Can Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones Help Stop Sweatshop Abuses?

*ATTENTION*

I just recieved this email from the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights

-->Posh clothing retailers across Europe, Australia and Canada allow prison-like conditions at their Chinese-owned supplier factories, Rosita and Megatex, in Bangladesh.

The 5,000 Bangladeshi workers at the Rosita and Megatex sweatshops face routine sexual harassment, beatings, corporal punishment, mass firings and imprisonment under false charges. Workers are cheated of their wages and paid as little as 16 cents an hour. The report will provide you with the documentation.

Corporate codes of conduct continue to fail miserably.

One of the high end clothing retailers is the Dressmann/Varner Group in Norway, which has signed a deal with Mick Jagger and other band members to design a clothing line inspired by the Rolling Stones music.

It does not have to be this way. With the help of Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones, the Dressmann/Varner Group and the other high-end retailers, including BHS/Arcadia Group in the United Kingdom, Peek&Cloppenburg in Germany, Celio in France, de Bijenkorf in the Netherlands and the Wesfarmers Group in Australia, we can put an end to the gross violations of worker rights at the Rosita and Megatex factories. Together we can bring these factories into compliance with all Bangladeshi labor laws and with the ILO’s core internationally recognized worker rights standards, including the right to organize. The first step should be a meeting in Bangladesh with the retailers, the workers and the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights.

This is not too much to ask.

Please send a brief personal note to the retailers urging them to send senior management representatives to Bangladesh to meet with the workers and the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights in order to guarantee that Bangladeshi labor laws and the ILO worker rights standards are finally respected.


------------Model Message--------------
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I am shocked and disturbed to learn that sweaters sold at [INSERT COMPANY/LABEL NAME] are being made under gross and illegal conditions at the Chinese-owned Rosita and Megatex factories in Bangladesh. The 5,000 Bangladeshi workers at the Rosita and Megatex sweatshops face routine sexual harassment, beatings, corporal punishment, mass firings, death threats and imprisonment under false charges. Workers are cheated of their wages and paid as little as 16 cents an hour.

I urge you to immediately end the abusive and illegal sweatshop conditions at your supplier’s factories, Rosita and Megatex in Bangladesh. Please send senior management representatives to Bangladesh to meet with the workers and the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights in order to guarantee that Bangladeshi labor laws and the core International Labor Organization worker rights standards are finally respected.

Sincerely, 'X'

-->Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights
(formerly National Labor Committee)
5 Gateway Center, 6th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, U.S.A.
Office +1 412.562.2406 | Fax +1 412.562.2411
inbox@glhr.org | www.globallabourrights.org | Unsubscribe

A twisted world

The Good Values club video project.

This film was made possible through funding from UKAID from the Department for International Development (DFID) and is part of AFFP's Naitika programme (naitika.blogspot.com).

Video created with assistance from Anna Colom 

Clothes to die for

Stop-start Animation Group's Video project

This film was made possible through funding from UKAID from the Department for International Development (DFID) and is part of AFFP's Naitika programme (naitika.blogspot.com)

Video created with the assistance of Blossom Carrasco

Make Fairtrade your new best brand!

Fairtrade Fortnight 2011 is happening right now! Between 28th February - 13th March, use your voice to show that people in Britain want a fair deal for the producers behind the products that we buy. And it’s not just about promoting Fairtrade coffee and bananas. Clothes are a big part of the Fairtrade campaign too.

Visit the Fairtrade website for fun ideas on how to get involved in spreading the word. Go on, show off your label!

Take a look at what it’s all about...

Taking Liberties

I love most things by Monsoon, the bags, the clothes, the earrings...

So just imagine my dismay when I read in a recent report that they, along with M&S, Debenhams, NEXT and the Arcadia group were the bad guys. The report is by Labour behind the Label, which campaigns to support garment workers worldwide. ‘Taking Liberties – the story behind the UK high street’ investigates the lives of garment workers who produce clothing for these highstreet brands.

