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Displaced workers inside BD 24 2 2019 copy FEMNETDisplaced workers are demanding their jobs back. Photo: @ FEMNET

Shocking figures are reported by our partner organisations from Bangladesh: More than 3,000 workers are being charged, and more than 11,000 workers from 105 factories have been laid off since January 2019. Their names are on a blacklist, nowhere can they find a job.

Their crime: They protested against the far too small increase in the monthly minimum wage to 8000 Taka (83,- EUR). The unions had demanded double that (166 euros), after all, the minimum wage has not been adjusted for 5 years. For the majority of workers, the basic wage hardly increases as a result of the revision. Hardly any family can live on the new minimum wage. Further background can be found in our Report of 16 January 2019.

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Blue Hands #Against Violence: FEMNET calls for solidarity in Bonn with the start of the campaign.
One in three textile workers are victims of structural violence in the workplace. Fashion brands aren't doing enough to protect women in their suppliers. For this reason, FEMNET is launching the campaign #Counterviolence on International Women's Day. With hands painted in blue, the supporters invite you to participate in order to set a sign against violence against women.

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On the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos, more than 150 European non-governmental organisations, including the CorA network, are launching a petition against Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) and for a binding UN agreement on business and human rights (UN-Treaty).

In doing so, they call on the EU and its Member States to withdraw from trade and investment agreements containing special rights of action and to refrain from concluding such agreements with special rights of action in the future. They also call for legal possibilities to hold corporations accountable for human rights violations.

The petition seeks to build pressure on the EU and its Member States to push for a binding UN agreement on business and human rights (Binding Treaty).

Europe-wide petition ‘Protecting human rights – stopping corporate lawsuits’: www.stopisds.org/de

German Value Chain Act to make global supply chains more sustainable

Bangladesh textile factory. Photo: © FEMNETBangladesh textile factory. Photo: © FEMNET

Bonn. Many German companies benefit from legal loopholes in order to have their goods produced cheaply abroad. To date, they have only been required voluntarily to take action against human rights violations against their suppliers. This should change in the future: According to media information, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has drafted a value chain law, which is to be published soon. Violations should be punishable by imprisonment and fines.

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Workers after a meeting in the office of the FEMNET partner organisation BCWS. Photo: S. Marx ⁇ FEMNETWorkers after a meeting in the office of the FEMNET partner organisation BCWS. Photo: S. Marx ⁇ FEMNET

Bonn. Workers protesting for the lawful implementation of wage increases are currently being fired, detained and harassed. The Bangladeshi trade union NGWF informs FEMNET:

  • Hundreds of workers were arrested.
  • The 4,000 workers were indicted.
  • More than 30 workers have been sued in court.
  • About 7,000 workers were laid off.

On 1 February 2019, the NGWF union protested and called for the arrested workers to be immediately released, false accusations to be withdrawn and dismissed workers to be reinstated.

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logos femnet suedwind inkota

Bonn/Berlin. Living wages are a key element of decent work. In the countries of the Global South, however, a large proportion of employees cannot live humanely on hard-earned wages. This also applies, and in particular, to employees in the textile and clothing industry. The Alliance for Sustainable Textiles, founded in 2014 on the initiative of Federal Development Minister Dr. Gerd Müller, has started to change this. The civil society organisations in the Textile Alliance are now calling on all members to follow their commitment to action and to step up their efforts to pay living wages.

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Basic wage demo 27 July 2018. Photo: © NGWFPhoto: © NGWF

Bonn. Following the recent revision of minimum wages in the textile sector, thousands of workers have taken to the streets in Bangladesh in protest. In the capital Dhaka, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd, after which one worker died and many others were injured.

‘The campaign for clean clothing strongly condemns the violent curtailment of the right to demonstrate“, says Artemisa Ljarja, Rapid Action Coordinator of the Clean Clothes Campaign.

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Seven years is not enough: No justice for Ali Enterprises textile workers and their families

Photo: © medico international/Holger PriedemuthPhoto: © medico international/Holger PriedemuthDortmund. The Regional Court of Dortmund made a very disappointing decision on 10 January 2019: The case of the factory fire at the Pakistani supplier of the German textile company KiK from Septmeber 2012 will not be negotiated – due to statutory limitation periods. The plaintiffs were four members of the Ali Enterprises Factory Fire Affectees Association. With this decision, the company avoids any responsibility towards the workers who produce its goods.

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Mary Viyakula (left) and Deepika Rao (right) after the lecture at Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences. Photo: © Volker Rekittke, Swabian dailyMary Viyakula (left) and Deepika Rao (right) after the lecture at Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences.
Photo: © Volker Rekittke, Swabian dailyFrom 5-16 November 2018, the two Indian speakers travelled as part of a Lecture tour Mary Viyakula of the organization SAVE (Social Awareness and Voluntary Education) and Deepika Rao Cividep India across Germany to report on gender-based violence at work in the Indian textile industry. They vividly described the precarious situation of women and reported on approaches to how women workers in the clothing industry defend themselves and how we can support them from Germany.

The tour was made by the Civil society organisations in the Textile Alliance 450 people were reached at stations in Halle (Saale), Leipzig, Reutlingen, Augsburg, Munich, Hamburg and Bremen.

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A review of 2018 and outlook for 2019 from the perspective of civil society representatives in the steering committee

Logo NGO Textilbündnis Bonn/Berlin. Once again, a busy year is coming to an end in the Textile Alliance: In 2018, for the first time, all members had to disclose their environmental and social compliance targets in their supply chains in individual action plans. Previously, these were checked by an external testing organisation for plausibility and compliance with the requirements. The steering committee also defined the topics of living wages, supply chain transparency and impact measurement as priorities for 2018. The following explanations provide an insight into how the progress made last year is assessed by the civil society representatives in the steering committee of the Textile Alliance.

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Consumers can find out more about the newly procured shoes at the user workshop in Stuttgart. Photo: © FEMNETConsumers can find out more about the newly procured shoes at the user workshop in Stuttgart. Photo: © FEMNETSuccess stories in Cologne, Stuttgart, Mannheim, Veitsbronn (Bavaria) & Markkleeburg (Saxony): With the ongoing consulting and training offers, FEMNET 2018 succeeded in broadening the topic of eco-fair awarding. Large and smaller municipalities and districts built up expertise and demonstrated with successful pilot projects that public procurement can be made eco-fair. In 2019, ongoing discussions will continue. The experiences and learning effects will be made available to FEMNET in a detailed publication at the end of the year.

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What do we need to ensure that fair public procurement of textiles is implemented across the board in local governments? There are currently pilot practical projects, guidance documents, instructions, Council decisions in various municipalities – the Compass sustainability currently shows 877 examples from 67 municipalities for 12 different product groups. But we are still far from a standard effective inclusion of social and environmental responsibility criteria in the production of the textile products procured. This challenge was met on 26 and 27 October 2018 by the 20 participants of the Intensive training on how to achieve fair public procurement of textiles. Many of the participants had previously attended intensive training courses on FEMNET modules 1-4 for their multiplier work on the topic. However, procurers and other employees from local governments also took part in the initial training.

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