News for September 2011

The initial impact of the global economic crisis on employment, which has left at least 27 million people without jobs, has been well documented. However the crisis has also pushed more people, and particularly women into precarious and informal working arrangements.

A new report explores how a long-term trend towards more atypical, precarious and insecure working arrangements, has been accelerated by the economic downturn. It also identifies that this trend has a gender dimension, negatively affecting women in particular - driving down their wages and pushing them into economic insecurity.

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World Day for Decent Work is a day for mobilisation for workers across the globe, from Fiji in the east to Hawaii in the west. Every year hundreds of activities take place in a hundred countries, carried out by millions of people.

Since 2008 the ITUC has been organising the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) on 7 October. This is a day for mobilisation all over the world: one day when all the trade unions in the world stand up for decent work. Decent work must be at the centre of government actions to bring back economic growth and build a new global economy that puts people first.

On the special campaign website World Day for Decent Work 2011, you can find more information about the day, lots of campaigning material, political papers and reports on decent work and information about all the events that took place the previous years.

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Labour Behind the Label have released an update to their on-going exploration of working conditions in the clothing industry ‘Let’s Clean Up Fashion 2011’.

The report grades top high street retailers on the work they are doing to improve pay and conditions for workers in their supply chains.It includes among the worst offenders Debenhams, Fat Face, French Connection, Gap, Hobbs, Jane Norman, La Senza, Paul Smith, Peacocks, Reiss, Republic, River Island, Superdry and Whitestuff.

The group and the authors of the report Let’s Clean Up Fashion say wages across the board are too low to allow workers even basic living standards – the ability to feed, clothe and shelter a family.

The study also condemns 11 other companies for not making enough effort to work towards a decent wage: Arcadia, Asda/George, Aurora, Burberry, H&M, Levi Strauss, Matalan, New Look, Primark, Sainsbury and Tesco.

Authors were particularly critical of Gap, which received a top grade in the group’s previous Let’s Clean Up Fashion reports. They cite its recent decision to drop plans to work towards a living wage and to monitor payment only of a minimum wage, a figure which leaves workers struggling at the bottom of the poverty scale.

The study reveals that retailers taking more significant action to end poverty pay are Inditex, which owns the brand Zara, Next, Marks & Spencer and Monsoon. 

But the group says none of the 29 UK high street brands surveyed yet pays workers a living wage.

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Homeworkers Worldwide is working together with Women Working Worldwide on a three year project with garment workers in Madagascar, Lesotho, India and Bangladesh.

For our part of the project we are working with the Read Foundation and SAVE in South India to undertake research with homeworkers and informal workers. This research will look at working conditions, women workers’ key concerns, priorities for change and the impact of codes of conduct.

We will link this work with the other parts of the project so women workers across the world can share information, support and solidarity – working together to challenge poor conditions.

This project is jointly funded by RAGS and Comic Relief.

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