Did you know that all of the retailers mentioned, except the Arcadia group, are members of Ethical Trading Initiative and all sell clothes at a price that should allow a living wage? This means that that wage should enable the garment worker and their dependents to meet their everyday living, nutrition, education and health needs. Despite signing up to a much needed initiative, the workers in two different factories in Gurgaon, India, reported long hours of work in sweltering temperatures, verbal and physical abuse, unsafe water and poor sanitation and earnings below wage needed to live a decent life.

So why is this happening if the retailers make ethical claims and do really well in ‘ethical’ ratings? There is obviously a gap in what is being said and the actual implementation of policies. Are corporate social responsibility policies enough? Or are retailers just avoiding the real issues?

Click here to read the full report and the list of suggested actions that we can take to demand that UK retailers and politicians address the issue and take action.

Am I going to stop buying from Monsoon? Probably not. That would be taking the easy way out with no real benefit to anyone. But I’m certainly going to use my voice to help the garment workers of Gurgaon. Will you?

Use your voice to support sweatshop workers

Last week, thousands of students took to the streets of London to protest against the rise in university tuition fees. Were you there? What was it like to stand with a group of like-minded people to get your voice heard? Were you arrested for voicing your opinion? Unless you were causing damage and being violent, the answer is most likely not.

Unfortunately, protesting in other countries can cost you your job or land you in jail as illustrated by the case of four South Asian sweatshop workers at the Galaxy factory in Jordan. This factory produces clothes for the likes of GAP, Walmart and Banana Republic. The garment workers were arguing against illegal working conditions, and asking for the very basics that you and I would expect, for example, annual leave, overtime pay and clean drinking water. With their passports confiscated, the workers are expected to work a minimum of 15 hours a day, every day, for very low wages. With no-one to turn to for help, is it any wonder these workers wanted to complain?

Please click here for the full story and to send a letter to the Jordanian Minister asking him to free the four workers from these unjust consequences and to launch an investigation into the factory conditions. It will only take a couple of minutes.

Will you choose to use your voice to support these garment workers?

Nike: “Just pay it”

Big corporations and Brand names like Nike will NEVER put their profit in the hands of cheap labourers who make their clothes, right? Wrong!

In the past Nike has always blamed their sub contractors for abusing the human rights of their labourers. In fact most high street labels and big brands do that. BUT that is all about to change. Nike is going to pay $1.5 million to help workers abruptly laid off last year by 2 subcontractors in Honduras.

This is only happening as the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) demanded that Nike stop blaming their subcontractors and take responsibility for the workers who had been laid off.

A lot of brands and high street shops that use sweatshops will often blame their “sub contractors” (the people who supply to the brand/high street shop) saying that they can’t control how their sub contractors behave.

However in April, University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor, Biddy Martin made the school the first to end a licensing agreement with Nike, which means that Nike can no longer produce their apparel. She said “Nike had violated its code of conduct, which requires university licensees to be responsible for their subcontractors.”

And only after the USAS launched the “just pay it” campaign against Nike did they take responsibility of their supply chain. If Nike hadn’t taken action then the schools and universities would not carry on buying from Nike.

A lot of people think that the brands and labels are in control and no matter what we do they will always exist and carry on. We forget that we have the POWER- if we stopped buying their products they would not exist. We are the consumers and these brands will do anything to make sure we keep buying from them. So we’d might as well use that power we have to influence Nike and change an underpaid garment workers life!

We can show the brands and labels we- the consumers will not stand for unethical treatment of workers. The United Students Against Sweatshops have made a difference.

Can you? Find out how you can do something different

Something YOU can do NOW

To those of you who have been following the massive protests in Bangladesh know that workers have been rising against poor pay, bad working conditions and basically being treated like a piece machinery. As a result there have been violent outbreaks that have resulted in deaths. It is our time to show the workers our support and and the garment industry that we will not tolerate bad pay and bad working conditions anymore.

Our friend Mary Hanlon (pictured above) over at SocialAlterations has launched the Social Alterations// Visual Lab on flickr a photo campaign: The Bangladesh Project.

Upload you picture and your message and the photos will be packaged into a slide show with a powerful message which, along with a letter of solidarity, will be e-mailed to targeted organizations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) office in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the ILO's "Decent Work for All" Campaign, the Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh, and the Bangladeshi Ministry of Labour and Employment.

