News from 2017
Despite massive profits, big fashion brands refuse to pay workers after factory closures
Starting 14 December, garment workers and activists unite in global actions against wage theft. Over the next week, while holiday shoppers across the world peruse apparel stores, they may also discover messages from garment workers seeking help. The message to consumers reads: "I made the item you are about to buy but I didn´t get paid for making it".
Garment workers are waiting for an answer – will H&M deliver on its promise to pay a living wage in 2018?
Four years ago today, H&M made a bold promise that, if kept, would mean a game changer for the industry. On 25 November 2013, the company vowed to pay what H&M calls a ‘fair living wage’ to the garment workers in its supply chain by 2018. On the fourth anniversary of H&M’s historic statement, with 2018 just around the corner, Clean Clothes Campaign and global partners are greatly anticipating the moment next year when every garment worker that stitches clothes for H&M will receive a living wage.
Clean Clothes Campaign statement on five years anniversary of Tazreen Fashions fire
Five years ago today, the Tazreen Fashions factory in Bangladesh went up in flames. Over 112 workers died, trapped in their workplace. Many more sustained injuries for life. On this day, our thoughts are with the survivors and the families of those workers that lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Bangladesh Safety Accord will continue safety work after 2018; Brands sourcing from Bangladesh should sign on
The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh will continue its coordination of brands’ due diligence obligations after 2018. This was reconfirmed unequivocally over the last few weeks by the Accord’s signatories, secretariat and witness signatories, after earlier ambiguous statements in the press about an early retreat from Bangladesh. Clean Clothes Campaign, as one of the four witness signatories, whole-heartedly continues to support the Accord’s work to manage brand due diligence in the field of safety. CCC urges all brands that have not signed onto the new Accord yet to commit themselves as soon as possible to this follow-up agreement as part and parcel of their international human rights obligations within their supply chain.
Report finds ‘Made in Europe’ label tied to garment and shoe production in European sweatshops
A new report published today by the Clean Clothes Campaign, Europe's Sweatshops, documents endemic poverty wages and other stark working conditions in the garment and shoe industry throughout Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Despite working overtime, many workers in the Ukraine for example make just EUR 89 a month, where a living wage would have to be five times that much. Among customers of the factories are fashion brands like Benetton, Esprit, GEOX, Triumph and Vera Moda.
Pressure grows on Uniqlo CEO to fulfill debt owed to workers
Today, a global coalition consisting of labour activists and campaigners throughout Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, and the U.S., joined garment workers in Indonesia, renewing calls on Uniqlo CEO Tadashi Yanai to fulfill the debt owed to workers after the Jaba Garmindo garment factory suddenly closed in 2015.
No more excuses: New evidence reveals EU Action on Bangladesh labour rights abuses long over-due
In light of new evidence, trade unions and labour organizations are today renewing their calls to the European Commission to make good on its promise to launch a trade investigation into Bangladesh as a result of its government’s continued failure to make urgently needed reforms to the law and practice governing trade union rights in the country’s Ready Made Garment industry.
Four years since Aswad fire compensation by brands can no longer wait
Today four years ago, a fire broke out in the Aswad Composite Mills textile mill in Bangladesh, killing at least seven workers and injuring over fifty. Happening six months after the deadly Rana Plaza collapse, this tragedy never received much attention, and four years on, the families and survivors still remain without full and fair compensation. On this day, our thoughts are with the families that suffered losses. Clean Clothes Campaign urges the brands that were sourcing from the factory, including H&M, C&A and Primark, to ensure that these families finally receive the compensation that they should have been provided with so many years ago.
Brands must speak out about violations in Cambodia
Labour rights organizations are deeply concerned about the closing of democratic and civil society space in Cambodia. This trend has recently escalated with alarming high-profile incidents of repression against political leaders, non-governmental organizations, and independent media. Clean Clothes Campaign, Worker Rights Consortium, and International Labor Rights Forum are calling on multinational apparel companies sourcing from Cambodia to take a stand against this repression, and to urge the Cambodian government to respect human rights and labour rights.
