KiK pays, lawsuit remains before Dortmund regional court

The victims and survivors of the fire at the Ali Enterprises factory in Karachi, Pakistan, finally receive long-term compensation. KiK pays over $5 million, around €15,000 per person. On September 11, 2012, more than 250 workers lost their lives and over 50 people were injured in the worst factory fire in Asia. KiK was the only known customer of the factory to this day. The Clean Clothes Campaign was involved in negotiating compensation with KiK, under the auspices of the ILO and with the support of the BMZ.

In parallel with the compensation negotiations, which lasted over four years, four people affected by the fire disaster filed a lawsuit against the German textile discounter KiK at the Dortmund Regional Court in March 2015.

On 30 August, the Court ruled: It considers itself competent and the applicants receive legal aid. This decision is the first step to ensure that a case of human rights violations by German companies abroad is also heard in a German court.

Our published press releases:

• Press release of 10.09.2016
• Press release of 30.08.2016

Saeeda Khatoon and Nasir Mansoor report on the suffering and struggle of those affected by the factory fire in Pakistan.
Photo: © Holger Priedemuth

Final sprint: Petition for human rights over profit

There is a great danger that the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights will be completely diluted by the Ministry of Finance due to strong business lobbying. (See here the Monitor contribution of 8.9.2016).

Therefore, we ask you to: Support the call to oblige companies to respect human rights in foreign business as well.

Sign up now!

Petition "Human rights before profit"

Does the textile alliance still make sense?

FEMNET is represented by its CEOs in the steering committee of the Textile Alliance, but more and more doubts arise as to whether the effort is still worthwhile. The objectives for answering key questions on social and environmental standards are currently being discussed for the preparation of a roadmap to be presented by each member of the Alliance by the end of the year. In doing so, industry and associations are trying to reduce the demands by all means.

A commentary by Gisela Burckhardt

FairSchnitt: Current developments

The FairSchnitt project consultant Anne Neumann reports in a Interview about the current developments of the project on the blog modefairarbeit.de.

FairSchnitt: Countdown to the conference
‘FAIR FASHION works? Corporate responsibility in fashion studies’ is ongoing

Our program is fixed: Lectures, panel discussions and workshops with guests such as Armedangels, Hugo Boss, Transparency International, Get Changed, textile+mode and many others await the participants on 13 and 14 October in Düsseldorf. Registration is open for interested students and lecturers of fashion-related courses until the end of September.

A taste of our Video clip of the 2014 conference.

New educational materials online - factsheets for students and interested parties

As part of the FairSchnitt project, we give numerous workshops on fashion-related courses of study. However, so that students and teachers can easily edit the contents of our learning modules themselves and integrate them into the events or use them for self-study, we develop a fact sheet on every topic.

The short brochures summarize the most important contents on four pages. Here are the four fact sheets that have already been completed..

The remaining eight will appear before the conference in mid-October.

Internship report

Kathrin, a fashion design student at Trier University of Applied Sciences, not only learned a lot from us, but was motivated by her internship, and even initiated a university group for fair working conditions in the clothing industry with fellow students. It's wonderful.

Read their report...

News from our blog: fashionfairarbeit.de

Two very different posts can be found in July and August on the blog:

We have with Jeanine Glöyer of Jyoti Fair Works on the establishment of her label Spoken. Born from a loose idea, it has grown into a strong company in eight years.

Marie Adrian, student of the subject “Material Culture: Textile” in Oldenburg, answers our #3Questions.

Fair public procurement

On 16 September 2016, we started the nationwide Fair Week with the event ‘Gute Arbeit fairbindet – What does the City of Bonn’s workwear have to do with labour and human rights?’. FEMNET presented the project with the City of Bonn and five speakers discussed the successes and challenges of fair public procurement.

More information...

In recent months, the project has also expanded project activities at schools, sports and school festivals.

Read more news from the project

Modern slavery

Video clip on "The modern form of slavery in South Indian spinning mills"

In the video clip, young women who had to work in inhumane working conditions at the spinning mills in Tamil Nadu, South India, tell the story. They were imprisoned on the factory grounds and also had to work at night.

This forced labour is a form of modern slavery - we mean.

Multistakeholder initiative for Tamil Nadu in discussion

FEMNET has put forward a proposal for sector-wide improvement of working conditions in the spinning mills of Tamil Nadu, India, as part of the Textile Alliance as an alliance initiative. The aim of the initiative, founded by Indian NGOs and 3 factories, is to abolish the forced labour of young girls in the spinning mills.

Business, the Ministry, trade unions and NGOs in Germany and India are encouraged to participate and support the initiative. At a symposium in Berlin on 12 May 2016, the company representatives expressed their support for the initiative in principle.

A joint fact-finding mission is now to show how the Tamil Nadu government stands by the proposal and how many factories on the ground are willing to participate.

More information...

Buy Good Stuff - The Fair Buying Guide for Cologne

Sustainability and Conscious Consumption – the lifestyle with ecologically sustainable and socially fair products is now also spreading in fashion. BUY GOOD STUFF, the first eco-fair shopping guide for fashion in Cologne, was created in a cooperation between FEMNET and the private fashion university AMD Düsseldorf. It not only shows the green concept stores, but other fashion stores in the shopping metropolis on the Rhine also offer attractive fashion that is produced in a socially and ecologically sustainable way - for every taste and budget.

On 22 September 2016, the Fashion Guide will be presented at the Cologne Fair Trade Night in the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum with a panel discussion and a fair fashion show.

More information about the event...

News from our partners

Chennai, India: Court Decides to Increase Minimum Wage by 30% and Calls on Government to Abolish Modern Slavery in Factories

At the end of July 2016, the High Court of Madras adopted two important decisions on labour law in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu:

For the first time in 12 years, the monthly minimum wage for garment workers has been raised. On the other hand, the court has called on the Tamil Nadu government to take measures against the prevailing practice of labour camps in spinning mills.

Read more...

Do you find the work of local NGOs important?

We too! That is why we support non-governmental organisations in India and Bangladesh that promote the rights of women workers in the garment industry. Our partner organisations advise on problems at work and provide legal assistance. This work is particularly important, as is now also clear from the case of the KiK lawsuit before the Dortmund Regional Court. Unfortunately, many workers still fail because of excessive bureaucratic and financial hurdles that prevent them from going to court.

Support this work! Donate to the FEMNET Solidarity Fund!

Donate now...

News from the association

Online Voting for FEMNET as part of the German Engagement Award

Our CEO Dr. Gisela Burckhardt is one of the participants of the German Engagement Award and can win the Audience Award 2016 endowed with 10,000 euros. The money will benefit FEMNET and thus give the association more financial leeway for future projects. Online voting will start today. Please support FEMNET with your vote for Gisela Burckhardt.

Vote now...