Labour Behind the Label

Vision Mission and Values

July 2009

Vision: a transformation of the distribution of power in the clothing industry, so that the rights of people at work and in the community are respected.

Mission: As part of the movement for global justice, we support garment workers' demands through strategic actions aimed at those involved in the production, marketing and consumption of clothing.

Values:

• We work in a way that is consistent with how we want the world to be, not how it is.
• We believe transformational change is needed: we won't pursue short-term goals where this comes at the expense of achieving our long term vision.
• We are independent from the clothing industry: we are campaigners, not consultants.
• We always take our cue from garment workers or their representatives, above all else.
• We try to support and draw together other organisations working in support of garment workers' rights; we do not try to compete with them.
• We emphasise that gender is central to the problems faced by garment workers and the solutions required.

Labour Behind the Label is a campaign that supports garment workers' efforts worldwide to improve their working conditions, through awareness raising, information provision and encouraging international solidarity between workers and consumers.

Our members include trade unions and their local branches, consumer organisations, campaign groups, and charities.

These organisations work together, through LBL, to achieve four aims:

1. Raise public awareness and mobilise consumers.
2. Pressure companies to take responsibility for workers' rights in the entirety of their supply chains.
3. Support workers in their struggles for decent working conditions, including speaker tours and urgent appeals.
4. Campaign for governments to take responsibility by legislating on corporate responsibility and in their role as consumers of workwear.

We work together with similar campaigns across Europe and with partners in producer countries through our members and the Clean Clothes Campaign, of which we are the UK platform.

Read more about us in our annual report.

You can also contact us here:

E: info (at) labour behind the label . org (all one word)
A: Labour Behind the Label, 10-12 Picton Street, Bristol BS5 6QA
T: 0117 9441700

Log in here

Preamble

LBL recognises that its actions can have an impact on the lives of garment workers as well as those in other industries. In addition, as a solidarity organisation promoting responsible corporate behaviour of other companies, LBL recognises its responsibility to ensure its own practices are socially and environmentally responsible.

This may require Labour Behind the Label to invest more resources and staff time to fulfilling its ethical policy, and commit to doing this where financially possible. As a small organisation with limited budget, a balance needs to be struck between acting in a manner consistent with our values and ensuring we have the financial, technical and human resources to fulfil our organisational aims effectively.

This policy aims to set guidelines and minimum standards to ensure that this balance is reached in the everyday functioning of LBL. The policy covers various aspects of our operations including travel, IT, Ethical procurement, energy use and public reporting.

Travel

Participation in national and international networks requires effective communication and the development of personal relationships through some degree of face-to-face contact. Outreach work too necessitates travel to the location of target groups. While recognising this, LBL staff should seek to keep the total amount of travelling to a minimum, and to eliminate air travel wherever possible. The following protocols should be applied.

1. Before committing to attend any event or meeting that requires intercity or international travel, staff should fully consider,
   1. possibilities for replacing meetings with other forms of communication such as Skype or phone conferencing.
   2. options for staff located closer to the meeting or event to attend in their place.
   3. whether or not attendance is justified if neither a) nor b) is feasible.
2. Air travel is viewed as an unusual occurrence, not a regular option. Travelling to and/or from a meeting or event by air may not be considered unless one of the following criteria is met:
1. it takes place outside of Europe.
2. the cost of return travel by train exceeds £300 or travel by coach is outside of budgeted expenditure.
3. the time to travel there and back over land exceeds 48 hours.
4. another meeting, event or time-critical piece of work falls at a time when the staff member concerned would need to be travelling over land, and cannot be covered for by other LBL staff.
3. Where one of the criteria in 2) is met, the staff member concerned should
1. re-examine the necessity of attending the meeting or event.
2. seek a second opinion from another member of the staff team or management committee before booking, setting out in writing the reasons why the meeting/event, and the flight, are deemed necessary.
3. Staff should consider options for raising extra funds where cost of travelling overland is the prohibitive factor, reapportioning workloads where time is the prohibitive factor, and travelling over land in one direction even if both is not possible.
4. Staff should aim to book travel as early as possible to ensure that the most competitive train tickets are available.
5. Staff will record all their travel noting the location and type of transportation used through their expenses claim forms or invoices for travel.
6. Car hire should only be considered as an option for UK travel when the person travelling is carrying heavy or bulky items.

