Category Archives: Responsibility

Bangladeshi garment labour activist remains jailed on fabricated charges

Last month, we received word on the arrest of Moshrefa Mishu, president of the Garment Workers Unity Forum, in Bangladesh. Since our initial report, further details on her arrest have surfaced, and we are happy to inform you that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has formally issued an appeal. The issues surrounding the case include: illegal arrest; arbitrary detention; fabricated charges; ill-treatment; impunity; rule of law. (AHRC) Visit the ARHC Urgent Appeal to take action.

Mishu has been arrested on three fabricated cases and, according to sources, “has been ill-treated and threatened with death or disappeared while in detention.” (AHRC)

Some months prior to her arrest, Mishu was threatened with death by crossfire, which, according to the AHRC, is “an official method of extrajudicial killing of crime suspects by the law-enforcement agencies as well as the paramilitary and armed forces” (AHRC). In these cases, individuals are arrested and then, while in detention, killed in shootouts.

This isn’t the first time we’ve urged you to support the AHRC Appeals Program, and, unfortunately, it won’t be the last. The Appeals Program is successful because it tracks patterns of recorded violations and creates a unique opportunity for action. The program is driven by narrative, as each violation is contextualized through case details.

On the flip: In the wake of last month’s factory fire, Gap Inc. has come forward to promise workers compensation, and proper factory inspection. When rule of law is absent, what is the true responsibility of business?

Click here to watch the video of Basil Fernando, Director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, outlining the importance of rule of law.

Call for Submissions // CoDesign: Special Issue for Socially Responsive Design

CoDesign, the International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts, has a call for papers out under a special theme:

Socially Responsive Design – understanding the differences between service design, social design and social innovation and identifying tools and methods for designing and evaluating social change.

Click here to read the full details of this call for submissions.

Deadline for submission: 28 January 2011

Proposed timetable to publication thereafter:

Post-review notification of decisions: 30 April 2011
Deadline for submission of revised papers: 30 June 2011
Final selected papers to production: 9 September 2011
Publication of Special Issue: December 2011

Contact Professor Lorraine Gamman l.gamman at csm.arts.ac.uk with any questions about the Special Issue.

Take Action // President of Garments Workers Unity Forum (GWUF) arrested, Bangladesh

Social Alterations has learned that Moshrefa Mishu, the president of the Garments Workers Unity Forum (GWUF) in Bangladesh has been arrested.

While Mishu was reportedly wanted by authorities in connection with the protests earlier this year, it has been reported that she was taken from her home on the night of December 14th, without an arrest warrant.

On Saturday, December 18th, teachers, writers, artists and cultural activists will gather in a Protest Rally to demand the immediate release of Moshrefa Mishu and an investigation into the cause of the recent factory fire that claimed the lives of at least 28 garment workers.

Speak up and out on behalf of garment workers: join the #SABangladeshProject by uploading your photo to flickr (tag #SABangladeshProject), twitter (@SA_FashionLab) or to our Facebook page.

Educating and Engaging // Shared Talent India, Centre for Sustainable Fashion

Shared Talent India encourages “fashion designers to exchange expertise with other protagonists across the supply chain, transcending traditional divisions, be they linguistic, geographic, or discipline based.” (Shared Talent India)

Designers can now access much needed information on opportunities and limitations of materials in India such as cotton and silk (among others). While designers may feel discouraged when they learn that genetically modified (GM) cotton “has found its way into almost every Indian supply chain,” they will no doubt understand the opportunity for change, as it exists in India, when they learn that “[s]eed exchange projects empower farming communities” (Shared Talent India).   

The project also provides information on the historical and cultural significance of skills such as weaving and knitting, dyeing and printing, embroidery, etc., as well as information on their processes. And, most important to designers, Shared Talent India presents a platform not only for education, but for engagement with direct access to suppliers on the ground.

Visit the project, get informed and join in on the industry conversation!

Congratulations to the Shared Talent India design team, their partners and funders and to the Centre for Sustainable Fashion for making this brilliant project happen.

