Femnet e.V.

The purpose of this report is to provide the basis for a new proposal on living wage regulation. For the purposes of this report, we have limited our scope to the context of living wage legislation, focussing on the non-EU aspect in particular. Based on legal research we draw on 11 diverse areas of existing EU regulation with extra-territorial effect to evidence potential parallels and precedents for EU Living Wage legislation, and to provide arguments for the EU to look beyond its own borders in its regulations.

Given the limitations of cooperation, trade agreements and remedies to address wages and labour standards, the focus of our proposal is on the responsibilities of retail companies and importers to ensure that human rights are upheld within their supply chain.

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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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The Better Buying Index Report, 2019, for the first-time ever, presents a geographic analysis of the purchasing practices of brands and retailers in the apparel, footwear, and household textile sector as experienced by their global suppliers headquartered in key locations around the world. An analysis of differences in brands’ and retailers’ performance is presented to compare the relatively “better” and “worse” practices used across supplier locations. The Index Report compiles performance of 71 leading brands and retailers based on 802 ratings submitted by suppliers headquartered in 52 countries. Scores are based on a five-star scale from zero stars (worst performance) to five stars (best performance).

Better Buying is a global initiative that provides retailers, brands, and suppliers a cloud-based platform to obtain data-driven insights into purchasing activities. Better Buying’s transparency fosters sustainable partnerships and mutually beneficial financial results and other outcomes. Anonymous supplier ratings of buyer purchasing practices obtained by the independent third-party initiative are aggregated, scored, and made available to the participating retailers, brands, and suppliers with the goal of accelerating change and industry-wide improvements across supply chains.

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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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