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Join the global day of action to remember Rana Plaza, 24th April 2015

Join the global day of action to remember Rana Plaza, 24th April 2015

The 24th April 2015 will be the two year anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse, the deadliest disaster in the history of the global garment industry. Join this global day of action, uniting with people worldwide to demand justice for the victims, to hold brands and retailers accountable and to ensure that vital and lasting changes are made in the global apparel industry.

 

Why we must act
On April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh, housing five garment factories, came crashing down. At least 1,134 people lost their lives. Many were killed instantly. Many more were buried alive under eight stories of concrete and machinery, among the remains of the garments that they were producing for global corporations. Thousands were injured and severely traumatized. Some people were forced to amputate their own limbs in order to escape this concrete grave.

 

In the days and weeks immediately following the Rana Plaza disaster, the world united in pledging support for the survivors and victims’ families. Governments, apparel brands, and the public called for urgent change to the industry. Unfortunately, change has been slow in coming, and many initial promises made have since eroded.

 

Action remains urgently needed and necessary. Some multinational brands are still refusing to pay what they owe in compensation. This is unacceptable.

 

Join us! It’s easy.
Here’s how:

  • Download the action menu for a full list of things to do
  • Commit to taking action on, or in advance of, April 24, 2015, by signing up to this facebook event.
  • Check if there is a demonstration already happening near you on this map. If there isn’t one that you can join, find a Benetton or Asda store near you, and plan a demonstration for April 24th with some friends. Add it to the map!
  • If you only have a few minutes, post a solidarity message on facebook or twitter such as: ‘No one should die for the price of cheap t-shirt. Remember #RanaPlaza.’ or ‘Cheap Ts cost lives. Remember #RanaPlaza. #Solidarity’
  • Set a reminder on your phone to hold a minute of silence on 24 April, at 11.34 to remember the 1134 people who died two years ago


What we want

On the Global Day of Action (April 24th), and leading up to then, join us to call for industry reforms, demanding that people are put above profit, and safeguarding workers’ welfare and livelihoods.

 

IMMEDIATE DEMANDS:

  • We demand that Rana Plaza survivors and victims’ families receive the full compensation they are entitled to.
  • We demand all apparel brands and retailers doing business in Bangladesh sign the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety.

 

LONG-TERM DEMANDS:

  • We demand transparency and due diligence.
  • We demand accountability and access to justice.
  • We demand freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.

 

There must never be another Rana Plaza. The only way to ensure this is to thread these principles through the foundations of the industry.

 

Together we will continue to remember the victims who died for the price of the cheap clothes we wear. Together we must secure justice for their families through full compensation. Together we can reform the industry so that all garment workers are afforded a safe and dignified life.

April 2015.

Blog: The Invisible Women Who Stitch Our Shoes

Blog: The Invisible Women Who Stitch Our Shoes

The phrase ‘sweatshop labour’ conjurs up images of factory settings in far away lands with row upon row of machines operated by young women, all working long hours for poverty pay to earn profits in the millions for the western garment and shoe companies they stitch for. You might think of factory disasters, such as the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in which over 1,130 workers were killed or the 2012 Ali Enterprises factory fire where 254 workers lost their lives. But you probably won’t think of a woman, we will call her Jyoti*, sitting bent double on the floor of her home, hand stitching leather uppers for shoes to be sold on UK high streets.

Stitching just one pair of uppers could take her up to one hour. For this work she will earn, if for example she is one of the thousands of women homeworking in the leather shoe industry in India alone, the equivalent of less than 10 pence per pair of leather shoes. This is back-breaking labour-intensive work that requires the precision of hand stitching instead of a machine. The work often leaves women with health issues and complaints such as hand numbness, eye strain, back problems, and skin rashes from chemicals used to dye the leather are all commonplace, and unlike their factory counterparts, homeworkers have no health insurance to allow them to seek medical attention.

