Struggles and Challenges for Solidarity

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Struggles and Challenges for Solidarity
Ineke Zeldenrust

The aim of this workshop is to discuss the challenges for international labour solidarity and to focus on the future and what strategies we need to develop to enhance solidarity. As the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) is in the middle of a major revaluation on strategy, this conference comes at a very opportune time for us. There is a tremendous amount of action; thought and energy in campaigning round the issue of the power of Transnational Corporations (TNCs). This movement comprises of people like us, who have a labour and solidarity background, the anti-globalisation movement and the environmental movement. All of us are challenging the TNCs and their role as the economic drivers of the globalisation process. To give you an example, Nike, the global sportswear manufacturer, is a major target of our campaign and we know that the Director of Environmental Issues at Nike recently spoke at a Greenpeace International conference to impress upon people with their 'clean' image.

The first challenge we face in enhancing our solidarity is to develop strategies that take account of the broad sweep of movements working on the same issues and targeting the same companies.

The CCC aims to improve labour conditions in the global garment and sportswear industries and to raise awareness the issues of workers rights.

The CCC is involved in 4 key areas of activity:

1. The CCC provides the public with concrete examples of the everyday lives of workers so that consumers can visualise and thus better understand both the context in which the campaign for employment rights takes place and the global organisation of garment and sportswear production. We raise awareness through campaigns, public debates and publications. We also encourage consumers to express their concerns through postcard actions and protest letter writing.

2. The CCC works in direct partnership with trade union (TU) and Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in many producing countries to gather information on working conditions and on developing strategies for improving advocacy work by unions themselves. The solidarity work is carried out through a variety of means: actions, exchange of information, visits and seminars, organising media campaigns, research, urgent appeals, project development and financial support.

3. The CCC calls on TNCs to respect internationally agreed labour standards. We hold companies at the top of the production chain responsible for the conditions in the entire supply chain and for improving them. This is done through highlighting individual cases (brought to our attention via our urgent appeals) and by demanding structural solutions, for example requesting TNCs to sign the CCC model code of conduct which includes provisions for implementation, monitoring and independent verification.

4. Local and national governments as well as international governmental bodies (in short all public authorities) are called upon to play a major role in encouraging corporate responsibility and promoting ethical consumerism. This includes exploring the types of legal frameworks necessary to implement core labour standards and pressuring local and national governments to become more responsible consumers.

The present organisational structure of the CCC is as follows:

  1. Individual coalitions of NGOs and trade unions in 9 European countries form the CCC at national level.
  2. Each coalition operates autonomously but in certain campaigns and circumstances, work together under the umbrella of the European secretariat of CCC.
  3. Each campaign has it's own secretariat and a European coordination is organised via the international secretariat, which is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The international dimension of our network consists of trade unions, NGOs and networks involved in similar work and who are based both in the country of production and the country where the product is finally consumed. There is no formal organisation or structure. Links are maintained between the active organisations on the ground or through the international secretariat. The network links thousands of organisation and individuals from across the globe and these groups interact with one another in different ways. Examples are joint campaigns on the activities of certain TNCs, joint research programmes, monitoring and verification projects, co-organising conferences, seminars and meetings on urgent appeals.

In relation to the topic of today, I have grouped my thoughts under three categories:

  1. Co-operation between Trade Unions and NGOs;
  2. Tackling TNCs and/or Governments;
  3. Communications and Resources.

1. Co-operation between Trade Unions and NGOs

The position of CCC has always been that if NGOs want to work on labour issues then close co-operation with the trade union movement is essential, despite the often radically different backgrounds, visions, methods and structures of these two groups. Within the EU, co-operation between trade unions (TUs) and NGOs is not easy to achieve. In fact, it was part of the CCC's original remit to foster co-operation between the two groups at a time with such co-operation did not exist.

Different Levels
NGOs often limit contact to the international bureau or secretariat of TUs where the departments dealing international solidarity are based. But to ensure stronger links are developed, it has been our experience that it is far more preferable to make contact with TUs on the national level and begin communicating with the unions directly with and the union centres themselves.

Bargaining versus Campaigning
It is important for NGOs to realise that the modus operandi for TUs is in the form of collective bargaining through compromise. Their primary responsibility is towards the workers they represent, who are members of the company the NGO may be targeting. For the NGOs, the company is a symbol of exploitation, pollution, or underdevelopment. You may give an unequivocal 'No' to the WTO. But saying 'No to Nike' may also mean the loss of 500,000 jobs. Campaign work needs to be sensitive to this point.

NGO Identification
The term 'NGO' has become almost meaningless. It is essential that we define more precisely who we are, from where we originate and what our objectives are. This will enable other forms of organisations to distinguish between the different types of NGO and therefore facilitate collaboration.

Trade Union Culture
Though there has been much improvement over the last five years, the TU movement continue to suffer from a closed-off, male-dominated and hierarchical culture. Many representatives of the Union movement are still reluctant to co-operate with groups fro outside the Union or are only willing to co-operate on their terms. NGOs must continue to challenge the TUs to implement change and support the progressive unions who are prepared to make those changes.

