# data[].attributes.body
https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/legacy/doc/Competition%20Law%20and%20Sustainability%20-%20Fairtrade%20Report.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
A key problem is that it is opaque. It is difficult to track what is going on and what are the outcomes

# data[].attributes.headline
Wage transparency campaigns and projects

# data[].attributes.subject
Wage transparency campaigns and projects

# data[].attributes.body
Objective: to close the gap between current wages paid in the garment industry and a living wage, with interim objectives of wage and supply chain transparency. See: https://fashionchecker.org/

The website is one of the outputs of the 3-year project "Filling the Gap: Achieving Living Wages through improved transparency" co-funded by the European Commission (DG DEVCO). It involves 17 CCC partners from all over Europe; The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Finland, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Romania, as well as partners from Indonesia, China and India.

The project is set to end in 2022 but the intention is for the Fashion Checker to continue.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
FashionChecker: wages and transparency in the garment industry

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
See how brands perform on paying their workers and how open they are about where their products are made.

# data[].attributes.body
- Covers purchasing practices

- Goes beyond tier 1

- Has had a very limited take over by brands so far

- Is there anything in the regulatory field that would help? HREDD legislation should have specific requirements when it comes the purchasing practices, but this will probably not eradicate UTPs

# data[].attributes.body
https://cleanclothes.org/news/2021/open-letter-to-the-eu-ensure-social-auditors-liability

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Co-signatories of the open letter released today point out that -- despite serious and evident risks -- a social auditing firm had certified the Ali Enterprises factory in Pakistan as safe mere weeks before the deadly fire.

With audit certifications being issued on a daily basis despite severe risks and violations at the audited factories and other locations, co-signatories are calling on European Commissioners, Members of Parliament and EU Member States to ensure social auditors' liability and effective legislation on human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) and corporate accountability.

As the open letter points out, this requires robust liability regimes that give victims of corporate abuse access to justice and remedy. This must include situations in which victims have sustained harm as a result of negligent and faulty audits. The CSOs and labour unions state that social auditor liability is vital to achieve the broader corporate legal accountability goal, and to end impunity where companies cause or contribute to human rights violations and environmental destruction. Furthermore, the letter calls for the upcoming legislation to exclude social audits and certification as adequate proof of due diligence in a court of law or in any other relevant enforcement actions.

Beside Clean Clothes Campaign the letter was signed by ActionAid, Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN), Anti-Slavery International, Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK Europa), CIDSE, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ), European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Global Witness, industriAll Europe, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), Sherpa, and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).

In addition to the disaster at the Ali Enterprise factory in 2013, the letter summarises three other examples of severe risks and violations going unreported by social auditors: the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh which collapsed in 2013; modern slavery practices at the world's largest rubber glove company Top Glove in Malaysia; and the use of forced labour in the Uyghur region in China.

Read the open letter here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CSOs and labour unions call for the EU to confront systemic flaws of private social auditing and glaring accountability gaps

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Evoking collective memory of the fire that caused over 250 preventable deaths nine years ago, 15 human and labour rights organisations are jointly urging EU policymakers to address the systemic issues related to the role of social auditing in that disaster as well as in many others.

# data[].attributes.body
The campaign on living wages could be link to a demand to eradicate UTPs

# data[].attributes.headline
HREDD legislation including purchasing practices

# data[].attributes.subject
HREDD legislation including purchasing practices

# data[].attributes.body
- Main UTP addressed: low prices, but the rest of UTPs identified in 2020 are also addressed: eg. irresponsible disengagement, long payment terms...

