Labour Behind the Label, in common with labour rights experts, trade unions and workers’ rights organisations worldwide, asks companies to take action in six areas:
1. Accept their responsibility for working conditions in all the workplaces producing their products.
2. Adopt a code of conduct that, at a minimum, includes workers’ basic rights to earn a living wage, work freely and without discrimination, and defend these rights by joining a trade union. See our model code for more detailed information about what this code should include.
3. Prove how the code is being implemented in their factories using credible, independent verification.
4. Work with factories to improve conditions where working conditions aren’t up to scratch, rather than pulling out of them.
5. Work with trade unions and labour rights groups on the ground to achieve all this.
6. Make sure that their purchasing practices don’t get in the way of attempts to guarantee workers’ rights.
None of the mainstream fashion and sportswear brands and retailers are meeting all or even most of these demands. For more information on who is doing what see www.cleanupfashion.co.uk