Top global sports brands adidas and Mizuno shamefully defy international standards on workers’ rights in Indonesia
Clean Clothes Campaign issues the following statement in response to the refusal of adidas and Mizuno to pay what is owed to workers who made their shoes in Indonesia:
Zara, Next, Mango Slammed for Leaving Workers Without Wages in Turkish Factory
Workers at the Bravo Tekstil factory complex in Istanbul, Turkey are demanding their back wages and severance after working without payment for three months followed by the sudden shutdown of their factory. As the factory was producing for the apparel brand giants Zara, Next, and Mango, Clean Clothes Campaign supports the workers’ demand that these brands take responsibility and pay up.
Brands need to step up on compensation after new factory fire in Bangladesh
At least six people were killed in a textile mill fire in Bangladesh last Wednesday. Clean Clothes Campaign expresses its heart-felt condolences to the families of the deceased.
Five years since Ali Enterprises fire disaster, factories in Pakistan continue to be unsafe
Today Clean Clothes Campaign commemorates the five year anniversary of the deadly fire that ripped through the Ali Enterprises factory in Pakistan, killing over 250 garment workers. As we remember this tragedy, our thoughts are with the families that lost loved ones and of those that lived through these horrific events. Taking stock five years on, Clean Clothes Campaign fears that, in absence of credible and transparent safety inspections, garment factories in Pakistan remain unsafe workplaces. This means that thousands of workers continue to face daily risks of being injured or killed at work.
Open letter: After five years, it is high time to pay severance to 345 workers who made adidas and Mizuno shoes
Today five years ago, a group of Indonesian workers started a strike after their employer had denied them the provincial sectoral wage as well as freedom of association. By the end of July, 1,300 workers were dismissed for participating in the strike. Five years on, 345 workers are still fighting for their rightful severance pay. On this day, Clean Clothes Campaign published an open letter to adidas and Mizuno, the two brands that sourced from the factory in the years preceding these events.
M&S, Bonmarché and Nygård should compensate Cambodian workers after factory closure
The sudden closure of a garment factory linked to UK and Canadian brands has left 208 workers in Cambodia without jobs, salaries or compensation. A year later these workers, largely women, are still fighting for justice and are in a desperate situation. As they stitched clothes for UK brands Marks and Spencer and Bonmarché, as well as Canadian brand Nygård, the workers are demanding that these companies take responsibility and give them the legally due payments that their supplier failed to provide.
Why is the Bangladesh government scapegoating the victims of the deadly boiler explosion?
According to media reports, police have filed a criminal complaint against ten people following the July 3rd explosion at the Multifabs Ltd. facility. The complaint accuses the individuals of negligence of duty, injury and murder. The only three individuals named in the complaint were killed in the explosion. An inquiry into the causes of the explosion has yet to be completed.
Bangladesh factory explosion shows need to expand Accord inspections to boilers
A boiler explosion at the Multifabs Ltd. factory in Bangladesh yesterday killed at least 10 people, injured dozens more and led to a partial collapse of the factory. We extend our condolences to the families that lost loved ones in this terrible incident and our thoughts are with them and with those who were injured.
Statement of the Bangladesh Accord's Witness Signatories on the three-year renewal of the agreement
Today, the global union federations Industriall and UNI announced agreement with brand and retailer representatives on the language of a renewed Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. To date, 13 brands and retailers signed and 8 more have committed to sign the new agreement, with many more likely to follow in the weeks ahead.
Textile mill fire in Bangladesh signals need for expanded safety inspections and remedy
A devastating fire in a Bangladesh textile mill at the beginning of this month reaffirms the need to extend and expand the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (the Accord), due to end in May 2018. The Accord, established four years ago to improve structural, electrical and fire safety in Bangladesh's garment factories, entered its final year last month and is currently in the process of being renegotiated. While the Accord covers 2.5 million workers in the ready-made-garment industry, workers in Bangladesh's textile mills remain unprotected by this agreement.
EU should use review to push for workers' rights and freedom of association in Bangladesh
Tomorrow, 18 May, the third annual review of the so-called "Sustainability Compact" between Bangladesh, the European Union and the International Labour Organization takes place in Dhaka. Despite optimism voiced by the EU, Bangladesh is still far from meeting its international labour rights' commitments and taking concrete steps enshrined under the Compact. A striking example is the wave of repression which the the Bangladeshi labour movement has faced since December 2016. Clean Clothes Campaign calls upon the EU, as well as brands, national governments and other stakeholders, to maintain pressure on the Bangladeshi government to improve labour conditions and comply with the Compact's demands.