Number 27 - Spring 2009

Newsletter of the Clean Clothes Campaign
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Editorial

With the release of our new report, Cashing In: Giant retailers, purchasing practices, and working conditions in the garment industry, the Clean Clothes Campaign takes aim at a new breed of clothing retailers, the giant supermarkets. Clothing is just one of the huge range of products on the shelves at Carrefour, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Walmart, but their massive scale has made them key players in the fight for justice and better working conditions in the garment industry.

The Cashing In report marks the launch of the CCC’s Better Bargain campaign which lays out a path for giant retailers to improve implementation of labour standards. It also aims to raise awareness among the Giant’s vast army of consumers: 25,000,000 people shop at Carrefour every day and shoppers in the UK spend one out of every seven pounds at Tesco. The CCC asks them to demand a better bargain from the giant retailers so they can be assured that their purchases are produced in dignity and freedom.

Poverty wages and precarious employment characterise the giant retailers’ supply chains – problems also familiar to the millions of migrant workers in the garment industry. In March, the CCC teamed up with research organisation SOMO to hold a consultation meeting in Malaysia to discuss migrant worker issues. The research reveals that common problems faced by garment workers worldwide are compounded for migrants. The threat of deportation and arrest is added to other barriers to worker organising. Money owed to recruitment agencies, brokers or traffickers means that migrants need to earn not only enough money to survive, but also to pay back their debts.

All garment workers have the right to earn a living wage – one that meets their basic needs and those of their families within a regular work week. In the coming months, the Better Bargain campaign will draw attention to this fundamental fact, urging companies and governments to support initiatives like the Asian Floor Wage.

And we will continue to support those who defend those workers who claim their right to demand decent and fair working conditions. The CCC is pleased to be a beneficiary of Europe Aid’s Human Rights Defenders program, enabling us to share the stories and support the struggle of courageous women like Emine Arslan, who has now protested outside the DESA leather factory in Turkey for a year to demand her job back.

In Emine’s own words, “If I receive [solidarity] support, I can continue”.