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?

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

Trade Unions

How annoyed do you get when you hear about tube strikes? A simple journey to work has to get prolonged, confusing and just simply inconvenient. When it was reported British Airways are going to be striking, the initial reaction was “What about my holiday?”

Have you asked yourself why an entire workforce is going on strike? Could it be that a strike has been organised for a reason other than ‘being awkward’?

Strikes are organised by Trade Unions who unite workforces and bring together a group of people who individually cannot be heard. A strike maybe a nuisance for the general public, and managers who have to deal with the demands of a very powerful workforce. Trade unions give the people a voice and shows the power employees at the end of the spectrum have. This is the only way they can be heard and their needs met.

Could a garment worker in India working 48 hour shifts and measly pay benefit from a Trade Union? Yes they can BUT forming a Trade Union holds more risks in developing countries than it does here in the UK.

In the past workers who involved themselves with trade unions were either fired or beaten severely. In India it is easy to replace an entire workforce due to the large amount of unemployed people looking for work, which means employers are under no obligation to listen to the workers as they are disposable. The workers are treated much like the clothes they make. Replaceable and easy to dispose. Would you join a trade union and risk your family’s welfare?

To get around this, separate protective bodies have been set up. These bodies don’t work within the factories but give support to garment workers outside of their factory environments. If workers want to take part in demonstrations and build their confidence under anonymous aliases they can do so by going to these agencies.

One agency that Naitika is associated with is Cividep they are a part of a collaborative network of individuals who help workers form associations and trade unions to represent their issues. Cividep are the ones who told us about Roopa’s murder. They deal with many cases where women have been abused or harassed and need somebody to talk to. It is important they are represented in their fight for justice.

Cividep offers a confidential and secure place for workers to come which is reassuring for the workers as many suffer from loneliness which come from the fact that they cannot confide with and talk to their fellow workers as trust is such an issue. Managers often place moles or spies within the workforce to find out what the workers are thinking and doing. Imagine not even being able to share your problems with anybody and having to hold it all in on top of everything.

Organisations like Cividep are crucial to improving and supporting the working conditions of the workers and their lives. If there was no Cividep where would these people go? Who would listen and care?

Garment workers have a right to be heard and NOT abused for standing up for themselves. What do you now think of trade unions?