By uploading your photo and message, you are not only allowing these workers to see your face (or not, it's up to you!), but you are also empowering them with the simple statement that you can see them, and that they are not alone.

Join the campaign and know you are a part of improving a garment workers life.

Frankie says Relax

Do you remember the “Frankie says relax” t-shirt? Well Katherine Hamnett was the brains behind it.

Her politically charged slogan based t-shirts have been high in demand ever since she introduced them in the 80’s.

When she discovered that conventional cotton agriculture was responsible for 10,000 deaths per annum from accidental pesticide poisoning, she decided to try and change the fashion industry from within. She launched the “Clean up or Die” collection which incorporated organic cotton into all her designs.

Katherine has lobbied hard for changes in the manufacturing process for all clothes to be ethical, but has struggled to bring about change. She too believes that the change needs to be demanded by the people who have the buying power. So her clothes carry messages that will hopefully trigger something that will make consumers change their ways.

“Shocked by what she saw in Africa, Katherine decided she had to be the demand for organic cotton and drive the demand, thereby helping farmer’s trade their way out of poverty”- Katharine Hamnett

As consumers we are always in control of what we are buying and it’s important to not forget that. It’s only when the public shows they care about the environment, will brands integrate the ethical philosophy into their products.

Do you think a political slogan on a t-shirt can influence change?

Image Credit- Fighting With Spoons on Flickr at Creative Commons 

People Tree take on Primark!

Wise words from Safia Minney from People Tree. I think she pretty much sums it all up in a few seconds here!

What do you think governments should do something about the situation? Should we wait on governments or is there something you could do?

Danny Glover shows Hugo Boss who’s the Boss!

You are a huge monster brand and you want to make more money. What do you do? You move you’re factories to a developing country of course! Cliché. I think so.


Now everybody knows salaries of workers in a developing country are almost halved to the salaries in a developed country. Well it seems Hugo Boss are taking a leaf out of almost everybody’s book and moving their factories to Eastern Europe and Turkey.

Unfortunately for them Danny Glover had something to say about this. At the recent Academy Awards he urged the male stars to not wear Hugo Boss suits as the workers in the Cleveland factories would be made unemployed.

The boycott was successful with none of the male stars wearing Hugo Boss. Hollywood felt somebody had to stand up for the 300 workers who were made unemployed in the US.

Which is well and good but what about the workers in Eastern Europe and Turkey? Those countries have weak economies and high unemployment rates. Someone like Hugo boss could create jobs and support the economies of said countries. If everybody stops buying products from Hugo Boss what will happen to the possible job creation in Europe and Turkey?

Labour jobs in such countries are important to reducing unemployment and supporting the economy. This leads to empowerment to make better choices for one’s self.

If Hugo Boss is in fact going to open factories in Eastern Europe and Turkey then the least they can do is make sure everyone working in those factories is paid fairly and the working environment is clean and up to code with health and safety. It would be depressing to hear in a few years time that Hugo Boss has gone down the same road of many other businesses and not considered the people when deciding to make such a drastic decision.

One girl wears One dress for 365 days

Its crazy how anytime we hear of a big event coming up we automatically think ‘I need to go shopping’. When all you need to do is put your creative hat on and look at what you already have and experiment.

Certain TV shows promote excessive spending and think to be fashion forward; you need to own a closet like Victoria Beckham’s. Fashion is a form of art and allows you to express who you are through the clothes you wear. Shows that feature young, well groomed, rich girls who appear in a new dress in every scene are expressing their wealth as opposed to their creative selves.

Sheena Mathieken on the other hand is showing us all how one dress can be worn to just about any look or event. She has taken on the challenge to wear one dress everyday for a whole year as part of a Uniform Project



All the donations made from the project will benefit the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots organization in India that helps fund education and provide school uniforms in the country's slums.

She accessorises the basic dress with vintage and borrowed extras. The dress is a basic black dress that can be worn back to front or as an open tunic.

Clicking through the pictures I thought it was amazing how this girl seemed to look fashionable and completely different everyday but with the same dress.

It is important to see the positive message in her mission. We buy a lot of clothes but we don’t really need them. And people in other parts of the world can barely afford a uniform.

The time has come for you to take what you already own and inject your personality into it!