Social environment and standards at the work place in the garment industry in Bulgaria

Results from a preliminarily research carried out within a Clean Clothes Campaign international project

Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation Sofia 2001

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P R E F A C E
During the last decade of transition some adverse and contradictory amendments and changes have been introduced in the labour legislation which led to great pressure on the labour market and job insecurity. Along with that process there has been a sharp increase in unemployment, decline of living standard and violations of labour rights - some of them very serious. This turned out to be very typical for the garment industry which became a research target under the CCC Programme. Moreover – the implementation of legislation and the protection of labour rights usually become very difficult due to the great number and scope of other problems the relevant institutions and organizations have to deal with during the hard transition period. Therefore a keen need arose to carry out a profound analysis of the possibilities provided for by the international standards for the respect of labour rights at the work place, the workers’ dignity protection and securing decent living standards for them and for the members of their families.

It is necessary to raise the awareness of the social partners and the public in general in order to overcome the emerging and growing trends of human and labour rights violations in the garment sector and to provoke a multilateral dialogue with the aim of holding discussion and considering common action.

The objective is that employers become aware of the need to take social responsibility and to provide decent labour conditions as envisaged in different international instruments and initiatives of the EU, ILO, UN and other international organizations, such as OSCE, ICFT, the European CCC Campaign etc.

The CCC (Social Environment and Standards) Programme in Bulgaria started in May 2001 as a project within the “Bulgarian Gender Research” Foundation.

The CCC Programme – Bulgaria enjoys close cooperation with government institutions, trade unions, public and non-governmental organizations from the country and it is a part of the European CCC.