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2012

Tazreen fire: What brands should do, and their responses so far

Brands should help the victims. The brands should take swiftly a clear principle commitment on compensation, which needs to be negotiated with the trade unions representing the workers at Tazreen, and be based on international standards as well as established precedents and customs in Bangladesh. The international buyers from the Tazreen factory bear responsibility for full redress of the victims, which includes contribution to the loss of income and damages for the injured and families of the dead.

Demand justice for the victims of the Tazreen fire

On the 24th November 2012, at least 112 workers died in the fire at Tazreen Fashions, a garment factory near Dhaka, Bangladesh. Many of the workers jumped to their deaths trying to escape from the nine story building. Others, unable to escape the blaze, were burned alive. Tazreen produced for a host of well known brand names, including C&A, KIK, Walmart, Li & Fung, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Disney, Dickies, Sean Comb (ENYCE) and Kmart/Sears.

Call on Original Marines: stop intimidation of union members

Since May 2012, garment workers making clothing for Italian brand Original Marines at PT SC Enterprises have faced ongoing intimidation for their trade union activities. PT SC Enterprises is an Indonesian supplier located in Central Java exporting to the European market. Outwardly a green, “modern environmentally friendly garment factory”, conditions within the factory are grim, with low wages, long working hours and forced unpaid overtime. Workers are also highly insecure—out of 1,400 employees, 60% are on short-term contracts, 30% are casual and only 10% are permanent.

Christmas 'fashion mobs' for a living wage in Cambodia

Christmas shoppers stand to be taken by surprise this month as campaigners take action in shopping centers around Europe to raise awareness of poverty wages of Cambodian garment workers. With these 'fashion mobs', they pressure H&M, Inditex (Zara), Levi’s and Gap to introduce a living wage in Cambodia.

Aslam Hidayet, ex-worker Kizone factory: 'Adidas deceives us'

More than 5000 of you wrote on adidas' and Justin Bieber's Facebook wall to push them to pay the severance pay of the Kizone workers. Justin Bieber failed to respond, and adidas simply sent us a letter arguing that the workers were satisfied with the food vouchers they had been issued with.

Vigils at European C&A stores for justice Tazreen fire victims

This week Clean Clothes Campaigns in Spain, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Austria organise candlelight vigils in front of C&A stores. The labour rights group calls upon C&A and other buyers from the Tazreen Fashions factory in Bangladesh to ensure compensation to the victims, take credible steps to prevent future tragedies in the industry and support a full and transparent investigation into the fires. C&A and Li&Fung have confirmed that they were sourcing from Tazreen at the time of the fire that caused the death of at least 112 workers, and injured more than 50. Other companies that confirmed sourcing from Tazreen in the past year include Spanish companies Sfera and Hipercor (subsidaries of El Corte Inglés) and the German discounter KIK.

Final push to free Somyot

“Here in Thailand they know I get a lot of international support. Without that support I would maybe already be dead.”

Court hearing Somyot 19th December: an update

Somyot, a Thai labour activist, human rights defender and magazine editor, has been in detention since April 2011, awaiting trial under the Thai lèse-majesté law* (Article 112) for the publication of two articles deemed insulting to the monarch. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

Trade unions and labour groups’ demands to buyers from Tazreen Fashions

Bangladeshi trade unions and international organizations are calling on all brands sourcing from the devastated Tazreen Fashions factory, which burnt down last weekend killing 112 workers, to provide emergency relief, medical costs and compensation to all those affected by the fire. They are also being asked, along with other key brands and stakeholders, to ensure an immediate and transparent investigation into the events surrounding the fire and to take urgent steps to prevent future tragedies in the industry.

Dismissed Mölnlycke workers continue their struggle

More than one year of workers' struggle has not moved the company Mölnlycke Health Care (Thailand) Ltd., the Thai subsidiary of a Swedish multinational, to reinstate 22 union members that were unfairly dismissed in September 2011. The company produces hospital gowns for among others public health institutions in Sweden and Norway. Norwegian health institutions recently announced it would be particularly hard to sign a new contract with Mölnlycke given the company's continued refusal to reinstate the workers even after a national tripartite body ordered them to do so. Mölnlycke produces a wide range of other medical devices in several countries, including Indonesia, Belgium, Thailand, Malaysia, France, Poland and the Czech Republic.

