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This report aims to contribute to a better understanding of the corporate-controlled social auditing and compliance industry. It takes stock of evidence on the effectiveness of the dominant auditing regimes and the auditing firms that are currently active in the apparel industry. The case studies presented in detail in this report illustrate how – far from being an effective tool to detect, report, and remediate violations – corporate-controlled audits often actively aggravate risks for workers by providing misleading assurances of workers’ safety and undermine efforts to truly improve labour conditions. By doing so, this report builds upon previous analytical work done by academics, journalists, and labour advocates, as well as on the Clean Clothes Campaigns’ (CCC) substantial experience working on remedy in specific instances of human rights violations in factories over the past thirty years. This history provides a rich case base of more than 200 documented instances of auditing failures which serve as the basis for the primary analysis. Evidence clearly shows that the industry has failed spectacularly in its proffered mission of protecting workers’ safety and improving working conditions. Instead, it has protected the image and reputation of brands and their business models, while standing in the way of more effective models that include mandatory transparency and binding commitments to remediation. In order to shift this balance, auditors and monitoring initiatives need to involve workers in a meaningful way. They must be transparent and accountable by adhering to enforceable regulations that provide legal and commercial consequences for auditors and auditing firms that fail to identify essential and foreseeable, and thus avoidable, human rights risks. There must be legal and commercial consequences for the sourcing companies who fail to stop, prevent, or mitigate identified human rights risks and remedy actual human rights violations. Without an enforceable human rights due diligence framework in place, ineffective social audits will continue to be relatively meaningless in terms of ensuring worker safety and promoting humane working conditions. At worst, they could risk further entrenching inhumane working conditions. Addressing the gaps in the identification of human rights risks and violations is vital in order to ensure the industry starts to focus on actual prevention and remediation.

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This report focuses on the South Indian garment industry clustered around Tirupur and specifically on the labour challenges faced by the industry. We conducted 135 interviews and engaged in a series of consultations with around 100 further participants (including business actors, workers, NGOs, unions, and government agencies) in South India during 2018-19 to explore these challenges and potential solutions. We found that the industry is at a crossroads. Despite decades of growth it faces three main labour challenges – competitive threats from lower cost producing countries, labour shortages, and reputational challenges around decent work.

To tackle these challenges, local actors have experimented with a range of different approaches. We identify four main alternative pathways to change: (i) Economic upgrading; (ii) Responsible migration; (iii) Relocation of manufacturing; (iv) Diversification. We recommend that the industry and its stakeholders should collaborate to develop a shared Vision 2030 and accompanying goals to address decent work and economic growth in the sector. This should be used to drive alignment around a common strategy and provide a means for external branding of the cluster. A multi-stakeholder taskforce should be formed to lead the Vision 2030 initiative.

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Die Herstellung von Berufsbekleidung ist ein aufstrebender Sektor in der indischen Textilindustrie. Doch wie in der Modebranche kommt es zu gravierenden Arbeitsrechtsverletzungen. Durch faire Beschaffung kann die öffentliche Hand dazu beitragen, die Bedingungen zu verbessern. Das FEMNET-Factsheet fasst die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der zugehörigen Studie zusammen.

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Die Textilindustrie ist ein zentraler Wirtschaftssektor Tunesiens. Charakteristisch ist die starke Abhängigkeit vom europäischen Markt. Wie in der Modebranche kommt es zu gravierenden Arbeitsrechtsverletzungen. Durch faire Beschaffung kann die öffentliche Hand dazu beitragen, die Bedingungen zu verbessern. Das FEMNET-Factsheet fasst die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der zugehörigen Studie zusammen.

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The tragic 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh represented a focusing event (Birkland, 1998) that galvanized key transnational and national stakeholders into developing and implementing policies aimed at improving factory safety in Bangladesh while being cognizant of the need to uphold related international labour standards. Drawing mainly on a survey of 50 Bangladeshi garment factory managers part of a larger project that includes lead firms based in Australia, Germany, the UK and Sweden we investigate three aspects of contemporary supply chain governance. These are: 1) relationships between lead firms, mainly based in the developed countries, and factory management regarding business in general and labour standards in particular; 2) factory responses to a new institutional ensemble of organizations requiring improvements in building safety; and 3) relationships between   factory   management   and   employees,   both   in   terms   of   procedural   (worker representation) and substantive (pay and working conditions) aspects. While progress had been made in improving building safety and lead firm-factory relations appear to be positive and durable, questions remain regarding treatment of employees.

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