© charles deluvio - unsplash.com Cobblers, treat yourself to new lasts: Stuttgart's pilot project for sustainable work shoes Civil society has long called for more sustainability and the Council and the administration are also clearly positioning themselves: Stuttgart wants to play a special pioneering role in improving global living and working conditions through public procurement. The city no longer wanted to remain ‘at the groin’ and consciously use the considerable purchasing power of municipalities to strengthen fair production conditions and the supply of fair products. FEMNET accompanied the municipality in the successful pilot project for the procurement of sustainable work and safety shoes. Details Published: 12 June 2019 Read more …
© charles deluvio - unsplash.com Cobblers, treat yourself to new lasts: Stuttgart's pilot project for sustainable work shoes Civil society has long called for more sustainability and the Council and the administration are also clearly positioning themselves: Stuttgart wants to play a special pioneering role in improving global living and working conditions through public procurement. The city no longer wanted to remain ‘at the groin’ and consciously use the considerable purchasing power of municipalities to strengthen fair production conditions and the supply of fair products. FEMNET accompanied the municipality in the successful pilot project for the procurement of sustainable work and safety shoes. Details Published: 12 June 2019 Read more …
100 years of the ILO: Time for laws #Violence against women textile workers! In 2019, the International Labour Organization (ILO) celebrates its centenary. With its highest body, the International Labour Conference, the member states of the United Nations meet every year in Geneva to decide on international labour law. This year, the conference will be held from 10 to 21 June and will address the issue of violence and harassment in the workplace. So far, there are no effective regulations at the international level. Details Published: 11 June 2019 Read more …
Photo: © Saskia Wulfinghoff Strike in Ethiopia Since 7 March 2019, thousands of textile workers have been on strike in Ethiopia's largest textile park, Hawassa. The unorganized workers (trade unions are banned in Hawassa Park) demand higher wages, safe working conditions and a stop to sexual violence in the workplace. The textile park with 52 factory halls has been made available by the Ethiopian government to foreign inverters since June 2017. Companies such as H&M and PVH (Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger), but also producers from India, China, Sri Lanka and other countries have low wages produced there. The park is one of five parks, with a total of 30 industrial parks planned by the government by 2015. Currently, export revenue from clothing production from all industrial parks in Ethiopia is $145 million. Details Published: 05 June 2019 Read more …
The future multipliers for fair public procurement. © FEMNET Ahead with new strength - team of experts grows for more sustainability in public procurement The important market power of the public sector is increasingly becoming the focus of public attention: In NRW alone, public authorities and municipalities consume for around €50 billion per year. Other municipalities want to make sure that the products they buy are not produced under inhumane conditions. In order to accompany them in the individual steps, FEMNET has Education and training of multipliers Continued this year as well. Details Published: 29 May 2019 Read more …
FEMNET at Messe Fair Handel in Stuttgart The FEMNET project consultants Marijke Mulder and Anni Korts-Laur at the fair stand at Fair Handel Stuttgart. Photo: © FEMNETThe Fair Handel trade fair took place in Stuttgart from 25 to 28 April 2019. FEMNET was present on site to present the first results of the current studies on working conditions in the workwear industry in Tunisia and India. Marijke Mulder, FEMNET Project Officer, presented the results during the panel discussion ’The fashion revolution. Opportunities and challenges in textile production”, including SethuLakshmy Chakkenchath, a member of the Fairtrade Producers Network NAPP (the Network of Asia and Pacific Producers), Rapha Breyer from TransFair e.V. and Deniz Köksal from Reutlingen University, who presented his research results from Vietnam and Indonesia. Details Published: 20 May 2019 Read more …
Rana Plaza Memorial Day: Action Theatre #Violence in Bonn A violent scene in the middle of Bonn's city centre: Again and again the overseer raises his hand against the seamstress and leaves a blue handprint on her white clothes with every symbolic hitting, pinching, holding. Exhausted, her head sinks to the table. “Faster! There is no pause now! Back to work!" On the occasion of the Rana Plaza Memorial Day, Bonn activists drew attention to the problematic working conditions in the fashion industry with an action theatre on 24 April 2019. Details Published: 24 April 2019 Read more …
FEMNET is involved in the campaign "Protecting human rights - stopping corporate lawsuits" for a UN-Treaty: 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 Details Published: 19 February 2019
FEMNET welcomes draft law on corporate due diligence German Value Chain Act to make global supply chains more sustainable Bangladesh 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. Details Published: 11 February 2019 Read more …
The repression of protesting workers in Bangladesh shows the government's lack of respect for fundamental freedoms Photo: © 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. Details Published: 16 January 2019 Read more …
