Autor_in: Michael Fütterer, Tatiana López Ayala

Herausgeber_in: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung

Kurzbeschreibung:

Today, the organisation of the global apparel sector is characterized by global production networks (GPNs) that link actors at the different steps of the value chain from production to consumption. GPNs in the apparel sector are usually set up and controlled by large transnational retailers connecting their suppliers with their headquarters and stores. Sincere tailors seek to increase their profits by reducing labour costs, labour intensive production activities are sourced out to independent subcontractor firms located predominantly in countries in the Global South where wages are low and labour organizations weak. After the introduction of the Multifibre Arrangement in 1974, big European and US corporations, such as Walmart, H&M and Nike established large and geographically dispersed networks of suppliers of ready-made garments (RMG), with Asia being the biggest sourcing hub. Although the emergence of an export garment industry has played an important role info steering economic development in Asian countries, it has been achieved at the expense of the millions of workers in the supplier factories. Governments aim to promote the international competitiveness of their ready-made garment export sectors and to attract buyers from the Global North by maintaining low wages and implementing labour laws that allow for greater workforce flexibility. Thus, child labour, extremely low wages, insufficient health and safety provisions, excessive overtime and high levels of pressure at work characterize the reality in workplaces in the RMG export industry in many Asian countries.

As a response, over the last few decades, garment workers in Asia have developed strategies of resistance to fight against exploitative practices and policies by employers and government institutions at the international, national and subnational level. In most garment-exporting countries, particularly in South and South-East Asia, the labour movement is weak and fragmented, with trade unions dominated by political parties. But the expansion of the garment export sector has also brought about the development of several labour unions in this industry, which, rather than seeking institutional power through proximity to a political party, aim to build associational power through a social movement approach. 

Erscheinungsjahr: 2018

Umfang: 57 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug:  kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: Clean Clothes Campaign

Schlagwörter: Bangladesch, Arbeitnehmerrechte, Arbeitnehmer/innenrechte, Arbeiterrechte, Fabrikunfall, Fabrikeinsturz, Gesetzgebung, Rana Plaza

Kurzbeschreibung:

Despite being the second largest exporter of clothing, and the location of some of the worst recent factory disasters, Bangladesh is one of only a handful of countries that entirely fails to provide for a national employment injury scheme for workers who are injured in private workplaces. This position paper makes the case for swift action to put in place a national employment injury insurance system in Bangladesh, with a bridging solution to serve as a stepping stone and to support workers and their families affected by factory incidents since the Rana Plaza collapse.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2018

Umfang: 7 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug:  kostenfrei zum Download (PDF-Datei)

Herausgeber_in: Internationaler Gewerkschaftsbund

Schlagwörter: Arbeitnehmer/innenrechte, Arbeitnehmerrechte, Arbeitnehmervertretungen, Gewerkschaften, Gewerkschaftsfreiheit, Gewerkschaftsunterdrückung, Tarifverhandlungen, Vereinigungsfreiheit

Kurzbeschreibung:

Der Index dokumentiert Verletzungen international anerkannter kollektiver Arbeitnehmerrechte durch Regierungen und Arbeitgeber. Seit einigen Jahren enthält dieser "Global Rights Index" auch eine Liste der zehn "schlimmsten Länder für erwerbstätige Menschen". Die Zahl der Länder, in denen Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer Drohungen und Gewalt ausgesetzt sind, hat sich erneut innerhalb eines Jahres deutlich erhöht. Bereits von 2016 auf 2017 war die Zahl dieser Länder um zehn Prozent gestiegen. Von 2017 auf 2018 stieg sie erneut von 59 Ländern auf 65 Länder an, also innerhalb eines Jahres erneut um mehr als 10 Prozent. Aus dem Globalen Rechtsindex 2018 gehen Beschränkungen der Redefreiheit und von Protesten sowie zunehmend gewaltsame Angriffe auf diejenigen hervor, die für die Arbeitnehmerrechte eintreten. Menschenwürdige Arbeit und demokratische Rechte wurden in nahezu allen Ländern untergraben, während die Ungleichheit weiter wuchs.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2018

Umfang: 56 Seiten

Sprache: Deutsch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download (PDF-Datei)

Herausgeber: First published by Oxfam GB, Clean Clothes Campaign and ICFTU 2004.

Schlagwörter: Olympia 2004, Athen, Sponsoring, Werbung, Sportbekleidung, Gewerkschaften, Gewerkschaftsfreiheit, Arbeitsrechte, Arbeitnehmerrechte

Kurzbeschreibung: In August 2004 the world’s athletes will gather in Athens for the Summer Olympic Games. Global sportswear firms will spend vast sums of money to associate their products with the Olympian ideal. Images of Olympic events, complete with corporate branding, will be televised to a global audience. The expansion of international trade in sportswear goods under the auspices of corporate giants such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Fila, ASICS, Mizuno, Lotto, Kappa, and Umbro has drawn millions of people, mainly women, into employment. From China and Indonesia to Turkey and Bulgaria, they work long hours for low wages in arduous conditions, often without the most basic employment protection. The rights to join and form trade unions and to engage in collective bargaining are systematically violated.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2004

Umfang: 78 Seiten

Zielgruppe: Erwachsene

Sprache: Englisch, Deutsch

Inhalt: This report asks fundamental questions about the global sportswear industry – questions that go to the heart of debates on poverty, workers’ rights, trade, and globalisation. ‘Olympism’, in the words of the Olympic Charter, ‘seeks to create a way of life based on … respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.’ This report shows that the business practices of major sportswear companies violate both the spirit and the letter of the Charter. Yet the Olympics movement, particularly the International Olympics Committee, has been remarkably silent in the face of these contraventions. During this Olympic year when such a high value is put on fair play, we ask you to join workers and consumers worldwide who are calling for change across the whole of the sportswear industry.

Bezug: Kostenfrei als PDF-Download (Deutsche Fassung) 

Weitere Informationen: http://www.fairolympics.org/

Herausgeber: ITUC, IndustriALL, CCC, UNI

Schlagwörter: Menschenrechte, Unternehmen und Menschenrechte, UN-Menschenrechtssystem, Arbeitsrechte, Arbeitnehmerrechte, Gewerkschaften

Kurzbeschreibung: The purpose of this paper is to set out the implications that the UN Framework for Business and Human Rights and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human rights have for business enterprises concerning the human rights of workers to form or join trade unions and to bargain collectively over the conditions under which they perform work. Because these human rights apply to persons that perform work, they are applicable to all economic activities and, hence, to all business enterprises. As Global Unions and workers’ rights organisations, we expect business enterprises to apply the Guiding Principles, putting in place policies and due diligence processes that facilitate the avoidance of any adverse human rights impacts which their decisions and activities may have on workers seeking to form or join trade unions or to bargain collectively. We also expect that business enterprises remediate their adverse impacts on these human rights.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2012

Umfang: 28 Seiten

Zielgruppe: Erwachsene

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei als PDF-Download