"Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests." - United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 23.4
Trade unions are imperative to ensure that workers achieve a living wage and decent working conditions. They offer the most effective and legitimate way to establish a fair deal for workers, by allowing them to stand together to defend their rights. This collaborative voice allows workers to express their views, which they may be too intimidated to do alone.
The International Labour Organisation states that the two central trade union rights, recognised as part of the minimum standards for workers rights, are freedom of association and collective bargaining. Freedom of association gives workers the right to form and and join representative organisations of their own choosing in the workplace. Collective bargaining is the right of workers to join trade unions without fear of discrimination, to have their union recognised as the representative of its members, and to have it negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment on their behalf.
Trade unions offer a voice to marginalised and exploited people, helping them to improve their own rights. However, only a small percentage of garment workers are unionised, and many of these are in 'yellow' unions established by factory managements to please their clients. Whilst workers across the world are fighting to gain their right to unionise, managers often respond by adopting 'union-busting' tactics.
When, in 2006, workers in a Cambodian clothing factory supplying Topshop and Next, (among others) tried to protest their low wages by forming a union and organising a strike, the factory began a major anti-union campaign. Some 19 union leaders and 120 union members were dismissed and replaced by new non-unionised workers, and 11 union activists were pursued into the courts. The man identified by the factory management as the leader during the strike, Mr Sok Vy, was singled out and prosecuted on charges of incitement and criminal damage, despite the fact that no evidence was presented against him at court and that witnesses claimed the strike had been entirely peaceful. This case was eventually resolved with the help of solidarity action by campaigners here in the UK: after the case appeared in a UK newspaper and some of the buyers put pressure on the factory management, the sacked workers were reinstated and allowed to form their union.
But this is just one example. The ICFTU estimates that in 2005, 115 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers' rights, while more than 1,600 were subjected to violent assaults and some 9,000 arrested. Nearly 10,000 workers were sacked for their trade union involvement, and almost 1,700 detained.
Anti-union culture is rife among managers in many garment-producing areas. An organised workforce will protest against long working hours and low pay, which is not ideal for mangers who require this in order to meet demands from buyers. The constant pressure for short lead times and low costs makes a unionised workforce unappealing. This then leads to a crack down on those attempting to unionise, or even a complete relocation. Despite the fact that freedom of association and collective bargaining are protected as a constitutional right in many countries, some governments complicate the issue further by allowing employers to flout this right. This turns the undermining of workers rights into a way of attracting foreign investment. For example, buyers often head to countries like China and Indonesia because of their governments' ability to prevent unions from raising labour costs.
A crack down on those attempting to unionise can vary from harassment to dismissal. Cambodian workers report that employers discriminate against trade unionists: if a factory manager finds out that a job applicant has been involved in union activities, the applicant will not be employed. Often companies will circulate details of workers' who have been involved in union activities to other factories to prevent them from getting new work. This is known as blacklisting. Every step a worker attempts to take to merely claim the most basic of their human rights, they are faced with a barrier created by the very industry they work for.
Workers continue to express the belief that trade union representation would give them the bargaining power necessary to change the unhealthy and undignified working conditions in their factories. Not all garment workers who are aware of their rights choose to take them up by joining a union, but the fact remains that tens of millions have never been given that choice.