# data[].attributes.headline
Enforceable Brand agreement modeled after the Bangladesh Accord

# data[].attributes.subject
Enforceable Brand agreement modeled after the Bangladesh Accord

# data[].attributes.body
- A priority campaign: Pay Your Workers.

- Content: payment of premium over FOB prices

- Goal: to end up with an enforceable brand agreement
- The campaign targets brands, but it aims for an enforceable agreement. Brands "sign a contract" that would be enforceable in court
- This builds upon the work that had started before the pandemic, aiming for a living wage EBA. From that proposal: "Brands should pay an additional living wage contribution on every order they place. The living wage contribution will be based on two factors: 1) The average gap between the statutory minimum wage and the estimated living wage in production countries; and 2) The average percentage of the cost of a garment that goes towards labor. The living wage contribution will be paid by the brand to the supplier, and then will be distributed by the supplier, visible on the pay-slip, equally to all its workers. Where an independent union exists, the supplier will be obligated to negotiate a separate agreement directly with the union regarding the disbursement of the living wage contribution. The living wage contribution will apply to every country from which a brand is sourcing, to avoid penalizing any particular country for implementing the agreement before its competitors. Payment of the living wage contribution by the brand and the pass-through to workers will be monitored by signatories, who can set up an independent third-party organization established specifically for this purpose. Workers will have access to a 24-hour complaint mechanism to report violations. Unlike voluntary codes of conduct, this program will be enforceable, through a legally-binding agreement between grassroots unions, labor rights groups and brands. The agreement will also include strong protections for the right to organize, a critical component in ensuring that workers are able to speak up. Signatory brands will be required to terminate business with any supplier factory that doesn’t pass the living wage contribution to workers or that fails to comply with the remediation plan mandated by the monitoring organization including where this violates the right to organize. The imposition of meaningful consequences means that brands will have to take their commitments seriously – or face legal action." This proposal is presented at https://wageforward.org/
- Link: https://www.payyourworkers.org/ and https://cleanclothes.org/campaigns/pay-your-workers/covid-19-wage-assurance

- Main UTP addressed: low prices, but the rest of UTPs identified in 2020 are also addressed: eg. irresponsible disengagement, long payment terms...

Is there anything in the regulatory field that would help?
a) HREDD, but only if it has teeth, there is the risk that HREDD block all the calls for legislation in the next years; which would be even more problematic if its scope ends up by leaving out a very significant part of the textile sector.

b) Transparency and traceability requirements
c) A ‘stand alone’ UTP Directive (but we don’t see it happening in the short term

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Corporations are shifting the brunt of the coronavirus crisis to workers with no relief in sight.
Even before the pandemic began, multinational apparel brands paid poverty wages, leaving workers struggling to feed their families. Now, many garment workers don't know when they will receive their next paycheck, how much it will be, or whether a layoff is on the horizon. Workers are forced to choose between risking exposure to COVID-19 and risking starvation if they stay home.

Why #RespectLabourRights?

Attacks on labour laws, plant closures targeting unionised factories, and brands' failure to perform human rights due diligence have systematically undermined worker protections and left workers in garment supply chains extremely vulnerable. Brands, retailers and e-tailers have chosen to source clothing from countries with poverty-level minimum wages and minimal social protections in order to maximise their profits. During this crisis, they should bear the financial consequence of that choice instead of forcing workers to shoulder the companies' burden.

Brands that claim to be socially responsible have abandoned the garment workers who make their clothes. Millions of workers were sent home without notice and with little to no pay when their factories closed during lockdowns. Most workers who permanently lost their jobs are still owed severance pay. Some who still have jobs are even being forced to accept lower wages.

Because brands have underpaid the workers who make their clothes for decades, garment workers are the least able to pay the price for the pandemic. Brands must ensure workers receive their full wages during the pandemic and severance if they lose their jobs, and they must protect workers' right to organise and bargain collectively.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Corporations are shifting the brunt of the coronavirus crisis to workers with no relief in sight. Even before the pandemic began, multinational apparel brands paid poverty wages, leaving workers struggling to feed their families. Now, many garment workers don't know when they will receive their next paycheck, how much it will be, or whether a layoff is on the horizon.

# data[].attributes.headline
Common framework for responsible Purchasing Practices (MSI led)

# data[].attributes.subject
Common framework for responsible Purchasing Practices (MSI led)

# data[].attributes.body
- The framework is in the consultation phase (the formal process is still not opened)
- Originated by STAR Alliance ( Link_ https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601a4cf430876663b0f9c870/t/60d3749e2d92ae0b542337c9/1624470691597/CFRPP+Public+document+Issue+1c.pdf )
- Non-regulatory approach
- Dispute settlement mechanism/ possibility to file complaints: not yet (the objective is to reach a common understanding of "unfair practice" since each MSI was using a different one)

Is there anything in the regulatory field that would help? Initiatives such as CSRD and HREDD would provide a level playing field. Having a common understanding (and data) like the one we want to can contribute to feeding these policy processes