In this issue:
Editorial:
How many more deaths?
How many more deaths will it take to convince North
American companies to get serious about worker safety in
their Bangladeshi supplier factories?
>>Read
more
Global
brands sign historic fire and building safety accord
It took the worst industrial disaster in the history of
Bangladesh to move global apparel companies to take
serious action, but some good may come out of the April
24 Rana Plaza building collapse that killed over 1,100
workers and injured over 1,000 more. More than 50
international retailers and brands have signed the
groundbreaking Accord for Fire and Building Safety in
Bangladesh with the Global Unions IndustriALL and UNI.
>>
Read more
Women,
Brands and Labour rights
On May 22-24, 30 women leaders from 17 Central American
and Mexican women’s and trade union organizations came
together in El Salvador for a workshop on “Women, Brands
and Labour Rights: how and when do we engage with
brands?” Participants in the three-day workshop, which
was organized and facilitated by MSN, shared their
experiences in attempting to engage with and/or campaign
against international brands, retailers and
manufacturers to seek solutions to violations of
workers’ rights.
>>Read
more
Poverty wages: the
excuses are running out
“A living wage is a human right,” says Ineke Zeldenrust,
Coordinator of the Clean Clothes Campaign’s
International Secretariat, “and the right of workers to
a living wage needs to be respected. Full stop.”
MSN spoke with Zeldenrust about why cross-border
organizing is necessary to win respect for that right.
>>Read
more
FLA fails to act on
CODEMUH complaints
Two complaints about the impact of high production
targets and long work shifts on women workers’ health
has exposed the limitations of existing
multi-stakeholder code monitoring initiatives.
>>Read
more
Apparel brands
challenge short-term contracting in Peru
A March 6 open letter from six international apparel
companies has created a lively public debate in Peru
regarding proposals to repeal three articles of a
decades-old “emergency” law allows employers in the
garment and textile export sector to hire workers on
consecutive short-term employment contracts.
>>Read
more
Remembering Stephen
Coats
On the morning of April 2, MSN received the devastating
news that our good friend and colleague Stephen Coats,
Director of the US-Labor Education in the Americas
Project (USLEAP), had died in his sleep of a heart
attack the previous night. Many of us in the
international labour rights movement expressed the same
feeling - we couldn't imagine the movement without him.
>>Read
more
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