At least 28 Garment Workers Die in Bangladeshi Factory Fire, Clean Clothes Campaign Reports

We are stricken by the news out of the Bangladesh today, where at least 28 garment workers have died in a factory fire. As you know, we have been campaigning for these workers, with your support. Our campaign is ongoing, and we will keep you posted on how to get involved as the story develops. In the meantime, please read the below message from the Clean Clothes Campaign.

The Guardian reports: Workers jump to their deaths as fire engulfs factory making clothes for Gap

The Associated Press, via npr: Dozens Killed In Bangladesh Factory Fire; 100 Hurt

______________________________________________________________________

The folowing text is an urgent message from the Clean Clothes Campaign:

AT LEAST 28 MORE GARMENT WORKERS DIE IN BANGLADESHI FACTORY FIRE

Labour rights groups: “Failure of brands, government and manufacturers to take preventive action condemns more workers to die”.

Amsterdam/Toronto/Washington D.C., December 14, 2010

“The Bangladeshi garment industry is notorious for its chronic safety problems, including locked or inaccessible fire escapes and malfunctioning fire equipment, which often lead to fatal accidents.” (Clean Clothes Campaign)

At least 28 more Bangladeshi garment workers have died and dozens more have been injured after a fire broke out today on the 9th and 10th floors of the “That’s It Sportswear Ltd” factory located 16 miles from the capital Dhaka. Several workers appeared to have suffocated, while others jumped to their deaths trying to escape the burning building or were trampled by their colleagues as they rushed towards the exits.

The factory was reportedly producing for major international buyers including Gap (confirmed) and Wrangler (VF Corporation), as well as for Hong Kong buying house BF Fashion. It belongs to the well-known Ha-meem group, one of the biggest manufacturers in the country, which has a dubious labour rights track record. The company is known for unauthorized subcontracting, meaning the factory may have also been producing for brands which are unaware of their production there.

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and other labour rights organisations have regularly contacted buyers sourcing from Ha-meem about violations of freedom of association and other labour standards at the company’s factories. According to the Ha-meem Group website their buyers are presently Walmart, H&M, Next, JC Penney, Kohl’s, Squeeze, Sears, Target Store, Charming Shoppes, Carrefour, Inditex, Miss Etam, Migros and Celio.

First eyewitness reports indicate that at least 2 of the 6 exits were locked, and that this was a common occurrence in the building.  The Bangladeshi garment industry is notorious for its chronic safety problems, including locked or inaccessible fire escapes and malfunctioning fire equipment, which often lead to fatal accidents. Said Scott Nova of the Worker Rights Consortium, “Labor rights organizations have pleaded for years with US and European clothing brands to take aggressive steps to address the grossly substandard fire and building safety practices of their business partners in Bangladesh. The brands have failed to act and, once again, we see the gruesome consequences of this inaction.”

Following the deaths of 21 workers in the “Garib and Garib” factory in February of this year, virtually all of the buyers of Hameem group were contacted by the CCC, the International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF), the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), and the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) with a set of recommendations* outlining specific measures that should be taken to eliminate the systemic problems underlying these deadly tragedies. “More needs to be done by all concerned to ensure further disasters are prevented” the buyers were told, but brands, employers and the government failed to take the necessary action to avoid these preventable tragedies.

Measures proposed by the labour groups included a thorough review of all multi-story garment production facilities, expert fire safety inspections and ensuring that workers are allowed to report and challenge health and safety violations by supporting their right to organize.

“Workers keep dying while the brands, the government and the employers drag their feet and try to shift the responsibility upon each other” says Ineke Zeldenrust from the CCC. “We’ve warned the brands repeatedly that this would keep happening again and again, but they’ve chosen to respond only in a minimal fashion,” she added.

The CCC, ILRF, WRC and MSN also call upon the brands sourcing from the Hameem group to make sure that the injured receive all the medical care needed and that they and the relatives of the victims are compensated for current and future loss of income.

