Hidden Secrets Revealed!

Did you know that the film Chicken Run took four and a half years to make and had 200 people working on it?

Well a handful of young people, one film maker and a series of workshops later, the animation group finally held a special screening of their own animation! An audience of over 30 people were shocked to see some of the hidden truths of fashion and were stunned at the quality of the animation this Leicester based group of young people had produced.

There was an energetic discussion and the group of young people left the audience motivated to find out more and get involved.

Well done to the group!



You can support the group and garment workers around the world by sharing this with your friends and family.

'Unreel' unveiled

On Friday 18th March, young people from the Oadby Youth Group based in Leicester unveiled their film ‘Unreel’, a film documentary looking at what impact our demand for 'fast fashion' is having on the garment workers in Asia.

This behind the scenes style film was well received by the audience on the night. The youth leader was interviewed by BBC Radio Leicester and the event got a mention in the Leicester Mercury.

Take a look for yourself to see how well the young people have captured the plight of a garment worker.



But young people in Leicester continue to surprise us! Another Leicester based group have put together an animation and will be holding their event in a couple of weeks time. Keep a look out on the blog for more details.

Blasting out Sandblasting

Don’t you just love a pair of faded jeans? Brand new, yet they look and feel like they’ve been a natural part of your wardrobe for years – the mature look.

How is this effect achieved? There are several methods of achieving this look. Giving your clothes to an Indian dhobhi (clothes washer) is one way! But joking aside, some top chains are selling jeans that have undergone sandblasting, a method that has been criticised for its health risk on garment workers. Exposure to this process results in silicosis, a form of lung disease which causes shortness in breath, cough and fever and, in severe cases, even death. I like a pair of faded jeans, but definitely not at the expense of someone’s health!

Take a look at the video below that shows how sandblasting works and how workers in Turkey have been affected. Many of them are now suffering from silicosis and unfortunately they can’t take the factory owners to court for risk of being fined. The video is in the local language, so for translations, please click on the You Tube button and then click on the interactive transcript button.


Labour behind the Label has released a report ‘Killer Jeans’ that brings to surface the working conditions in the workshops, such as lack of space and poor ventilation, and also provides recommendations to brands and retailers to address the serious health impacts of sandblasting and the steps to ban it.

Find out how we as consumers can take action now to stop sandblasting.

Totally ‘Unreel’!

What happens when you put together 9 young people from Leicester, the issue of fast fashion and a film maker?

What you get is totally ‘Unreel’! A film documentary that looks beyond the catwalk and at the impact our demand for fast fashion is having on garment workers in Asia.

Come and see this fantastic ‘behind the scenes’ style film and meet the inspiring young people who made it, in an evening to celebrate their achievements.

To reserve your place, please contact Rejni Patel from the Oadby Youth Group: rejni.patel@leics.gov.uk

Where: Council Chambers in Braunstone Civic Centre, Leicester
Date: Friday 18th March
Time: 6pm onwards

One Dies in Group Suicide Attempt by Garment Workers

If you were unfairly dismissed you would go to see a lawyer, take your case to an employment tribunal or even take your story to the media.

But what do you do when you are a 20 year old Dalit girl from a small village in India? You lay yourself down on the train tracks and pray it won’t hurt.

This is exactly what four female garment workers working for Choice Apparels/ Novacraft a garment manufacturing company factory did.

Aarti had worked for Choice Apparels for three years. She lived in a hostel provided by the company she worked for. She went home for two weeks and on her return to work, she found that there was no longer a job waiting for her. The Production Manager shouted at her and told her to get lost in the most abusive manner. When Aarti tried to return to work the next day she was refused. Jobless, homeless and unable to return to her village Aarti and three other workers made a suicide pact. The four women lay down on a train track but were spotted by Railway employees, who managed to drag three of the workers off the track however they could not save Aarti.

