29.07.2022: News from KW 30

Studies and Co.

Fashion revolution "Fashion Transparency Index 2022": In the annual edition of the index, 250 of the world's largest fashion brands and retailers were reviewed and ranked according to what information they disclose about their social and environmental policies, practices and impacts in their operations and supply chain. On average, the brands reach only 24%, 1% more than in the previous year. Other core results and: 48% publish a list of their first-level manufacturers; 96% do not publish the number of workers in their supply chain who receive a living wage; 13 % disclose how many of their suppliers have trade unions; 12% of brands publish a code of conduct for responsible purchasing; 94% fail to disclose the frequency of breaches of gender-specific working conditions; 29% published one of the Science Based Targets Initiative audited decarbonisation target covering their operations and supply chain. The textile alliance companies also H&M (61-70%); C&A, Puma, Esprit, adidas (51-60%); Hugo Boss, Tchibo (41-50%); Primark, ALDI North (31-40%); ALDI southern, Lidl, s.Oliver (21-30%); Otto, kik (11-20%); Takko (6-10%); Gerry Weber (0-5%) were evaluated.

Cotton Campaign, Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR) & Turkmen.news "Review of the Use of Forced Labor during the 2021 Cotton Harvest in Turkmenistan" (PDF): The report provides information on systematic forced labour during the 2021 cotton harvest in Turkmenistan and is based on first-hand evidence documented by trained civil society observers and local sources. In authoritarian Turkmenistan, where the government is cracking down on human rights activists and civil society organisations critical of the repressive regime are forced to work from exile, the forced labour observers carried out this work at great risk of arrest and torture. Independent observers also recorded cases of child labour where children worked together with their parents in the fields or as replacement workers for parents who were forced to pick cotton or pay a replacement picker. According to the Cotton campaign European governments and the US should take urgent action to ban cotton products made in forced labour in Turkmenistan from their markets and hold companies benefiting from forced labour in Turkmenistan accountable.

News

bluesign has the Revision of various chemical lists announced. This includes an Prohibition of the use of enzymes in powder form. Enzymes can save water and energy in pre-treatment and dyeing, as well as in denim laundries, but inhaling powdery enzymes can cause breathing difficulties. In addition, textiles refined with PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) - which are commonly used for permanently water-repellent coatings - will be removed from the bluesign-Guide deleted. All criteria are on the site to find.

State of the economy: The consumer research company GfK informed that since the beginning of the survey of consumer sentiment for Germany as a whole in 1991, no worse value has been measured.: In normal times, the curve of consumer sentiment moves steadily around a value of 10. In the first Corona lockdown, it fell to a low of about minus 24. Forecast for August GfK a value of minus 30.6. Concerns about interrupted supply chains, the war in Ukraine and sharply rising energy and food prices are now accompanied by fears of a sufficient supply of gas to the economy and private households next winter. In recent months, German online retailers have also suffered from ever-deteriorating consumer sentiment. The Online sales of goods in the second quarter of 2022 were EUR 21.8 billion in Germany, 9.6% lower than in the previous year. There were above-average losses in the clothing product category, whose revenues fell by 11.7% to EUR 3.89 billion.

Countries of production

Myanmar

Around 2000 workers went on strike at Yangon Industrial Park at the beginning of the month the Clothing Factory JW (Great Glowing investment) and A Dream of Kind (ADK) They claimed that the violation of their fundamental rights had become intolerable. One worker reports that she has to work in 12-hour shifts six days a week and the employer demands unattainable quotas (60 garments per hour). Taking a lunch break or going to the toilet is difficult at the pressure of performance. Another striker reports more than 100 overtime hours a month. In the aftermath of the strike, workers reported increased repression. A woman working at the factory said supervisors paid special attention to workers deemed politically active, declaring during a meeting that strikes continued to be illegal under the current government. Employees were also prohibited from communicating with others outside of their assigned job series, which, according to employees, is an attempt to prevent them from organising another stoppage of work.

In one briefing (PDF) reports this Business and Human Rights Resource Center on developments in the situation of workers in Myanmar. In Allegations tracker More than 100 cases of alleged labour and human rights violations against at least 60,800 garment workers have been uncovered. The affected workers are employed in 70 factories that produce for at least 33 global fashion brands and retailers, including the textile alliance companies. adidas, C&A, H&M, Lidl and Primark.

industriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union Calls on the EU to take tougher action against the military junta in Myanmar, including the EBA-trade preferences (Everything but Arms) to be repealed. This EBA-The EU's trade scheme provides Myanmar with favourable trade tariffs, blatantly violating the provisions of the EU's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), which require beneficiary countries to comply with the principles of the fifteen core conventions on human and labour rights. As Response to the call says EU spokesperson Peter Stano: "Under the current circumstances, the withdrawal of trade preferences under the EBAAgreement harms the wrong people and hardly affects military interests.

According to the World Bank Poverty in the country has doubled since March 2020. With around 40% of the population living below the national poverty line in 2022, Nearly a Decade of Progress on Poverty Reduction Destroyed became. According to Save the Children have Families in Myanmar have lost on average more than half of their income since February 2021, and rising poverty rates threaten to wipe out 17 years of economic progress. About 80% of families said diet was their biggest concern, with adults in one in five households limiting meals to feed their children.

On Monday he reported mirrorsIt is the first time in more than 30 years that death sentences have been carried out in Myanmar. The military junta has carried out the death sentences against four dissidents convicted in January despite international protests. Among those executed was the former hip-hop artist and member of parliament. Phyo Zeya Thaw (41), who was accused, among other things, of organizing an armed attack on a commuter train in Myanmar's Yangon metropolis, in which five policemen died. He was considered a close ally of the former head of government. Aung San Suu Kyi. In addition, the well-known democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu (53) is executed. The junta accused him of calling for riots in online networks.

Steps of cooperation will include the establishment of a central complaint mechanism and a programme with selected suppliers to promote social dialogue.