Ethical Procurement

Part of LBL's work is to push for responsible corporate behaviour, and we will therefore seek to source products and services in a way that promotes CSR.

1. All quotes for products will be compared on the basis of their environmental and social impact and this will be given highest priority in sourcing.
   
2. Where possible, we will aim to use products and services that meet at least one of the following criteria:
1. are locally-sourced
2. are supplied by local businesses
3. are supplied by businesses with a social or environmental aim, social enterprises, or companies from the trade union or co-operative movements.
4. are second-hand where appropriate
5. are recommended by Ethical Consumer where appropriate
6. take into account active campaign recommendations (e.g. electronics campaign)
3. Where LBL sources garments, suppliers must meet all provisions of the CCC model code, including credible independent verification of working conditions, and membership of a multi-stakeholder initiative if appropriate. The manufacturing workforce should be organised into a trade union or cooperative.
4. Organic, fair trade and recycled products shall be bought where available and not prohibitively expensive.
5. Plastics (other than recycled) and polystyrene will be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
6. A brief letter outlining LBL's concerns about working conditions in the manufacturing process will be sent out to relevant companies that LBL purchases from.

Information technology

1. LBL will work towards the use of open source operating systems and software wherever possible.
2. This includes our website (server, Content-Management System, etc.)
3. Job descriptions should state as “desirable” familiarity with open source software, and new staff without this familiarity should receive comprehensive training as part of their induction.
4. All volunteers should receive basic training in open source software as needed, and twice a year a more comprehensive course for volunteers should be run. Time for this should be built into staff workplans, and money into budgets.
5. LBL will work towards a website that complies with the WCAG 1.0 accessibility criteria (upgraded to 2.0 when appropriate). 

Energy use

1. All plugged electrical equipment should be switched off at the wall socket when not in use.
2. All lights will be switched off when not in use, including leaving the room for short times.
3. All office light bulbs will be energy saving (where possible).
4. Computers will be set so that they will go to stand-by within five minutes of non-use and will switch off completely if not used within 15 minutes.
5. Computers and monitors should not be left running at night.
6. We will work to ensure that our offices are run on green electricity tariffs.
7. Heating and cooling should be at the minimum needed in order to maintain a comfortable working environment.

Reduction, re-use and recycling of paper

1. Where feasible, documents should be read and stored electronically rather than as paper copies. Office systems should be designed to maximise the amount of work that can be conducted electronically and minimise the amount of paper used.
2. All paper will be printed on both sides of the page.
3. All waste office paper will be recycled after use.
4. Staff are encouraged to print all internal documents two sheets to one page and on both sides of the paper. Appropriate printer drivers should be installed to ensure this is possible.
5. Where appropriate, envelopes and other stationery will be re-used.
6. All office paper should be unbleached and recycled and where not available or inappropriate, from sustainably managed sources.
7. All mass printing will be printed on recycled or sourced from sustainably managed forest paper with water based inks.

Public communication of our ethical policy

1. This policy should be placed on the LBL and FEI external website.
2. Wherever possible, documents for external consumption should contain an ethical statement, for example, “Printed on recycled paper using water-based inks. Written in open source software on computers powered by green electricity.”
3. Publications should be licensed under the Creative Commons License.
4. Documents circulated externally (including online) should be tested for accessibility in open source applications, for example OpenOffice, open source PDF readers, Firefox
5. A statement on implementation of this policy will be included in the LBL annual report.
6. LBL will strive to develop targets to record our performance relating to this policy.

Policy implementation and Review

1. All staff have a responsibility to ensure this policy is implemented in their work and in their workplace.
2. This policy will be reviewed annually by the LBL management committee.

Paid positions at LBL:

We are not offering any paid positions at this time.

Paid positions within our network:

None currently.

