By Caroline Lewis | Director of Fundraising
On 8th May we launched our transparency campaign!
Throughout the month we have had a series of actions and activities take place including the launch of our petition, a social media campaign and a speakers tour which has seen Gopinath Parakuni - the general secretary of Cividep, a workers' rights organisation in Bangalore, India and one of our partners - welcomed to the UK. It's been a busy month and we are so happy and excited to share it with you.
Petition
Prior to the launch we engaged with a number of shoe and garment brands to identify their current level of transparency. It has been a mixed response, with some brands committing to our pledge for greater transparency (Clarks, Next, New Look, ASOS, Arcadia), with others trailing behind.
We are therefore calling on the following leading UK shoe brands and retailers (Schuh, Office, Faith (Debenhams), Dr Martens, Primark, Asda, Very.co.uk (Shop Direct), Bohoo.com, Boden, Harvey Nichols and Sports Direct) along with leading global shoe brands (Deichmann, Camper, Prada, Birkenstock, CCC, Leder & Schuh) to:
Publish the names and addresses of all their suppliers
Report on progress in moving away from dangerous chemicals
Show that they are respecting the human rights of the people who make their shoes, ensuring fair wages and safe working conditions
So far it's going well with already over 3,250 signatures having been added. Watch this video about why transparency is important and add your name to the petition here
Speakers tour
From 11th - 16th May we welcomed Gopi to the UK. Gopi has been working with shoe and garment workers for many years, supporting them to claim their rights, challenge exploitation and achieve better working conditions. In the UK, LBL arranged for different stakeholders to meet with Gopi so that the message of workers' rights and their needs can be raised and heard.
Gopi spoke to academics and activists in Manchester, and to shoe brands and unions in London. We heard the stories of workers in India, where women homeworkers stitching leather uppers for shoes are often paid just half the minimum wage and suffer health problems from the repetitive, labour-intensive work. Factory workers report that they are told to lie about conditions when auditors visit, and tannery workers are exposed to toxic chemicals causing asthma, skin cancer and other deadly diseases.
Get involved
Our social media pages have been buzzing with activity since the launch of the campaign so make sure to head over to our Facebook page to be kept up to date with the campaign, ways to get involved and why transparency is important in the global garment supply chain
Sign the petition – add your name to the growing list of concerned individuals demanding change in the garment industry
Become an activist – we have activists taking action to raise awareness about conditions in the shoe and garment industry, visiting their local high street brands to raise their concerns. We are looking for motivated and dedicated individuals who want to join our army of activists. Find out more and sign up here.
You can still donate to our project. If you haven't already, please do share it with your friends and family and help us reach our target.
In solidarity,
Caroline, Dominique, Nicola and Ursula
LBL team
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
