A leading US clothing retailer has turned to the unions for help in improving workplace conditions in its supply chain.
Gap and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’
Federation have agreed in principle that trade unionists will be fully
involved in assessing workplace conditions in the supply chain, and
will work closely with Gap’s 100-strong compliance team.
Federation staff recently discussed freedom of association and
collective bargaining with the team. At a local level, federation
representatives have met social compliance staff in south-east Asia to
‘examine some of the key compliance issues and to establish how better
to improve industrial relations in the company’s supply chain’.
The federation and trade unions from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka
have conducted an inquiry into the company’s CSR operations in their
countries, and a similar exercise in Indonesia brought together Gap
staff, the federation and trade unions from Cambodia, Malaysia,
Thailand and Vietnam as well as Indonesia.
Federation general secretary Neil Kearney said Gap was showing a
‘far-sighted’ approach, moving ‘beyond auditors and consultants’ to
establish a meaningful dialogue with unions.
‘No matter how well-intentioned the CSR approach of brands and
retailers, the impact is limited and unsustainable in the longer term
without social dialogue,’ he said.
Kearney said his organization would try to persuade other apparel companies to take a similar approach.