The maximum Jyoti can stitch in one day is 16 pairs, earning her under £1.60.
Although cost of living differs, this is simply not enough to cover her basic needs. A kilo of rice alone costs her 43 pence. Jyoti earns well below a minimum wage, let alone a living wage, yet “whether we like it or not, we have to stitch. It is our only means of livelihood” she said. As a married woman with young children at home to care for, she combines her long hours stitching with unpaid domestic work, taking care of the home, children and her elderly parents. Given the entrenched gendered division of domestic work, for many homeworkers like Jyoti stitching leather uppers for shoes offers her the only opportunity for paid work that also allows her to maintain her family responsibilities, so cutting out homeworkers from the supply chain is not the answer.

2016-03-07-1457364683-9962881-Indiahomeworkers.HeatherStilwell.jpg

The shoe industry is an immense global business, with over 24 billion pairs produced last year alone, equating to three pairs of shoes made for every single person living. The UK is a key part of this industry as one of the largest footwear markets in the world with, on average, each person in the UK buying five pairs of shoes per year.

Homeworking in the shoe industry is not confined to India, instead there is a global workforce of women, often from the lowest social strata or caste, working from their homes across the world, from Bulgaria to India, Portugal to North Africa.

Uniting these women are: poverty wages, well below those of their already low factory counterparts; extreme job insecurity, they have no contracts and are employed on a daily basis; lack of any recognition or benefits, such as health insurance or a pension, that are afforded to factory shoe workers. “We completed the work we got yesterday. We may or may not have work tomorrow. There is no job security.” said Sumitra, a homeworker from Tamil Nadu in India. They are a hidden workforce, providing both the low-cost labour and the flexibility so sought after in the footwear industry.

This is the invisible underside of global shoe production. An ugly sole stitched from the exploitation of homeworkers, and one which remains unseen by consumers and often even by the brands themselves.

Today, on International Women’s Day, Labour Behind the Label with Homeworkers Worldwide are launching a new report, Stitching Our Shoes, looking at the key role homeworkers play in the production of leather shoes sold on UK high streets.

As shoe consumption continues to rise, it is vital that we stop the exploitation and poverty trap that women homeworkers find themselves in. The answer is not the knee-jerk reaction that some brands may advocate of banning homeworking from their supply chains. This would result in homeworkers losing their jobs and the meager income they currently rely on, leaving them desperate and with no social security net to catch them. In fact, such a response may not even be possible, as homeworking is an established part of the supply chain and this may push the practice further into the shadows, thereby leaving homeworkers even more vulnerable to unscrupulous agents who take a cut of their pay: “We cannot negotiate with the middleman because the middleman knows many people who really need and want a job. So if I negotiate for one rupee or two rupees…They will give (the work) to some other area” Runa.

There is a lack of transparency that runs through the shoes industry that enables exploitation on this scale. For change to truly happen brands need to publicly map their supply chains, to acknowledge homeworkers as key part of their production workforce, and to ensure that their rights are respected and that they are paid a living wage. They must do this through publicly sharing social audit reports and due diligence efforts. They must do this to ensure that women like Shanti face a better life:“We have nothing. That’s why we know this is employer exploitation. We have no other way. That’s why we are involved in this (work). If I had any other income, I definitely wouldn’t do this”.

 

*Names have been changed to protect workers indentites

This blog was first published in Huffington Post and EcouTerre in March 2016. 

By Ilana Winterstein

Blog: Buying ethically?

Blog: Buying ethically?

Behind the glamour of London Fashion Week and the aspirational images in glossy magazines is the reality of the global fashion industry: a grim picture of women living in abject poverty, struggling to survive whilst making the clothes sold on UK high streets for major fashion brands.

As consumers, many of us try to counteract this image by choosing to buy ethically. In the face of sweatshop labour headlines we may opt for the brand that seemingly has an ethical stance, hoping our money will reflect our morals. However, how can we be sure that this is the case? A lack of transparency throughout the garment and shoe industries mean that making ethical choices is not as simple as it may seem.