80% of garment workers are women - women without voices who need the support of us, the consumers. Activists have demanded hard action against the management of the factory and condemned the apathy of the Labour Department in enforcing labour laws. We as consumers can pressure companies to enforce a code of conduct that protects labour rights. Aarti’s is just one of many tragic stories of garment workers who have chosen death over the oppressive working conditions. Let’s try and make her story the last.

If you want more information on this case or how you can make a difference
visit the Cividep website.

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?

When there is no pay, violence becomes the way...or does it?

Did you know that 80% of Bangladesh’s annual exports is manufactured clothing? It is worth over £10billion and mostly heads towards US and Europe to shops like Marks & Spencer and Wal-Mart. That’s a serious amount of money, a serious amount of clothing, and an even more serious number of garment workers behind the making of the clothes. Looking at that figure, you’d think the garment workers were getting paid, right? Surprise surprise, apparently not. The minimum wage was increased from £15 to £27 a couple of months ago for garment workers, but denial of wages has resulted in protests and severe violence in the capital city, Dhaka, resulting in 3 deaths. Where are the trade unions that support the garment workers? Is violence the only way to get their voices heard? Has it achieved anything?

See the full article here.

Image Credit- Mikael Marguerie on Flickr at Creative Commons

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?

Green is the new Black

Here is a video I came across the other day, it features BBC radio presenter Nihal who had some very shocking statistics about chemicals and pesticides, which made me think, how many of us know where we buy our clothes from?.

Is the t-shirt you’re wearing made from organic cotton? If it’s not then you might be wearing a t-shirt laced with 150 grams of pesticides and fertilisers. If those pesticides and fertilisers get through to your skin then you stand a very high chance of dying! Who knew non-organic clothes could cause you so much damage?.

But it’s not just you being harmed. The video was shocking in that they said every year 20,000 people in the developing world were dying from being exposed to those toxics.

Watch this and tell me if you, like me, feel the price we pay is unfair based on what it means for the world.

Image Credit- Cividep India

Where do you stand?

Are you for sweatshops or against sweatshops?

Low production costs mean low buying price. This gives consumers more power to choose what they buy. The wages they provide are not enough to live on.

They provide thousands jobs for of young women and girls who would have been pushed to prostitution. 75% of garment work is done by women who are often threatened with physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

Sweatshops strengthen the economies of developing countries. Workers work 16 hour shifts with no breaks, 7 days a week

Sweatshops are the first sign of a country developing. Think 1800s England. 2.3 million workers die every year due to poor working conditions.

Where do you stand?

Trapped

Who knows what a Sumangali means? Neither did I. Sumangali in Tamil means an unmarried girl becoming a respectable woman by entering into marriage.

In some parts of India, the bride’s parents have to provide the groom’s family with a dowry (gift of money); they also have to pay for the wedding. If the bride’s family cannot do all of this then she will be treated badly after marriage. If she then get’s married at all because some families will just say no.

One way for families and girls to get around this issue is for them to get into a Sumangali scheme aka ‘marriage assistance system’. Under the Sumangali scheme, poor families are encouraged by brokers to sign their daughters up to work in a garment factory for three years. After the three years the family get money to help pay for the wedding costs and dowry.

Some girls get treated well but for most this ‘scheme’ is like a trap. The girls are seen as the property of the factory or the broker. According to research by the Centre for Education and Communication in India, girls are often forced to work up to 12 hours a day, live in hostels with few facilities and are paid a very low wage.

The worst thing is some factories fire the girls just before they are to complete their contracts so they don’t get the money they were promised at the end.

The money is usually around 30,000 to 50,000 rupees which is between £400-700. The legal minimum wage is 140 rupees. Which means the workers should be receiving 80,000 rupees – not including over time.

One of the reason factories are trapping young women into forced labour like this is because factories can’t produce the volume of clothes that is demanded from shoppers from the developed part of the world. This has created a labour shortage and factories need to keep workers longer, whether they like it or not.

