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What companies should do?

Code of Conduct
Putting the Code into practice
Working with the right partners
Trade union rights

The Clean Clothes Campaign has produced guidelines on what companies can do to check that national and international labour standards are respected in their supply chains. For further information download the “Full Package Approach to Labour Codes of Conduct”

The first step a company should take is to adopt a code of conduct. There are three essential requirements: is the code comprehensive, is it credible, and is it transparent?

The CCC Model Code calls for the following to be guaranteed :

- trade union rights, including the right to collective bargaining
- no forced labour
- no child labour
- no discrimination
- maximum hours of work
- health and safety
- a living wage
- security of employment

For a copy of the code, see: www.cleanclothes.org/codes/ccccode.htm

Adopting a code of conduct is only the first step. The real challenge arises in putting the code into practice and ultimately improving the company’s working conditions. The implementation of the code requires putting management systems and procedures in place that embed ethical standards throughout the company’s operations. This includes procedures for the company to monitor what goes on in the workplace and for checking the reliability of the information collected; it includes putting together corrective action plans and adopting buying practices that make it possible for suppliers to respect workers’ rights; it includes cooperating with other players in the sector and paying attention to issues that are specific to women workers.

Companies must realise that improving working conditions in garment factories cannot be done without the involvement of workers themselves. It is important that workers are informed about their rights and given the opportunity to directly report about the conditions under which they have to work. This means that companies have to think about supporting worker rights training programmes, developing complaint procedures for workers and working together with unions and other organisations that represent the workers concerned. Joining a multi-stakeholder initiative is therefore one of the steps that companies should take.

Freedom of association and collective bargaining are known as “enabling rights” because they give workers the means to monitor their own workplace and to negotiate with management for the improvement of working conditions. Trade union rights are routinely denied both in law and in practice. It is also one of the most difficult human rights to monitor. Are companies pro-actively taking adequate measures to address this issue?