19 September, 2024Participants from unions representing textile and garment workers in Africa and MENA joined experts from the ILO, OECD, International Accord, as well as online brand ASOS for a conference on occupational health and safety in the textile and garment industry.
In his opening remarks, UGTT general secretary Noureddine Taboubi welcomed participants and stressed the union's commitment to work for legislation that strengthens human and labour rights. He was joined by Habib Hazami, general secretary of Tunisia's General Textile Federation who reiterated that occupational health and safety is a fundamental pillar of the union's work in the country's textile and garment sector.
The textile and garment industry represents hundreds of thousands of workers in the MENA region. This year marks ten years of IndustriALL work in the sector in the region.
Says IndustriALL regional secretary Ahmed Kamel:
"When we started, workers faced issues on collective bargaining, the right to organize, occupational health and safety, sectoral agreements and precarious work. After ten years of intensive work together with our affiliates, we have addressed many issues and see an increasing participation of women and youth, implementation of global framework agreements, social dialogue with brands that produce in the region.
"But the main challenge is the sustainability of the work we have achieved, like women participation at union leadership positions, industry wide agreements, and incorporation of legally binding agreements like the International Accord."
The meeting heard of serious challenges to health and safety from participating unions. The situation in Ethiopia's textile and garment sector is alarming, where massive retrenchments are causing suffering and increasing poverty among garment workers.
Wage theft is a recurring problem in the sector throughout the whole region, as is gender-based violence and harassment. Not least in Lesotho where female garment workers are often asked for sexual favours in exchange for jobs.
But despite a dire picture, women in Lesotho now has a framework to come forward and report GVBH, thanks to a partnership co-chaired by the US government and the ITUC. This has led to progress in addressing GBVH violations in the factories. In addition, the country has adopted a new labour code and has also ratified ILO Convention 190.
Showing how addressing wage theft through collective bargaining, IndustriALL regional secretary Paule Ndessomin shared the example from South African union SACTWU.
"The CBAs they have negotiated for the sector allow for the maintenance of living wages and better working conditions. The agreements are also extended to non-union members."
In both Jordan and Mauritius, migrant workers make up a large part of the workforce in the industry. Migrant workers in Mauritius don’t benefit from same laws as domestic workers; as they don’t contribute to social protection, at the end of their contract, workers don’t benefit from pension etc. Health and safety conditions are often ignored, with some workers getting injured at work while squalid conditions in workers dormitories are common. To counter exploitations, in 2022, IndustriALL affiliate CTSP and ASOS teamed up together with Anti-Slavery International to open a migrant resource centre.
A lack of standards and dated labour laws form part of the challenge with occupational health and safety in Morocco and Tunisia. Although Tunisia has ratified ILO C187 OHS, unions say the Convention has yet to be translated into practice.
What is needed for the textile and garment industry to become safer?
In 2022, the ILO adopted a resolution making a safe and healthy working environment a new fundamental principle and right at work. As the declaration is universal, it means that ILO member-states have an obligation to respect, promote and realise the principles concerning fundamental rights.
Beatriz Cunha, sectoral specialist at the ILO presented the ILO code of practice for textile and garment industry, a reference for guiding industrial practices that has been translated into 15 languages. Although not legally binding, among other things, unions can use it to
raise awareness of the importance of safety and health, to identify the main risks in the sector or workplace, and to provide guidance for the development and negotiation of control measures to address risks.
The OECD due diligence guidance for responsible supply chains in the garment and footwear sector recommends that businesses engage workers and trade unions on labour rights through the six steps of the due diligence framework, and uphold rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Says Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile and garment director:
“IndustriALL’s campaign Garment workers need safe factories continues. We need legally binding agreements in the sector and continue to advocate for due diligence legislation and working to raise institutional investor awareness and encourage investors to engage their companies to become signatories.”
The International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry was established in 2013 following the tragic Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which claimed the lives of more than 1,100 garment workers who didn't have the right to refuse unsafe work. Reflecting on the progress in Bangladesh, Clara Kamphorst from the Accord told participants that to date the Accord has
- Been signed by more than 240 brands
- Inspected more than 2,000 factories
- Reached more than 2 million workers
- Resolved more than 1,000 complaints
In 2022, the Accord was extended to Pakistan, where it
- Has been signed by more than 120 brands
- Covers more than 500 factories
- Covers more than 550,000 workers
- Has inspected more than 90 factories
Says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie:
"The textile and garment sector has experienced some of the worst tragedies in the world of work, making the work on occupational health and safety even more critical. Listening to participants, this meeting has shown that there are similar challenges in all countries in both MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa. This provides a strong incentive for further cooperation to find solutions.”