As the UK platform of the European Clean Clothes Campaign, Labour Behind the Label adheres to the following principles.

The Clean Clothes Campaign aims to improve working conditions and support the empowerment of workers in the global garment and sports shoe industries.

The Clean Clothes Campaign's work is founded upon the following principles:

• All workers-regardless of sex, age, country of origin, legal status, employment status or location, or any other basis-have a right to good and safe working conditions, where they can exercise their fundamental rights to associate freely and bargain collectively, and earn a living wage, which allows them to live in dignity.

• Minimum standards related to these rights are derived from the ILO conventions, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted in 1998, as well as on the Article 23 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and have been listed in the CCC model code of labour practices for the garment and sportswear industry. These rights apply to all workers, even if they or their workplaces are not formally recognised as such.

• Workers have a right to know about their rights (under national and international law and agreements, as well as under voluntary initiatives and agreements). They are entitled to education and training in relation to these rights.

• The public has a right to know where and how their garments and sports shoes are produced.

• Workers themselves can and should take the lead in their own organising and empowerment.

• Workers can best assess their needs and the risks they take when asserting their rights. Public campaigns and other initiatives to take action in cases of rights violations and the development of strategies to address these issues must be done in consultation with workers or their representatives.

• The public can and should take action to see that workers' rights are respected. However, the CCC does not generally endorse or promote boycotts as a tool for action.

• In order to achieve and maintain workers' rights, the gender issues underlying or facilitating rights violations must be addressed.

• National governments and international authorities have an obligation to implement legislation and sanction any failure to do so. Binding legislation should exist that meets the standards set out in ILO conventions;. They also should implement ethical procurement policies.

• The garment and sports shoe industries (including factory owners, agents, manufacturing companies, brand name garment corporations, retailers, and others) have a responsibility to ensure that good labour practices are the norm at all levels of the industry. Given the current structure of the industry, brand name garment companies and retailers must use their position of power to ensure good labour standards are met.

• Brand name garment companies and retailers should adopt a code of labour practice that follows the standards outlined in the CCC model code, commit to implement these standards throughout the garment production subcontracting chain, and participate in credible, transparent and participatory multi-stakeholder verification initiatives in order to develop, guide and oversee code implementation activities.

• Brand name garment companies and retailers should actively pursue social dialogue with trade union organizations, and sign international framework agreements to facilitate such dialogue.

• Companies must be transparent about conditions in, and the structure of, their supply networks and regarding actions undertaken to uphold good labour standards.

• Trade unions and NGOs should cooperate nationally, regionally and globally to improve conditions in the garment and sports shoe industries and facilitate worker empowerment, without resorting to protectionism. Such cooperation should be based on mutual respect for each others different roles and methods, open and active communication, participatory consensus building and constructive criticism.

LBL believes that everyone with a stake in the garment industry has a responsibility to improve working conditions:

• Workers need to join together and demand better rights,  
• consumers need to take ethics into account in the way that they shop and to enter into dialogue with companies,
• governments need to step in and defend workers' rights through legislation,
• and finally companies, especially the big brands at the top of the supply chain.

While all the mainstream clothing companies have a long way to go, some have begun to improve working conditions in their supply chains. What we ask of all companies is that they accept their responsibility for working conditions in all the factories producing their products and adopt a code of conduct that sets out workers' rights in the workplace.

Labour Behind the Label's Vision Mission and Values

Vision: a transformation of the distribution of power in the clothing industry, so that the rights of people at work and in the community are respected.

Mission: As part of the movement for global justice, we support garment workers' demands through strategic actions aimed at those involved in the production, marketing and consumption of clothing.

Values:

• We work in a way that is consistent with how we want the world to be, not how it is.
• We believe transformational change is needed: we won't pursue short-term goals where this comes at the expense of achieving our long term vision.
• We are independent from the clothing industry: we are campaigners, not consultants.
• We always take our cue from garment workers or their representatives, above all else.
• We try to support and draw together other organisations working in support of garment workers' rights; we do not try to compete with them.
• We emphasise that gender is central to the problems faced by garment workers and the solutions required.