Ali Enterprises: Dortmund Regional Court dismisses appeal against KiK Seven years is not enough: No justice for Ali Enterprises textile workers and their families Photo: © 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. Details Published: 10 January 2019 Read more …
Review of the Speakers Tour on ‘Violence against women in the workplace’ with Indian activists Mary 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. Details Published: 09 January 2019 Read more …
Four years of the Alliance for Sustainable Textiles: A process – complex, lengthy, challenging A review of 2018 and outlook for 2019 from the perspective of civil society representatives in the steering committee 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. Details Published: 20 December 2018 Read more …
More and more cities are venturing into pilot projects to procure eco-fair workwear Consumers 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. Details Published: 18 December 2018 Read more …
From the laudable exception to everyday practice: How can we broaden fair public procurement of textiles? 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. Details Published: 10 December 2018 Read more …
Partnership initiative Tamil Nadu successfully launched Exhausted girls in a spinning mill in Tamil Nadu who sleep during the day because they worked at night. Photo: © FEMNETBonn. On July 1, 2018, the Partnership Initiative (BI) Tamil Nadu started as part of the Textile Alliance, a first progress report is now available. The BI has three components: dialogue; b) training of young women in factories, c) Training of inspectors. FEMNET’s Partner SAVE The training is carried out in around 300 spinning mills. More than 80 trainers from 40 NGOs were trained for this purpose. Details Published: 03 December 2018 Read more …
How does fair public procurement work? FEMNET advises control groups of Fairtrade Towns Our workshop in the Fairtrade-Town Saarbrücken. Photo: © FEMNETFrom North Frisian drizzle to the sunny Saar, from vineyards on the Main to the Mecklenburg Baltic Sea: In 2018, we held strategy workshops on fair public procurement of workwear in five Fairtrade Towns across Germany. As diverse as the locations are, they all share the goal of using workwear and textiles produced in the city administration under decent working conditions and without harming the environment. Fairtrade towns offer great potential to promote fair public procurement of clothing and textiles. Because fair coffee and another fair product are served in the city administration, the topic of fair trade is present in the city administration. Because a steering group is established, civil society, retail, city politics and city administration are already networked locally around fair trade. Based on these existing structures, FEMNET offered strategy workshops on the topic of fair public procurement for fair trade town control groups for the first time in 2018. Details Published: 30 November 2018 Read more …
Experts from producing countries demand living wages for workers worldwide Press conference and panel discussion of civil society in the Textile Alliance: It's time! Stop the empty promises. Berlin. A key issue is the reward for living. Trade unionists in Bangladesh are on hunger strike due to insufficient minimum wages. In Cambodia and Indonesia, but also in Turkey, there are strikes and protests because wages are not paid. As a result, trade unionists are pressured or dismissed. The Alliance for Sustainable Textiles wants to change this and has set itself the goal of achieving social, ecological and economic improvements along the entire textile supply chain. From 2019, all companies of the Textile Alliance are to anchor measures for the payment of living wages in their suppliers as a binding alliance goal. Alliance initiatives in Cambodia, among others, are in preparation. The joint effort could have a leverage effect. For this, however, a broad participation of the industry is needed. “Existence-enhancing wages are a human right. So far, the clothing companies have only paid lip service. It is finally time for promises to become a reality", says Tim Zahn, coordinator of civil society in the Textile Alliance. Details Published: 06 November 2018 Read more …
Civil society in the Textile Alliance organises a Speakers Tour on "Violence against women in the workplace" from 5-16.11.2018 Gender-based violence against women is one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. According to estimates, more than 30% of all women have already experienced them. Two activists from India report on approaches to how women in the clothing industry can defend themselves and how we can support them in doing so. Details Published: 05 November 2018 Read more …
Statement of the campaign for clean clothing (CCC) on the implementation concept of the Green Button of the BMZ The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is planning to introduce a state-owned metaseal for the textile supply chain ("Green Button") and therefore invited to a round table in September 2018 to discuss the implementation concept of this metaseal. The Clean Clothes Campaign took part in this discussion and is now sharing its views in writing with this opinion: The Green Button (GK) is supposed to be a state metaseal, which initially only refers to the stage of assembly. If they want to use the GK, companies must prove that: they comply with their corporate due diligence obligations, accepting as evidence the recognition of a roadmap within the framework of the Textile Alliance. the products covered by the GC comply with the minimum social, environmental and credibility requirements for a product label rated ‘good’ and ‘very good’ on the comparison platform ‘seal clarity’. Despite criticism of the fundamental weakness of product seals, the campaign for clean clothing welcomes the combination of company and product-related criteria in the awarding of the GK. However, we have massive requests for the previously planned design of this combination, which concern the claim level, the reach, the control, the communicable ability and thus also the credibility of the planned metaseal. Details Published: 26 September 2018 Read more …
