Missed opportunity: No improvements in sight for labor and union rights at KiK supplier in Pakistan Berlin, Bonn. Unsafe workplaces, piece-rate contracts and starvation wages – almost 15 years after the devastating fire at the Pakistani textile factory Ali Enterprises, the German textile discounter KiK is still not fulfilling its responsibility to guarantee safe and fair working conditions in its supplier factories in Pakistan. At the time, when 260 people lost their lives in the fire, KiK was Ali Enterprises’ main client. Category: 2024 Published: 01 July 2024 Read more …
Ensuring Effective Rights Holder Engagement in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) in Germany aim to strengthen corporate due diligence by addressing the negative impacts of corporate activities on foreign production sites and value chains of German industrial players. This discussion paper is now translated into English, French and Spanish and can be downloaded from the Website of the NGO 'Germanwatch'. Category: 2024 Published: 04 June 2024 Read more …
© UN Women/Fahad Abdullah Kaizer via Flickr. Enforceable Brand Agreements – the solution to the problem? Guest post: This article was originally published on LSE International Blog on January 18, 2024. Author: Paulina Jerrentrup PhD candidate Pauline Jerrentrup explores whether enforceable brand agreements are the solution to the exploitation of workers in supplier economies. Category: 2024 Published: 08 May 2024 Read more …
© FEMNET The future of Bangladesh: What will become of the people who sew our clothes? The year 2023 has cruelly revealed the severe repression suffered by workers and trade unionists in Bangladesh. Four people were killed in protests in favour of a new minimum wage, activists were threatened and civil society was increasingly restricted. Statements from Western fashion brands have largely failed to materialise. What do these developments mean for the lives of women in the garment industry and what is the future of what is arguably Bangladesh's most important industry? Category: 2024 Published: 15 February 2024 Read more …
Invitation: OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector - SIDE SESSION Learnings and Obstacles : How We Engage for a Gender Lens in OSH 19 February 2024, 10 am CET, 2.30 pm IST, 4 pm WIB, via Zoom A gender-sensitive lens is needed in the field of occupational health and safety (OSH) - because gender-responsive OSH systems are decisive in improving the health of women workers. But how can a gender lens be translated from theory into practice? And which concrete activities can different stakeholders take? Join our OECD side session to answer these and other pressing questions. We draw from more than two years of experience of working in a Multi-Actor Partnership (MAP) for Gender-Sensitive Occupational Health and Safety in the Garment and Footwear Industry. Category: 2024 Published: 07 February 2024 Read more …
© FEMNET Pakistani trade unionists call for German YES to EU supply chain law September 2012: 260 people burn to death in Pakistani textile factory On 11 September 2012, 260 people were burned alive and more than 50 people were injured at the Ali Enterprises textile factory in Pakistan. Barred windows, defective fire extinguishers and emergency exits that led nowhere made the factory a deadly trap for the workers. Just three weeks before the fire, the certification company RINA had categorised the factory - which mainly produced for the German textile company KiK - as safe. Category: 2024 Published: 02 February 2024 Read more …
links: Zehra Khan (Foto: Patricia Carney) | rechts: Nasir Mansoor (Foto: Sina Marx) One Year German Supply Chain Act: Speakers Tour on Working Conditions in Pakistan The German Supply Chain Act (LkSG), which came into force on 1 January 2023, obliges companies to ensure compliance with labour rights in their value chains. One year after the law came into force, members of the Pakistani trade unions NTUF and HBWWF will come to Germany to discuss which human rights are still not being implemented in the value chains of German companies. Category: 2023 Published: 07 December 2023 Read more …
© NGWF Minimum wage talks in Bangladesh on the verge of collapse? Employers propose outrageously low wage of 89 euros, while many fashion brands still remain silent Fears are growing that ongoing wage negotiations for the Bangladesh garment industry could result in a new poverty wage of only about 89 euros per month (10,400 taka), based on an outrageous proposal put forward by employers* at the last meeting of the wage committee. Unions and labor rights organizations reject this brazen attempt to keep workers trapped in poverty. The low wage proposal is the result of the unwillingness of major fashion brands to actively support workers* in their struggle for decent wages. Category: 2023 Published: 25 October 2023 Read more …
© FEMNET Don't RMG workers deserve a dignified life? Taslima Akhter Over 40 lakh of the workers in our country's readymade garments sector are waiting for a welcome change. Whether that change will come and bring relief is still in question. On one side, we have the workers protesting for a minimum wage of Tk 25,000, and on the other, those in power are concocting ways to thwart this mission. Category: 2023 Published: 17 October 2023 Read more …
© Nandita Shivakumar Women workers transform Tamil Nadu factories in fight against gender-based violence Across the garment industry, a majority-women workforce labours in plants owned and managed by men. A new report sheds light on gender-based violence in textile factories in India’s southernmost region. Category: 2023 Published: 18 July 2023 Read more …
© FEMNET FEMNET and the Clean Clothes Campaign support Bangladeshi unions in their 23,000 Taka minimum wage hike demand For the first time in five years, the Bangladeshi government has formed a Wage Board to revise the minimum wage for the country’s RMG sector which employs roughly 4 million workers. The current minimum wage of 8,000 taka (roughly 65 Euro) was already insufficient for a decent living when it came into force in 2019. Since then, workers had to endure the additional pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent high inflation without seeing their wages increase at all. Category: 2023 Published: 18 July 2023 Read more …
MIND THE GAP - Current study on the situation of women textile workers in Bangladesh. FEMNET partner organisation investigates prevailing working conditions and wage practices in garment manufacturing, and designs a fairer wage structure. Category: 2023 Published: 06 July 2023 Read more …
