- Clean Clothes Campaign
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The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) is the garment industry's largest alliance of labour unions and non-governmental organizations.[1] The civil society campaign focuses on the improvement of working conditions in the garment and sportswear industries. Formed in the Netherlands in 1989, the CCC has campaigns in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium (North and South), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The CCC works with a partner network of more than 250 organizations around the world.
Contents
Structure
The national branches of the CCC are autonomous organizations of consumer groups, trade unions, human and women's rights organizations, researchers and activists. Representatives from each national campaign meet three times a year to coordinate international activities.
Activities
The Clean Clothes Campaign educates and mobilises consumers, lobbies companies and governments, and offers direct solidarity support to workers as they fight for their rights and demand better working conditions.
Retailers and distributors
The Clean Clothes Campaign insists that companies bear a responsibility and have the power to ensure that workers throughout their supply chains are treated fairly. The CCC has developed a "Code of Labour Practices for the Apparel Industry Including Sportswear" based upon the conventions of the United Nations' International Labour Organization. The principles set forth in this code include, among others, a minimum employment age, safe working requirements, set working hours and right to a living wage. The CCC pressures retailers and manufacturers to adopt the Code of Labour Practices and ensure that the principles are upheld.
Successful campaigning by the CCC has led many businesses to adopt “codes of conduct,” a list of standards for suppliers. The CCC pushes companies to give these codes real meaning by reinforcing them with a commitment to monitoring conditions and resolving problems. The CCC also presses companies to ensure that their buying practices, such as pricing and delivery schedules, do no make it unfeasible for factories to provide decent work.
Support to workers
The Clean Clothes Campaign provides solidarity support in urgent cases of labor and human rights violations. The CCC communicates with companies and public authorities, requesting positive intervention and resolution. If companies fail to take adequate steps to resolve problems, the CCC mobilizes consumers and activists around the world to take action. The CCC has taken up more than 250 cases involving discrimination against union members and officials, unsafe working conditions, withholding of wages and social premiums, violence against workers, and violations of worker's human rights.
Consumer education
The CCC publicizes through educational programmes, demonstrations, advertisement, debates, books, rallies and news outlets information related to the production of clothes and the misuse of garment workers.
Legal advocacy
The Clean Clothes Campaign calls on the European Union and national governments to promote respect for international labour standards. It lobbies governments to be responsible consumers themselves by committing to the ethical procurement of government uniforms and work wear.
Legal action against CCC
On June 25, 2007, the CCC and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) were jointly summoned before a Bangalore court to answer accusations of cybercrime and criminal defamation, among others, against Fibres and Fabrics International and its subsidiary Jeans Knit Pvt Ltd. The charges stem from allegations that the organizations have illegally publicized information about labour rights violations committed by the company on their websites. The cases drew widespread international criticism and were dropped in 2008 following mediation.
See also
- United Students Against Sweatshops
- Fairwear Australia
- Labour law
- Labor rights
- Sweatshop
- International Labour Organization Conventions
- Child labor
References
- ^ PUMA starts joint pilot project with Clean Clothes Campaign in El Salvador. January 26, 2006. Accessed August 4, 2007
External links and sources
Categories:- Fair trade organizations
- Non-governmental organizations
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