You can change all this, it’s simple. Just find different ways of wearing clothes so we don’t increase demand. If its new clothes you want, pop down to a vintage store or see how you can make something new out of something you already have. There are plenty of ways to do something different. There is currently a huge campaign to get Asian countries to unite against low wages and poor working conditions. It’s called the Asia Floor Wage campaign.

Our clothes don’t have to be made from the hands of trapped and pressured women.

Image Credit- Nishant Lalwani for The Asian Foundation for Philanthropy 

PlayFair

I’ve just found the perfect way to kill some time. If you ever wondered what it would be like to “work in a factory, trying to make ends meet and provide for your children” then this is the place to do it.

Labour behind the Label has created a game that puts you in the place of a garment worker. You have to stitch as many caps as you can and you get paid accordingly. But beware! It’s not as simple as it sounds! As you get into the game you end up giving more money out for food and drink and end up not making that much. When you start feeling frustrated, remember...This is a classic scenario many workers are faced with. The wages they are on are not sufficient enough for them to pay rent, food and living costs.

This is a great game as it really makes you understand how much pressure there is on workers to deliver on numbers and meet targets that us the consumers are demanding.

Tip: read our article on Trade unions before you play the game. Good luck!

Letter from a Garment factory

I’ve mentioned Cividep to you many times here and here. Cividep is the same trade union who was handling Roopa, a murdered garment worker’s case.

We have just received an article from one of our volunteers out there. Savraj’ our Naitika volunteer has been lucky enough to be working, seeing and learning about garment worker rights with her very own eyes. She has been doing everything from attending trade union training meetings and meeting

"some of the most inspirational people I’ve met in India"

To taking undercover factory visits where she has been able to talk to factory managers and understand why the role of the consumer is so important in bringing a change to the conditions out there.

"I was lucky enough to also talk to the general manager and ask of the pressure on his side (he did not know I was working for an NGO for garment workers)"

She’s had high’s

"I have also been conducting educational activities with children of garment workers, covering English translation sessions, geography lessons, competitions and more – this has been really successful and a great joy to be in charge of."

and her lows

"My lowest point was just seeing the extent and sheer number of workers crammed in to hot spaces over three floors, without a break to drink any water."

Read her article and see why it is so important we as consumers “use the power we have to make a change over anyone else!”

Beaten, kidnapped and dumped

Every business owner hates a trade union. They go on strike, they demand more money and profits suffer! The voice of 30 unionised people is a lot harder to ignore and more powerful than just one of that the owner. But when the owner uses violence and aggression to silence the workforce, how do workers demand better treatment?

Delhi factory ‘Viva Global’ saw workers stand up against their factory owner who was making them work up to 16 hours and only paying them a measly 5000 rupees (£69 a month). Sixteen women were beaten and Anwar Ansari, a trade union leader was kidnapped.

Mr Ansari body was found dumped near his home covered in signs of severe beating. He’s been warned that he must never go back to the factory or he will be killed.

The three culprits who kidnapped Mr Ansari were caught and arrested. Workers are continuing a protest outside the factory as the owner of the factory has already declared “no agreement is going to happen between the union and the management.”

How much blood, violence and injustice does the owner of the factory need to see, before he listens?

Guess who’s at the heart of this scandal? M&S, Gap and Next. I was most surprised to see M&S’s name there as they have been marketing their recent products with fair-trade and ethical labels. How could the label be so far from the truth? M&S had even taken the steps of drawing up an ethical code of practice called Plan A. This just shows how messy and complicated the supply chain is, even if a brand wants to do the right thing, they can’t. They need to take MORE care to make sure they are not supporting any unethical practices.

Harassment of union members, including threats of dismissal, violence and even death has been increasing at the factory in recent weeks. On Monday 23rd August Viva Global management attempted to prevent workers from entering the factory and made threats against union leaders and workers, who were warned they would be beaten or even shot if they continued their campaign

Labour behind the Label

Here in the UK fire-fighters, British Airways, tube and rail staff have all been on strike many times. Can you imagine any of them being beaten, kidnapped and tortured for simply raising their voices? Is it so wrong to demand fair treatment?

