's top textile and clothing retailers in recent years. A fundamental basis for their discount sales is the drastic savings in labour costs - both in German retail branches and in supplier factories throughout the world. The 96-page study ends with suggestions for consumer and trade union action.

"Aldi's clothing bargains - discount buys discounting standards? Working conditions in Aldi's suppliers in China and Indonesia: Suggestions for consumer and trade union action", SÜDWIND Institute, Germany, August 2007. Available at: www.suedwind-insti tut.de/downloads/ALDI-publ_engl_2007-08.pdf

Women Migrant Workers under "Apartheid" in China

This report by the Committee for Asian Women (CAW) looks at how deeply the combination of a one-party state and capitalist reforms in China since the 1990s has affected women rural migrant workers and how they have responded.

It identifies seven elements of the repressive regime at national, municipal and local levels, and argues that together they have given rise to a kind of spatial and social apartheid that systematically discriminates against the rural population, with women being the most oppressed.

One case study discussed is that of the mass strikes and protests at two Taiwanese-owned Stella shoe factories in 2004, then producing for brands such as Nike and Reebok. (For more on the international campaign to support the Stella workers, which the CCC participated in, see http://www.cleanclothes.org/legal/05-01-01.htm).

"Women Migrant Workers under the Chinese Social Apartheid", Committee for Asian Women, May 2007
Available at: www.cawinfo.org/pdf/final_10.pdf

ITUC Report Catalogues Increasing Violence Against Unionists

In 2006, 144 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers' rights, while more than 800 suffered beatings or torture, according to the Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations, published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The 379-page report details nearly 5,000 arrests and more than 8,000 dismissals of workers due to their union activities. The report also documents 484 new cases of unionists held in detention by governments. According to the ITUC, women workers in particular continued to face repression, particularly given the exploitation of the mainly female workforce in export processing zones in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

"Workers seeking to better their lives through trade union activities are facing rising levels of repression and intimidation in an increasing number of countries," said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. "Most shocking of all is the increase of some 25% in the number killed compared to the previous year." Sadly, in many of the countries highlighted in the report, repression continued during 2007.

Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations, 2007 edition, ITUC September 2007. Available in English, Spanish, German and French at http://survey07.ituc-csi.org/

Lobbying for Sweatshops

A battle has been taking place over reforms to China's labour law. Global corporations have been aggressively lobbying the Chinese government to weaken or abandon significant pro-worker reforms proposed in March 2006. In opposition are pro-worker rights forces in China, backed by labour, human rights, and political forces around the world.

Corporate lobbying has already resulted in a weakening of the proposed new law. However, according to this 44-page report, US corporate groups have launched an unpublicised new attack demanding more amendments. The authors argue that increasingly the globalisation debate is not about free trade vs. protectionism, but about the activities of a global "sweatshop lobby" that is deliberately shaping labour law and labour markets worldwide.

"Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law - But Human Rights and Labor Advocates are Pushing Back",
Global Labour Strategies, March 2007. Available at: www. eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC24154&em=260407&sub=csr