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The #metoo movement makes it clear: Gender-based violence in the workplace is part of the daily lives of many women workers. On the occasion of International Women's Day, FEMNET calls for solidarity with seamstresses in South Asia.

Worldwide, more than a third of all women, i.e. over 800 million, suffer from violence in the workplace. Women in low-paid and insecure employment are particularly at risk, as is still the case in the global textile industry today. In India and Bangladesh alone, more than 60 percent of workers in textile factories are affected. They are pulled by the guards' hair, harassed, insulted, sexually harassed, and often even raped. There is also enormous pressure on women: Thus, if they do not meet their targets, they often have to work unpaid overtime.

To support these women in India and Bangladesh, FEMNET has Mutual legal assistance fund It helps them to assert their rights.

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FEMNET supports the campaign for the signing of an ILO convention against gender-based violence in the workplace, which starts on 14 February 2018. The campaign runs until Women's Day on March 8. While the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted by the UN in 1979, does not yet have an international law requiring action against gender-based violence in the workplace.

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Signatures handed over to Primark in Bonn on 03.02.2018. Photo: ©FEMNET e.V.Signatures handed over to Primark in Bonn on 03.02.2018. Photo:© FEMNET e.V.70,000 people ask Armani and Primark to reveal where they have their clothes made

On February 3, 2018, FEMNET together with other activists handed over a golden gift box with 70,000 signatures to the low-cost manufacturer Primark in its branch in Cologne. We pointed out that Primark should be transparent about its supply chain and disclose the names of its suppliers. There were also actions in other cities in Germany, Europe and even Hong Kong.

This action was a complete success! On February 7, 2018, three working days after our promotion, Primark published its supplier list. We note: Public pressure is working! Thank you to all who have supported us in this.

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Signatures handed over to Primark in Bonn on 03.02.2018. Photo:© FEMNET e.V.Signatures handed over to Primark in Bonn on 03.02.2018.
Photo:© FEMNET e.V.70,000 people ask Armani and Primark to reveal where they have their clothes made

On Saturday 3 February 2018 at 5 pm, activists of the campaign for clean clothing, including representatives of the Bonn-based women's rights association FEMNET, will hand over a golden gift box with 70,000 signatures to the low-cost manufacturer Primark in its branch in Cologne. They point out that Primark should create transparency about its supply chain and disclose the names of its suppliers.

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Handover of the protest signatures in Hong Kong to Armani on 09.01.2018. Photo: © CCC Hong KongHandover of the protest signatures in Hong Kong to Armani representatives on 09.01.2018. Photo: © CCC Hong Kong70,000 people are appealing to major clothing brands and retailers Armani, Primark, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21 and Walmart to make transparency their New Year's resolution and publish the factories that produce their clothes. Throughout January, activists from the luxury brand Armani and the low-cost manufacturer Primark will hand over golden gift boxes with signatures in major European cities. Other brands may also expect signatures on their doorsteps at any time.

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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.

 

 

 

Control group of the Textile Alliance at the Klausurtagung on 23.11.2017. Photo: © Covenant of TextilesControl group of the Textile Alliance at the Klausurtagung on 23.11.2017. Photo: © Textile allianceThe Textile Alliance has been in existence for three years now, but it was only since June 2015 that the textile (trade) companies joined the alliance. Today, around 90 companies are members, responsible for around half of textile sales in Germany. In addition, the Federal Government, under the auspices of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), around 20 NGOs, standard organisations such as GOTS and Fairtrade and trade unions are active differently in the alliance depending on the organisation.

The year 2017 marks the end of an intensive test phase in the Textile Alliance: All members had to create individual action plans (roadmaps) for 2017. These action plans were thoroughly examined to see whether they were in line with the Alliance's self-imposed objectives and constituted progress for the respective member. Finally, at the end of November, the Steering Committee of the Textile Alliance adopted binding time and quantity targets for the years 2018 to 2020, which each member must work on. So a lot has happened in the Textile Alliance – and yet important decisions are still to be made in 2018.

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© Sina Marx/FEMNET

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.

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Today, four years ago, on November 25, 2013, the fashion group H&M made a landmark announcement. By 2018, the approximately 850,000 seamstresses producing for the company are to receive a living wage. In Bangladesh, seamstresses in H&M supplier factories currently earn around $87 per month. This average income is just below the poverty line of $88 per month calculated by the World Bank.

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Mim Akter (left) and Kalpona Akter report on the struggle for survival in the Bangladeshi clothing industry. Photo: © FEMNETMim Akter (left) and Kalpona Akter report on the struggle for survival in the Bangladeshi clothing industry. Photo: © FEMNETBangladeshi activists report on the daily struggle for better working conditions in the garment industry

Wages in Bangladesh's apparel industry are among the lowest in the world. Working conditions have not improved significantly since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in April 2013, with over 1,100 dead and 2,500 injured. However, the Accord building and fire protection agreement has increased the safety of workers before a collapse or fire. But this does not mean that women's discrimination, massive overtime and trade union persecution have disappeared. When thousands of workers went on strike for a higher minimum wage in December 2016 in the Ashulia textile region of Bangladesh, factory owners and the government relentlessly beat back to intimidate workers and trade unions. 600 workers and trade unionists were charged, 1500 were simply fired, dozens were imprisoned.

Almost a year after the brutal suppression of the protests, Kalpona Akter and Mim Akter are in Germany at the invitation of FEMNET e.V. and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation to report on the struggle for better working conditions and fairer pay. During public events and lectures in front of students, at symposia, discussion rounds and press conferences, the two emphasized international solidarity as essential support for their struggle.

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Spinning mill in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Photo: © Gisela BurckhardtSpinning mill in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Photo: © Gisela Burckhardt, FEMNETPress release of the Clean Clothes Campaign

For 2017, the members of the Textile Alliance had to set targets for the implementation of environmental and social standards in their supply chains for the first time in so-called roadmaps. The publication of these roadmaps is still voluntary this year, but mandatory from 2018. The first roadmap process was therefore still in the ‘trial run’ this year and thus a challenge. Contrary to civil society expectations, only a few member companies published their roadmap in 2017. In total, this was 19 out of 87 reporting member companies, i.e. around 22 percent.

All the more, civil society in the Textile Alliance welcomes the fact that a total of 40 members (including the Federal Government, two trade unions, 12 NGOs, 4 standard organisations, 2 associations and 19 companies) have already published their roadmap this year.

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