High street brands such as Marks & Spencer (M&S) and H&M proudly put their ethical credentials front and centre, with marketing for both brands focusing on good practice including eco collections, clothes recycling, sustainable sourcing and workers rights. Both brands have won plaudits for their ethics, with M&S receiving over 100 awards since launching Plan A, including being named ‘Most Ethical High Street Clothing Retailer’ by Ethical Consumer Magazine in 2014, winning consumer trust and increased sales.

Crucially, as poverty remains a key factor in maintaining the cycle of sweatshop labour, both brands have publicly declared a commitment to ensuring a living wage is possible for garment workers in their supply chains. In 2010, M&S launched their Plan A sustainability programme – pledging to ensure suppliers in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were able to pay workers ‘a fair living wage’ by 2015. H&M is working towards paying 850,000 garment workers a fair living wage by 2018.

Yet are these ethics being played out on the factory floor? Do the workers actually making their clothes feel the effects of commitments to a living wage? We interviewed 150 M&S workers from eight supplier factories in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India, and over 50 workers from six H&M supplier factories in Cambodia to see whether the significant wage increase promised was being paid.

Our findings, in our new report ‘Do We Buy It?’, show that far from a living wage these workers are living in abject poverty, sharing slum housing in 3×3 meter shacks, with 2-3 other workers. Many have no running water and share outside toilets with up to 15 people. These women work 10 – 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and yet still don’t earn enough to afford the basics such as nutritious food or an education for their children.

Salaheya Khatun, a worker for a Bangladeshi M&S supplier says: “I am in debt by around 1000 taka every month because I need to pay for groceries and supplies on credit. It is difficult because if I had cash I could negotiate on the price, but I cannot negotiate when paying credit. Buying on credit feels like a disgrace…I just want to be able to support my family.”

Salaheya is not alone. In fact, we found that 60% of all M&S workers interviewed were living in mounting debt just to meet their basic needs. In Sri Lanka, M&S workers were earning on average £3.23 for a 10 hour day. Illegal levels of overtime were common, with women working up to 110 hours per month over their contracted hours, and still remaining in debt. One worker from India stated: “Our income is not enough. We don’t buy eggs, meat, fish or fruits because of high costs”

This is not the tagline to M&S’s award-winning Plan A sustainability roadmap.

So, what can we do to challenge the notion that brands can so wholly control their image through corporate social responsibility rhetoric?

We can demand transparency

M&S stated in the 2014 Plan A report that the commitment on supply chain living wage had been ‘achieved’, but they give no evidence to back this up. M&S use an internal process to evaluate their position, with no data or costs available. This lack of transparency, present throughout the garment and shoes industries, makes checking on the facts behind the statements virtually impossible. Similarly, H&M have not published a benchmark for the ‘fair living wage’ that they are aiming for is. Without this figure it is difficult to measure their success.

For consumers to truly be able to choose to shop ethically, we need to know that the human rights of the workers making the products are being upheld. We need to know by having access to data that proves it, not by simply being asked to believe brands who profit in the millions from the labour of the young, poor, migrant and uneducated women they exploit.

Brands need to publicly declare their benchmark for a living wage and share their factory supplier lists, their audit reports, and other important data such as wages paid per supplier by grade. We need to hold brands accountable to their promises. Only once they supply this information can their ethical marketing be taken as anything more than CSR spin.

By Ilana Winterstein

February 2016

Report: Do We Buy It? A supply chain investigation into living wage commitments from M&S and H&M

Report: Do We Buy It? A supply chain investigation into living wage commitments from M&S and H&M

Report: Do We Buy It?

A supply chain investigation into living wage commitments from M&S and H&M

This report looks into the stories behind two leading high-street brands who have made claims to be ensuring a fair living wage is possible for workers who make their clothes. H&M and M&S have received significant acclaim for headline commitments to a living wage. Real wages being paid in their factories however are not yet delivering on their promises.

Download the report here >>

Published February 2016.