To read the full set of recommendations made by the CCC, ILRF, WRC and MSN to eliminate systemic safety problems in the Bangladeshi garment sector please visit: http://www.cleanclothes.org/news/action-for-safe-factories-in-bangladesh-on-5th-anniversary-of-spectrum-disaster

(Source: Clean Clothes Campaign)

‘Taking Liberties’ // Garment workers in Gurgaon earn poverty wages, facing violence and threats

“Workers’ children in the area are not admitted in the Government schools in Delhi as they cannot provide the documents the Delhi Government Schools ask for.” (Worker X, Case Study: Taking Liberties)

Labour Behind the Label and War on Want are reporting gross violations of workers rights in two Delhi factories producing garments for M&S, Debenhams, Next Monsoon and Arcadia.

Taking Liberties, cites exploitative labour practices such as unregistered living in slum housing, precarious labour through non-contractual temporary employment, threats and violence against workers through hired security in anti-union workplace environment, poverty wages (workers paid less than ½ a living wage), and forced overtime.

The report is asking M&S, Debenhams, Next Monsoon and Arcadia to:

Take action! Click here to download the report have your say! Speak out against worker violations and speak up for workers rights!

Cocoa, Coffee & Cotton

Cotton

By KoS, via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consumers be forewarned!  The price of your cotton clothes will rise!! Brands, retailers and suppliers are doing everything they can to keep costs down but they are in “a no-choice situation”, “prices have to come up.”

Cotton futures increased to around $1.4 recently; the highest price measured in 140 years of trade and with inventories at an all time low, there’s been some massive panic in the apparel industry. Other than the increase in cotton clothing costs, there are a variety of other consequences:

1. It’s expected that in an attempt to cut costs, producers, brands and retailers will probably increase the use of cotton blends and synthetics in their lines.

2. Component materials like thread and buttons are also being examined for cost savings.

3. Many companies (sticking with tradition) are placing their orders with manufacturers in lower wage and lower duty tariff countries like Bangladesh, and Cambodia; both of which experienced massive garment labour unrest over their workplace conditions.

So how did this situation arise?

Cotton LifeStyle Monitor explained the situation and concluded that this is a “classic situation in which prices are bound to rise” and that “[i]t may be helpful to recognize the forces that coincided to produce this “perfect storm” and to understand that cyclical events correct themselves over time.“

Okay then, let me try:

1. The financial crisis: lagging consumer demand was met by a decrease in supply but when consumer demand rebounded slightly, supply hadn’t caught up which put a lot of pressure on inventories that were already low because of the low consumer demand that we started with.

2. Bad weather in… pretty much every place where there is cotton production…floods in Pakistan, droughts in China, Australia and Russia.  This means that supply will continue to be low for a while and inventories will not be restocked i.e. shortages in cotton.

3. Speculators saw these factors as good indicators of potential increases in cotton prices and entered the cotton market (i.e. bought it all up) and drove prices even higher by further increasing demand .

Interesting how volatile the cotton market has been this year! You know what The Daily Show has to say about the “perfect storm”:

“So it was the perfect storm…I feel like I’ve heard that before….The GM Bailout? The 2007 Bubble? The 2008 AIG bailout? Just a random crappy day on Wall Street?

Why is it that when something happens that the people who should’ve seen it coming didn’t see it coming, it’s blamed on these rare-once-in-a-century perfect storms, that for some reason take place every f***ing two weeks?

I’m beginning to think these are not perfect storms. I’m beginning to think these are regular storms and we have a shitty boat”.

(here’s a link to the clip for our Canadian friends)

Given the volatility of the cotton market, what can a company do to prevent price fluctuations??  One thing that brands, retailers and suppliers can do is learn from other industries dependent on volatile commodities.  Two classic examples are coffee and cocoa.

Coffee

As you can see from the graph below, the coffee market is incredibly volatile.

Trends and variability in international coffee prices (annual averages) (FAO, 2003)

The FAO Commodity Market Review for 2003-2004 concluded a chapter on lessons learned from the international coffee crisis with this statement:

“Ultimately, non-competitive producers must diversify out of coffee production.”

