OXFAM LAUNCHED CLOTHES CODE CAMPAIGN
(Ethical Consumer, July/August 1996)

  On May 20th this year, Oxfam launched a Clothes Code Campaign aiming to improve the lives and working conditions of the world's clothing workers. Many of the clothes wom by people in Britain are likely to have been made by some the poorest and most exploited workers in the world. The problem is exacerbated by the escalating globalisation of world markets and the demand for even cheaper labour. Oxfam believes the solution is in the hands of the retailers, who dictate the nature of the clothes industry. High street competition has meant that UK retailers are playing one country or manufacturer off against another, forcing manufacturers to cut wages, increase working hours and ignore health and safety standards. This may mean cheaper clothes for people in the UK but it is the clothing workers who pay the real cost. There is now a growing awareness among UK consumers of the extent of exploitation that exists in the clothing trade. More than 37,000 people have signed up for Oxfam's Together For Rights, Together Against Poverty Campaign of which the Clothes Code is a part.

The Oxfam 'Challenge'

Oxfam is targeting the UK's top five retailers:
  It is challenging these companies to develop a code of conduct for manufacturers to follow, which will protect workers' basic rights. If the retailers already have such a code, Oxfam are asking them to improve it's effectiveness. It is also the retailers to work with subcontractors to improve working conditions; and to help them put the code into practice, Oxfam wants retailers to develop an independent monitoring of the code of conduct.

Women's work

  More than 70% of the world's garment production is done by women who are often their family's sole wage earners. In countries such as Taiwan or Bangladesh the wage can be as little as £4.64 a month for working a 15-hour day, 7 days a week. The working conditions in some of the world's clothing factories are dangerous and hazardous to health. Emergency exits and fire escapes, if they exist at all, can be blocked or locked. This has inevitable resulted in frequent tragic accidents with workers unable to escape quickly when fire breaks out.

Trade union action

  Workers in the garment industry often have no voice to draw attention to their suffering. Unions in many countries such as Bangladesh are politically oppressed and their representatives persecuted. Despite this, The Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union (BIGU) was formed in 1994, and has members in more the 500 factories across the land. It has accused the industry of conditions amounting to slavery. Workers are joining the union and campaigning for better conditions, but they will not win the struggle alone. Nazma Akther, BlGU's press secretary, says they want "the help of the international community to assist us in publicising the denial of our rights under the laws of Bangladesh, and under the International Labour Organisation Convention".

Effective Consumer Power

  Oxfam chose to launch the 'Clothes Code Campaign' because consumer pressure has already proved to be a powerful weapon against clothing companies. US clothes retailer 'The Gap' was recently exposed for buying some of it's stock from factories in Honduras and El Salvador, which employed very young workers in sweatshop conditions, contravening the company's own ethical code of conduct. After a campaign of protest and letter writing, the company was obliged to force its suppliers to improve workers' rights. 'The Gap' has also agreed to 'experiment' with independent monitoring of its manufacturers. This was a success for consumer power but also for 'The Gap', who have had the courage to admit to past failures and accept responsibility for the employment practices of its suppliers.



OXFAM CAMPAIGN FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS

(International Union Rights, n. 3 - 1996)


  In May this year, Oxfam in the UK launched a major campaign to improve the conditions of factory workers in developing countries. Focusing on workers in the garment industry, the Oxfam Clothes Code Campaign aims to use con sumer power to press UK clothing retailers to take responsibility for the conditions under which the products in their shops are made and to ensure that they are not made in 'sweat shops' or by exploited labour.

  Oxfam's concern for the rights of workers arises out of its belief in the basic right of all to an adequate livelihood and its work to ensure the realisation of that right. It is clear that in many of the countries in which it works, conditions in cheap labour industries like garment manufacturing are such that workers are being denied this basic right. Wage rates per hour are so low that workers need to put in excessively long hours in order to earn an adequate income, with 70 or 80 hour weeks not being uncommon. The result is widespread exhaustion and malnutrition among workers, and all the chronic health problems which that brings. Fire and safety standards in the industry are also a problem; there have been a series of fires in garment factories recently whlch have killed large numbers of workers.

  One of the main activities of the Oxfam campaign is having people hand in coupons to clothing retail shops, or writing to the companies, saying they are concerned that the clothes they sell may be made under exploltative conditions and asking the retailers to take steps to ensure they are not. Efforts are being directed at five major UK clothing retailers Ñ the Burton Group, C&A, Marks and Spencer, Next and Sears Ñ who together account for nearly half of all the clothes sold in Britain.

  The high level of media interest in and publlc support for the campaign since its launch has shown that consumers are genuinely concerned about how the products they buy are made. In the 1980s we saw the rise of 'green consumerism', and concern that products were environmentally friendly; in the 1990s we are seeing the beginning of 'ethical consumerism'; a desire to buy products that are 'worker friendly'.

  Pressure for retailers' codes of practice as well as sending in coupons and letters, Oxfam's campaign supporters are running street stalls, and generating media publicity. Oxfam is also talking directly to the management of the major retailers, urging them to respond to customer pressure and, if they do not already have one, to institute a code of practice for their suppliers. This means that the retailer will have a dear set of standards regarding working conditions which their suppliers must adhere to if they want to do business with the retailer.

  For such a code to be effective it must include the right of workers to form associations or unions and to bargain collectively, and it must be independently monitored. In general, retaliers seem to have realised that they are vulnerable on this issue. If conditions are not good in the factories which make their clothes, an exposŽ by the media or others could be very damaging to their image and could lose  them sales. Marks and Spencer experienced this recently when allegations of poor conditions in the factories of their suppliers in Morocco were broadcast by Granada "TV's World in Action" programme.

  A number of retailers have responded by instituting their own codes of practice. But these tend to be fairly weak and their monitoring often leaves much to be desired Ñ in most cases simply being left to the retailer's local representatives, whose main interests are quality control and delivery times rather than working conditions.

  The campaign is still in its early stages and it is too early yet to judge progress. The immediate task is to persuade the five UK retailers to institute codes or strengthen their existing ones and to have them independently monitored. Through its presence and contacts in the field Oxfam will also be instituting its own spot-check monitoring. Codes of practice established by retailers are not by themselves going to eliminate the exploitation of workers in developing countries. They are however one of a number of useful tools which can contribute significantly to a solution. And they are an appropriate one for people in the UK whose most significant role in the industry is that of consumers, the people who pay out the money upon which the whole industry depends.



Oxfam supports social clause

  At another level, Oxfam is also supporting the inclusion of a 'social clause' in trade agreemen Ñ by which it means having a clause attached t an international trade agreement obliging the signatory governments to respect the basic rights workers, as laid down in a set of core ILO Conventions, on pain of losing the benefits of the agreement or suffering trade saction. A 'social clause' in Oxfam's view is a means of setting floor level for workers' rights, not wages.

    By guaranteeing the right to collectively ba] gain, it would enable workers in developin countries to bargain for whatever level of wage they consider appropriate, given their need to not scare off investors and lose jobs.

  The question of having a social claus attached to the GATT and implemented by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a contention one.

  The WTO is not noted for its championing workers' rights, and there is a high risk that such a 'social clause' would he used tor other politic or economic purposes. Hence it is essential that the monitoring of a 'social clause' in the GATT, WTO and the implementation of any remedial action should be done jointly by the ILO and WTO, with the ILO taking the lead role. The process must he open and transparent a should allow complaints to be lodged by legitimate worker organisations as well as by governments.




ACTION

For an Oxfam Clothes Code Action Guide call the Oxfam Clothes Line on:
01865 312456 or contact your local Oxfam campaigns office.







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