Our work in production countries - FEMNET - Frauen in der Textilindustrie

In November 2017, Sina Marx, responsible for the Solidarity Fund at FEMNET, visited the FEMNET partner organisations Cividep and Munnade in South India. Together with Cividep, she looked at childcare in clothing factories in Bangalore. As part of a joint project, FEMNET and Cividep have been committed to improving childcare in the supplier factories of large brand companies since 2015. Campaign #WhoFits? This is also strong in Germany.

Together with the FEMNET-backed non-governmental organisation Munnade and the Garment Labour Union (GLU), she visited seamstresses at home. Here she talks about her experiences.

On a tour of Germany, two activists from Bangladesh have opened their eyes to people about the labour and human rights violations in their country's textile industry. They have shown consumers in Germany what the fight for better labour rights means for trade unionists and activists in Bangladesh: In view of the threat of harassment, insult, dismissal, imprisonment and use of force, it takes a lot of courage. Kalpona Akter and Mim Akter prove this courage day by day through their work. Here's the video of your trip.

Also in Tunisia, a lot of clothing is produced, fashion as well as workwear. A large proportion of exports go to Europe. Photo © FEMNET

Background: Study on workwear

FEMNET wants to find out what the working conditions in the production of workwear look like. In order to convince local buyers and decision-makers in public administrations even more successfully how useful it is to switch to sustainable procurement procedures, FEMNET is preparing a study on the working conditions in the production of workwear in cooperation with partner organisations in India and Tunisia.

Our research revealed that information specifically on workwear is to a large extent outdated and only very scattered - a large part of the studies available today focus on fashion. We know from experience reports that in practice there are usually similar problems as in fashion production. Nevertheless, the sectors are structured differently and there are other requirements for the final products.

Part of the preparations were study trips, during which the FEMNET employees Anni Korts-Laur, responsible for the coordination of the study and Katharina Edinger, responsible for later communication measures, got to know the project partners in order to ensure the safe and exact implementation of our transnational study together. In the first part of our travel reports, they share their impressions of their stay in Tunisia in October 2018. Anni-Korts-Laur will report on her study trip to India in December 2018 in the second part shortly.

The military coup that took place at the beginning of February has severe consequences for the textile workers in Myanmar. Many workers have lost their jobs, trade unionists are persecuted and have to go into hiding. Since June, the number of coronavirus cases has also increased, making the situation of people fighting for democracy in their country more difficult. The military is using the pandemic as a weapon against the people and making access to medical care more difficult.

FEMNET and more than 160 international human rights organisations call on the World Bank to take a stand on the increasing attacks by the Cambodian government on human rights defenders. The joint statement is addressed to World Bank President Ajay Banga and calls for a clear signal against the repression of civil society in Cambodia.

Mandatory rules for the protection of women in factories, medical care for home workers: Trade Union Rights Centre (TURC) is committed to women's health in Indonesian shoe production. Our employees Daniela Bartsch and Johanna Thomas-Hergt visited Jakarta in November 2024.

Munnade/GLU Demonstration on 01.05.2017.
Photo: © MunnadeIn 2017, the women's rights organisation Munnade, together with its trade union arm, the Garment Labour Union (GLU), brought together workers from the clothing industry on 1 May to demonstrate for the implementation of labour rights. More than 3,500 workers had come to fight for fair pay and the implementation of labour law.

The unions also called for the implementation of active and functional factory committees to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. The law was adopted in 2013 and requires all employers with more than 10 employees to put in place effective mechanisms to prevent sexual harassment and deal with complaints. However, the requirements are only implemented by a few employers. Sexual harassment by superiors is still common in many factories.

Members of the Textile Alliance, as well as companies that have signed the Bangladesh Accord, are writing a joint letter with the Clean Clothes Campaign to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh regarding the extension of the Accord for at least 6 months.

In Tunisia, these activists are fighting for decent work. As part of the Fair Weeks, Amani Allagui from FTDES (Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights) and Houda El Fadhel, a former textile worker, reported on her work in the factories and with the women in the Tunisian textile industry in Germany. Her appeal was addressed to European companies and local procurers: Pay more attention to human rights when shopping!

For more than three months, the people of Myanmar have been fighting against the tyranny of the military. Peaceful protesters within the Civil disobedience movements (CDM) to the "Spring Revolution".

Since the beginning of the takeover by the military on February 1, according to the AAPP (Assistance Association for Political Prisoners759 civilians were murdered by the coup. Activists and trade unionists are the focus of the persecution. In mid-March, the military regime declared a number of labour rights organizations illegal, including eight partner organizations of the Clean clothes campaign. In order to avoid reprisals and arrests, most people only have to go underground.

Ministry visit. Photo: © READIn the spinning mills of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, young girls have to do the hardest work in the shift system for a starvation wage. Intermediaries lure the girls between the ages of 14 and 18 into the spinning mills so that they work there for three years at the lowest wage, in order to ultimately receive a sum that is supposed to represent their dowry. They are kept in overcrowded and poorly equipped sleeping barracks as if in captivity. They are recruited from poor families of the lower castes. FEMNET already has a lot to offer on this subject. Information and campaign work and in 2016 together with the Indian Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) READ A project has been launched to combat this modern form of slavery.

The Bangladesh Clothing Industry Employers' Association (BGMEA) has shown extreme contempt for the well-being of workers and their lives outside the factories. On Monday, July 16, BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) proposed setting the minimum wage for workers at 6,360 Taka (approximately €64). This amount does not reach nearly a subsistence wage level in Bangladesh, nor does it remedy the neglect of the required legal minimum wage increase in the last 5 years.

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For better enforcement of women's, mothers' and children's rights: Project visit to India

Video 'Fast Fashion kills - Solidarity works!'

Travel report from Tunisia: Working conditions in the production of workwear

Background: Study on workwear

In the fight against the military and the pandemic: Myanmar's textile workers continue to face extreme hardship

Joint statement: World Bank must respond to repression against civil society organisations in Cambodia

Healthy women, better work: A travel report

FEMNET's partner organisations Munnade/GLU in Bangalore/India call for increased minimum wage and better protection against harassment in the workplace

German companies support call for extension of fire protection agreement

‘Good work fairbindet!’ Tunisian activists at the Speakers Tour 2019 on workwear and fair procurement

Despite the arrest of labor rights activist Myo Myo Aye: Myanmar workers continue to resist

League for Social Justice calls on Tamil Nadu government to end India's modern slavery in spinning mills

FEMNET and the Clean Clothes Campaign condemn employers' proposal on minimum wage for workers in Bangladesh and call on companies to act

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