WELCOME TO THE ARCHIVE (1994-2014) OF THE MAQUILA SOLIDARITY NETWORK. For current information on our ongoing work on the living wage, women's labour rights, freedom of association, corporate accountability and Bangladesh fire and safety, please visit our new website, launched in October, 2015: www.maquilasolidarity.org
October 3, 2006
Just as La Senza's Laurence Lewin makes his TV debut in CBC's new reality show "The Dragon's Den" tomorrow night, activists in Canada revealed that La Senza is once again abandoning workers at a Thai bra factory formerly sewing bras for the Canadian lingerie-maker.
Workers are calling on La Senza to help keep the Gina Form Bra Factory open. Gina is one of the few apparel factories in Asia with an independent union and decent working conditions. La Senza officials have failed to respond to repeated calls from the Maquila Solidarity Network.
The owners of the Gina Form Bra Company Ltd. factory in Thailand plan to shut down the factory on October 31 and shift orders to China. Workers at the factory see this as yet another attempt to bust the union and reverse a major victory for the anti-sweatshop movement. 1,600 workers will lose their jobs.
In 2003 a concentrated international effort by unions, NGOs and major US brands won the reinstatement of union members who had been unjustly dismissed and convinced management to negotiate a new collective agreement with the union.
"At the time, La Senza abandoned Gina workers by moving their production to another factory owned by the same company," says Kevin Thomas of the Maquila Solidarity Network. "Now it's time for La Senza to make good by demanding that their supplier keeps the Gina factory open and by supporting it with orders."
Gina has since been seen as an example of a "good" factory for international brands looking to source from Asian factories with better labour rights practices.
Anti-sweatshop groups are calling on major brands including Victoria's Secret, Warnaco (owner of the Calvin Klein, Chaps, and Speedo brands), Gap and La Senza to ensure that the Gina factory stays open and the workers right to freedom of association is respected.
Gina Form Bra Co. Ltd. is part of the Clover Group. The Clover Group has factories in Thailand, Cambodia and China. Major Clover Group clients include Warnaco, Gap, The Limited (Victoria's Secret) and La Senza. Although La Senza is no longer in the Gina factory, they remain a Clover Group client.
The Clover Group began moving equipment out of the Gina Form Bra Factory in July of this year. On August 29, the company announced plans to move 620 sewing machines from the Gina Bra factory to China. The Thai Ministry of Labour intervened and forbid the movement of further equipment until it is clear that workers will receive their legal severance pay and other benefits. On September 4, Gina Bra management announced it is planning to close the factory entirely on October 31.
Workers fear that the closure of the factory is an attempt to get rid of their union. They also suspect that after the union is eliminated, Clover Group will reopen the factory and hire non-union workers. There are also differences between management and the union and Ministry of Labour about legal severance owed the workers.
Working conditions and industrial relations at the Gina factory had improved considerably since a successful international campaign in 2003. At that time, The Limited (Victoria's Secret) and Gap Inc. played a positive role in helping to resolve the dispute, while La Senza decided to cut and run and shift orders out of the Gina factory.
In August 2002, management sent the entire union executive committee home on leave, at full pay. The company then proceeded to sign a three-year collective agreement with a new committee made up of supervisors and one disgruntled former member of the union executive. The workers were then ordered to sign blank pieces of paper; these in turn were submitted by the company to the Ministry of Labour as evidence that the new agreement had the backing of Gina Form Bra employees. The GRWU filed a complaint with the Ministry, which eventually ruled in the union's favour and refused to register the new agreement.
In early 2003, anti-sweatshop groups in the US, the UK, continental Europe, and Canada launched letter-writing campaigns aimed at the Thai prime minister's office, management at Gina Form Bra, and the major brands supplied by the Bangkok factory - including Victoria's Secret (owned by the US firm The Limited) and the Gap. In Canada, MSN focussed its efforts on pressuring the two Canadian buyers, Boutique Jacob and La Senza, to work with the larger US buyers to bring an end to the abuses at the factory.
La Senza and Boutique Jacob "cut and ran" by moving orders out of the Gina Form Bra factory. La Senza shifted orders to other factories owned by the Clover Group. However a concentrated international effort by unions, NGOs and major US brands won the reinstatement of many of the union members and convinced management to negotiate a new collective agreement with the union.
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