All News & Press Releases

© payyourworkers.org

Press release of the Clean Clothes Campaign

With extensive demands on fashion companies, the #PayYourWorkers #RespectLabourRights campaign of numerous well-known NGOs and trade unions from 37 countries started today on 15.03.2021. The alliance calls on companies such as Amazon, Nike and Next to support workers who have fallen into distress through no fault of their own during the pandemic and the associated loss of income.

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© FEMNET I Stefan Klübert

The city of Karlsruhe has long been committed to sustainability. After first steps, nails with heads were now made with advice from FEMNET - suppliers who could not prove sustainable supply chain management were not admitted to the last tender for workwear and safety shoes.

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© FEMNET I Stefan Klübert

The city of Karlsruhe has long been committed to sustainability. After first steps, nails with heads were now made with advice from FEMNET - suppliers who could not prove sustainable supply chain management were not admitted to the last tender for workwear and safety shoes.

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© Saskia Wulfinghoff

The links between gender-based violence and the health consequences have so far received little attention from the actors in the textile industry. FEMNET will focus more on this topic. Dr. Gisela Burckhardt, Chair of FEMNET and project coordinator Sina Marx give an insight into why health plays an important role in the context of FEMNET's campaign and project work.

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On the occasion of the International Women's Day, the Global Policy Forum, FIAN Germany, Women Engage for a Common Future, the Action Community Solidarity World, the CorA Network for Corporate Responsibility, FEMNET, the Marie-Schlei-Verein and TransFair / Fairtrade Germany point out that gender equality is not sufficiently taken into account in the present draft of a supply chain law. The compromise presented by the German government does not adequately reflect Germany's obligations to combat discrimination against women. Corrections are urgently needed in the upcoming parliamentary revision process. To this end, the organizations call on the members of the Bundestag.

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This and other photos/videos on the Facebook page of the IMFM

Since the military coup on 1 February 2021, people in Myanmar have been resisting the military takeover, with street rallies, strikes and noise protests. Workers from all sectors of the economy join the protests and the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Textile workers also follow the resistance to restore democracy and call for international solidarity.

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"Service Learning Digital - Social Commitment despite Social Distance" is the motto under which students of the University of Cologne support non-profit organisations in interdisciplinary teams for one semester. FEMNET implemented a project both in the summer semester 2020 and in the winter semester 2020/21 – in the summer, the students supported the campaign work around the Fashion checker on the issues of fair wages and transparency. In the winter, a group worked on educational materials on the topic of climate and clothing, which should show the connection between climate damage and the clothing industry with participatory methods.

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© FEMNET

According to estimates by the business association BGMEA, around 400,000 jobs were lost in Bangladesh's textile industry in 2020. Even after resuming production, many factories are still not working at full capacity. Granted financial aid from the EU and Germany for affected seamstresses has not yet flowed completely. In India, too, the situation remains critical.

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© FEMNET

The supply chain law is coming, that's for sure. A positive move, as the law can be passed before the upcoming federal election this year. As a result, companies are obliged to take responsibility for human rights and the environment. Violations should be controlled by a federal agency. If an undertaking breaches its obligations, the authority may impose fines and exclude the undertaking from public contracts. This is, after all, a step forward from the previous voluntary approaches.

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An alliance of twelve non-governmental organisations criticises the fact that the federal government is not taking binding steps to make the federal government's procurement of textiles fair and sustainable. This is because the recently published ‘Guide of the Federal Government for Sustainable Textile Procurement in the Federal Administration’ lacks the announced step-by-step plan. The federal ministries clearly missed their own target of procuring half of the textiles according to social and ecological criteria by 2020.

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© Taslima Akter

Textile manufacturers' associations from six Asian countries have launched a joint initiative to strengthen their negotiating position for better purchasing practices vis-à-vis Western fashion brands. Because they face the same challenges - cancelled orders, arrears and discounts during the corona pandemic threaten the entire textile industry and thus lead to wage cuts and lost wages for the seamstresses.

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