2. Tackling TNCs and/or Governments

TNC: Control versus Ownership
In sectors such as clothing and toys, the major TNCs do not employ the production workers directly but subcontract out production work through complex supply chains. The workers, often women employed in the so-called informal sector, lack the access to traditional union structures and systems. Although the workers are affected by the policies of the TNCs positioned at the apex of the production chain, TUs still operate within the paradigm of direct ownership and will negotiate with the company who has been subcontracted by the TNC and directly employs the members of the union. Much of our work at CCC has been to visualise and identify the role of these TNCs in the production chain and to expose the links between the TNCs and the companies directly employing the women I have referred to earlier. Some TNCs have responded by reassuming responsibility for the working conditions of their employees. However, it is obvious that unless workers organise, no real improvements in their work conditions will occur. It is incredibly difficult to organise workers employed by the myriad of companies involved in any one subcontracting chain, but this is a real challenge for the TU movement and NGOs can play a vital role in supporting this.

Codes of Labour Practice: Responsibility on Paper and a Tool for Campaigns I said earlier that we managed to force some TNCs to reassume responsibility for the working conditions of their employees in the companies subcontracted in by the TNC. In the past, the reaction by a TNC to our campaign has been along the lines that it is not the TNCs problem, as the company does not employ the workers. On paper at least, TNCs now have a policy for workers not directly employed by them. This policy is usually in the form of a code of conduct or code of labour practice. Some are better than others in that the codes will recognise the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions and refer to the ILO's core labour standards - the right to organise, health and safety regulations, appropriate remuneration and job security. However, actual implementation of the codes is a long way off. This is a message we now have to make clear. There are international labour standards and governments and TNCs have recognised these standards. Codes of conduct provide us with a useful tool in our campaigns. TNCs can now be out under pressure for violating their own policies and those of international standing.

A Tool for Workers?

To be effective, codes of conduct have to be negotiated and accompanied by a monitoring and verification system. Trade Unions and NGOs must be involved at the highest decision making level and the workers must be directly involved in the drafting of any relevant and applicable code.

How such a system, which would include all the above elements, should be structured is a much debated and controversial issue. Some groups, including the CCC, favour schemes that allows for the largest role possible for both TUs and NGOs. Other groups, such as the American Fair Labour Association and SA 8000, envisage a large role for auditing firms and accountants from quality control firms. Many initiatives provide for a mix of the two approaches. Recently, the debate has centred round the potential role of governmental initiatives or legislative measures to enforce implementation of codes of conduct or labour practice. This focus has, in part, to do with government retrenchment under neo-liberal globalisation. Many TUs and NGOs feel that this 'state retreat' from addressing and supporting labour issues should not be endorsed, particularly in the context of monitoring and ensuring compliance with core labour practices. As a next step, it will be very important to define what we expect from our governments in terms of policies and legislation and to redefine our relationship with the TNCs.

Some examples of Legislative Initiatives
The long term and most difficult objective will be to ensure that labour laws have universal jurisdiction. In other words, it should be possible to sue a company in the Netherlands for a violation that occurred abroad. Of course, this has been attempted many times and has failed. However, under the common law systems, the universal jurisdiction of codes of practice may apply as these companies, through their own admission, operate on a global level.

We can also seek to use existing consumer rights legislation i.e. laws relating to trade practices, advertisements and product descriptions, in order to demand, through legal proceedings, information and commitments from TNCs and to scrutinise whether or not these companies are following their own codes of conduct. In January 1999, the European Parliament passed a resolution that calls on the Commission and the Council to establish a model Code of Conduct for European companies and for the establishment of a European Monitoring platform. Until such time as the Commission and Council acts, there will be annual hearings in the European Parliament and special rapporteurs will be appointed to report on good and bad practices of European TNCs.

Finally, governments themselves are consumers and they can be called upon to act ethically in their procurement policies and laws should be passed to ensure this. A word of caution: for legislation to be effective, the same pre-conditions apply as with developing voluntary monitoring and verification schemes. TUs and NGOs must be directly consulted and involved in the drafting of any new labour laws. This will require knowledge and capacity on the part of TUs and NGOs.

3. Communication and Resources

Solidarity work does not only require clear agendas and objectives but it must also spell out the means and steps required to follow our agendas and finally meet our objectives. Identifying the resources needed and the form our communications will take is critical to achieving this. 'Challenging Globalisation' means we must continuously expand our international agenda and develop and deepen our networks across the globe. Communication with more groups, engaging with more debates and expanding our knowledge further will lead to the identification of core needs - a few of which I would like to mention.

An Improved Information Strategy
All forms of new communication opportunities have opened up for us in the past few years and much more information is available. Everybody shares almost everything with everyone else. We somehow have to refine our information intake - otherwise, we will drown in our email inbox.

Languages
We need greater resources for translation, not just at conferences but also to allow our most basic strategies to be shared with as wide an audience as possible and for those strategies to work. A good example is the follow-up work necessary after an urgent appeal for support for industrial action (let us say Indonesian workers in a factory producing for Adidas go on strike and needs us to put pressure on Adidas who in turn can put pressure on the local employer to find a resolution). This type of appeal requires daily contact between both sides to ascertain how the situation is developing, what demands are being made and how to deal with them. Often, there is only one person in the organisation who speaks English and has to deal with all of the communications - an impossible task. Capacity problems are well known to all of us.


Ineke Zeldenrust, Clean Clothes Campaign, The Netherlands


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