Holiday to sabotage union referendum

published 03-10-2013 14:16, last modified 10-10-2013 14:12
Following the registration of their union at the Mirrai factory, union members have been intimidated and transferred. When the union asked for a referendum to establish its right to be a collective bargaining agent for the workers, the management declared the day of the referendum a holiday and intimidated the workers.

Following the registration of their union at the Mirrai factory, union members have been intimidated and transferred. When the union asked for a referendum to establish its right to be a collective bargaining agent for the workers, the management declared the day of the referendum a holiday and intimidated the workers. As a result there were hardly any workers to vote. The union decided to withdraw from the referendum. The referendum proceeded without the union's participation, and the union was declared to have lost the vote.

J Crew, the brand buying from Mirrai, intervened after being contacted by the trade union FTZ&GSEU, the Clean Clothes Campaign, and global union IndustriAll. Despite this, the factory management refused any form of mediation for several months. In the end this resulted in the withdrawal of orders from the factory by this buyer.

J Crew has explained that the reason it will no longer place orders at the factory is not the allegations brought to it by the union, but rather Mirrai’s failure to partner with J Crew to remedy the violation of workers' rights.


see also:

Don't blame the whistle blower: Mirrai responsible for loss of orders
IndustriALL and Clean Clothes Campaign’s letter to the Employers Federation of Ceylon

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What do companies and Multi Stakeholder Initiaves think of the CCC? *

“CCC has been one of the defining influences on code of conduct over the last 10 years. Codes of conduct have moved from being a fringe idea to a central plank of single CSR policy in the industry. A large part of that is because CCC internationally have been a champion for the role of brands taking action... and have placed and kept the issue in the public domain.”

“CCC have had impact by raising our awareness, triggering the development of our code of conduct and our subsequent mechanisms on monitoring, disclosure practises, decision to join MSI, training and follow-up.”

“If there is a critical situation in a factory that we have not become aware of ourselves, we do of course react immediately, if this is brought to our attention by CCC.”

“All activities raise awareness but do not change policies, urgent appeals have most impact to improve or change the way of working with a supplier or improve a situation if needed.”

* Quotes from internal report that assesses how Clean Clothes Campaign's labour rights corporate accountability work, including the Urgent Appeal system, has impacted corporate behavior between 1994 and 2010.

Pins Brown, 2010. Impact Assessment of Corporate Accountability Activities of Clean Clothes Campaign. Unpublished report on file.