The Starbucks 2003 CSR report was very frank about the consequences of this price volatility:

“A fair price to a Guatemalan coffee farmer living in a small, remote village may be different than that of a farmer living in Kenya. But in the end, both farmers must earn enough to cover their costs of production and adequately support their families. Otherwise, they may stop growing coffee.“ (emphasis added)

So, to insure a sustainable and stable supply of coffee in the future, Starbucks, the world’s largest buyer of coffee, with the help of Conservation International, developed Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices (C.A.F.E.), a set of guidelines and measurable standards designed to help farmers engage in socially and environmentally responsible agriculture.  They have also increased their purchases of fair trade certified coffee making it the largest purchaser in that market as well.  By 2015, Starbucks aims to source 100% of their coffee from responsibly grown and ethically traded sources which they define as “third-party verified or certified, either through Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, Fairtrade, or another externally audited system.”

Cocoa

The cocoa industry faced a similar situation as the coffee industry with a highly volatile market.  An FAO report described price changes from 2000-2005:

Cocoa Pods

By Medicaster, via Wikimedia Commons

“After recovering from an all time low price of US 40 cents per pound in 2000, cocoa bean prices doubled in 2002 and remained steady at more than US 79 cents in 2003 as a result of reduced production and stock levels. A reversal in trend occurred in 2004 when an estimated surplus of 240 000 tonnes, the highest in 14 years, was realized. This led to prices declining to a little over US 70 cents per pound in 2004. Crop forecast for 2004/2005 indicate a continued upward trend in production along with exports. However, recent difficulties with shipments from West Africa, have led to a slight strengthening in prices in February 2005.”

In 2009, Mars announced their aims to have a completely sustainable cocoa supply chain by 2020 and is working with the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ Certified to reach this goal.  It is the first chocolate retailer to do so and when asked the reasons behind the decision the response is remarkably similar to that of Starbucks:

“It is the appropriate choice for a stable, high-quality cocoa supply in the future”.

According to the Washington Post, the move is part of a long-term strategy to deal with fluctuating supplies which includes “a five-year, $10 million project to map the entire cocoa genome with the aim of developing trees that can better survive drought and disease.”

For both industries, large players realized that the long term consequences of price volatility include an unstable and shrinking supply.  The response was to develop a strategy that included a long term investment in the environmental and social sustainability of farming communities.  This investment should pay back as a sustainable, stable and consistently priced raw material central to the survival of these companies.

Cotton faces the same conditions as both coffee and cocoa in terms of price volatility and demand-supply fluctuations.  I think it might be time for the big players in the apparel industry to talk to the big players in the coffee and cocoa industries.  The only similar initiative I know of in the apparel industry is H&M’s commitment to sustainable materials.

Youth in Action // Vow of Silence—Vancouver, Canada

“I am silent, are you listening?” (Child’s rights activist—Vancouver, Canada) 

Earlier this week, we told you that youth were going silent to mark the 21st anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Today, youth gathered outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. In solidarity, they stood silent to help protect the basic rights of children internationally.   

For more on this event, visit Free the Children’s www.iamsilent.com

VOTE // “Fair Trade Fits” student video contest, Fair Trade USA

To showcase their Fair Trade Apparel & Linens Program, Fair Trade USA created a student video competition titled “Fair Trade Fits.”  

Finalists from University of Michigan, Portland State University, College of William & Mary, University of Texas at Austin, and Kent State University are competing to win  a paid trip to visit a Fair Trade USA farm or factory. Fair Trade USA producers and manufacturers are located in India, Liberia, Peru, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

To vote, pop on over to the Fair Trade USA Facebook page (titled Fair Trade Certified) and ‘Like’ your favourite video.   

Voting closes this Friday @ 5pm Pacific Time, so you’ll have to hurry!  

Great work, everyone! And good luck to the finalists!

 

Toby Roberts, Portland State University

Jenna Creech, University of Texas at Austin

Rob Marty, Danielle Dwyer, Scott Brewington, Paula Billingsley of The College of William & Mary

Sharon Dranko, Kent State University

Theo Schear, University of Michigan