More action needed on Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety

Labor Rights Groups Urge US and European Governments to Press Apparel Brands and Retailers to Sign onto Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement

Sean Combs’ ENYCE labels found in Bangladesh factory fire

US rapper and producer, Sean Combs, more commonly known as Puff Daddy or P Diddy, is called upon by campaigners to take action today after his ENYCE brand was linked a tragic fire which killed 120 Bangladeshi garment workers on Saturday. Labels from his ENYCE brand were found in the wreckage of the burnt out Tazreen Fashion garment factory by local activists.

Bangladesh factory fire: brands accused of criminal negligence

The Clean Clothes Campaign, along with trade unions and labour rights organisations in Bangladesh and around the world is calling for immediate action from international brands following yesterday's fire in Dhaka Bangladesh, which cost the lives over one hundred garment workers.

Human Rights Trial on Garment Industry Concludes

The National Peoples’ Tribunal for living wages and decent working conditions of garment workers continued today at Kannada Sahitya Parishad, with much rigour and conviction with the participation of experts, union leaders, brand representatives and workers.

India: Human Rights trial hears fashion worker woes

Garment workers alongside international brands and government representatives gave evidence at a tribunal which started in Bangalore this week to assess claims of systematic human rights abuses in the Indian garment industry. 250 garment workers from Bangalore, Gurgaon and Tirupur attended the tribunal, foregoing their daily wage and attendance bonus, to share testimonies of rights abuses and exploitation at the hands of western brands, surveyed by a panel of international judges.

Indian Garment industry to receive human rights trial

Local trade unionists condemn GAP for refusing to attend.

In Memoriam Korshed Alam, August 18, 1966 - November 17, 2012

It is with great shock and grief that Clean Clothes Campaign has learned of the sudden death of our dear friend and fellow activist Korshed Alam, Executive Director of Alternative Movement for Resources and Freedom Society (AMRF) in Bangladesh.

Books and plastic replicas of prison food: a visit to Somyot

In November, our colleague Marcella Kraay visited Somyot in prison in Thailand.

Global protest swamps adidas’ Facebook page

Thousands of people from across the globe are leaving messages on adidas originals' Facebook page about adidas' failure to pay Indonesian workers US$1.8million severance pay.

Esprit and Li&Fung target of international street actions

An international call for action from the Clean Clothes Campaign last week led to protests in cities around the world. In Istanbul, Chiang Mai and Hong Kong workers protested against the failure of Esprit and its agent Li&Fung to pay €4.7 million Euro owed to more than 2000 people who became jobless after the factory closed. 'These actions are only the beginning of our campaign to make Esprit and Li & Fung pay up,' says Ineke Zeldenrust, International Coordinator at Clean Clothes Campaign.

Join our global Week of Action against adidas!

This week, we join hands with our friends from Labour Behind The Label, SumOfUs, USAS, People and Planet, Ms Wanda, ILRF and many more to tell adidas to stop throwing around excuses. We want them to finally pay up the US$1.8 million of severance payments they owe the Kizone workers in Indonesia. The Kizone factory closed in April 2011, leaving 2,800 people out of work and without pay. It's time for a global Week of Action!

Esprit and Li & Fung leave Hey Tekstil workers hanging

For over eight months groups of Hey Tekstil workers have protested in Istanbul for their unpaid wages, severance and other payments from Li & Fung, one of the world’s largest garment trading companies. Li & Fung was sourcing almost all of the production at Hey Tekstil for one brand: Esprit, when the workers were fired without pay.

Textile Discounter KIK makes cheap offer to victims of Pakistan garment factory fire

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) calls on the German textile discounter KIK to pay a fair and just compensation for all the victims of the garment factory fire at Ali Enterprises in Pakistan. The immediate relief payments that KIK promised are urgently needed and welcomed, but the amount pledged covers less than 4% of what ultimately will be needed.

Statement Regarding Gap’s Refusal to Agree to a Fire Safety Program in Bangladesh

Gap Inc. has refused to participate in a comprehensive fire safety program, to which two other major apparel brands have already committed, to address the deadly working conditions at its supplier factories in Bangladesh.

Call on Gap to protect Bangladeshi workers' lives

Since 2006 at least 500 Bangladeshi garment workers have died in factory fires while sewing clothing for giant fashion companies, like Gap and H&M. Future tragic deaths could be prevented if companies like Gap would follow the lead of brands like Tommy Hilfiger and the German retailer Tchibo, by agreeing to a fire safety program that includes really independent inspections, mandatory repairs and renovations of safety hazards, a central role for workers and unions, transparency and binding commitments to protect workers.

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