To read the compete article follow the link at the Observer and to see recent updates go to Labour being the Label

Smile Inside

Here is a video by Ajit Singh Bhathal

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.

“Let them wear Dior...”

According to Live Mint, a new Bollywood movie has got the fashion police boiling over with excitement and anticipation. Newcomer Sonam Kapoor daughter of Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) is starring in Rs20 crore adaptation of ‘Emma’ called ‘Aisha’.

The past 10 years has seen Bollywood becoming a billboard for advertisers. Many Indian actresses are spokes models for various brands and movie in the past have featured brand names like Louis Vuitton. Though this is the first time brands have featured so heavily in one movie. Sonam Kapoor will be endorsing L’Oreal and sashaying around in 60 Dior dresses and accessories.

India’s economy has been getting stronger and the spending power of a privileged few has increased. This has made brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton the newest additions to India’s urban landscape which already boasts luxury malls, fancy cars and five star hotels.

It seems brands and corporations are keen to make India not only the producer of goods but also the consumer.

Seems like yesterday 7 year old Ravi was found to be getting paid 7p an hour and working 98 hours a week......oh wait, it was JUST the other week!

India is still amongst the poorest countries. India has had a lot of success recently but they still have a significant number of Indians living in extreme poverty which is roughly equivalent to the current population of the United States!

Despite the glowing reports of India’s growth, those numbers and that cash is not reaching the people who need it the most and the presence of a brand like Dior in a developing country like India might only widen the gap between an already divided nation.

Is it right to be filming a movie about luxury where in a country 7 year olds are fighting to stay alive?

Is 7p enough to keep you from starving?

Christmas is a season for children, for giving presents and for families to come together. So it’s ironic that the people making our Christmas decorations won’t have a clue it’s Christmas and the children won’t get presents.

I came across this article of a boy called Ravi who works in Delhi. He works 98 hours, gets paid 7p an hour and he is just 7 years old. All the money he makes he sends back to his mum in Bihar.

Many people have commented on the article saying “Sadly the reality of life in India at this level means 7p an hour or else nothing per hour and resulting in starvation. Everything’s relative”

It’s shocking that people can think of this job as the only means of survival! Yes at least they are getting paid but it’s not enough to live.

Because India is a developing country everybody assumes that everything will be cheap. 7p an hour is not enough to cover rent, food and medicines- these are just the basics. The Asia Floor Wage Campaign has pledged for all workers to be paid at least 6968rupees which is £94 a month. This figure takes into account food, shelter and medicines all at the basic costs.

Do you think the Asia Floor wage is fair? Is it too much? Or not enough? Or is it “all relative”?

You know how much footballers get paid. But what about the people making the football?

Who saw the England v Germany match? How poorly did England play? The England squad was one of the most highly paid team in the tournament.

With Capello earning £6 million a year and England stars like John Terry earning £135,000 a week you’d think they would have already won the World Cup!Do you think they deserve the amount of money being poured into them?

With all the newspapers and fans venting about how much they get paid and asking if they are worth it, it got me thinking about the other people involved with the world cup, the people working behind the scenes who also don’t deserve how much they are getting paid. The labourers who manufacture products bearing the World Cup logo for less than a decent wage. They also don’t deserve their salaries.

International Labour Rights Forum launched a report into how much workers in Pakistan manufacturing replica world cup footballs are being paid. The numbers are shocking ! A worker who would spend 2 hours stitching one ball is paid £2 for a full days work. Workers work long hours..... Nearly 18 hour shifts!

Employers take advantage of workers and threaten to fire them if they speak up. “The problem is that unemployment is so high the bosses know we have no choice and can pay us less” a worker told The Telegraph. Is this fair? Can a countries weakness be used against the workers like that? If so wouldn’t that make it exploitation?

John Terry’s salary should reflect England’s poor performance just as the labourer’s salary should reflect their hard work.

What do you think? Whose job is harder? Should anyone get £135,000 for kicking a ball?