economy: production and consumption
dossier
Transparency Report II: Have Hong Kong Garment Companies Improved Their Reporting on Labour Standards?
> Oxfam Hong Kong, March 2009
Hong Kong garment companies have demonstrated progress on reporting their labour standards, although the majority of the 26 companies surveyed still show poor transparency, according to Transparency Report II released by the poverty alleviation agency, Oxfam Hong Kong. Oxfam’s first Transparency Report was issued in 2006. The report rates how well 26 Hong Kong garment companies report their labour standards in the supply chain. The 47-page report is part of Oxfam Hong Kong’s continuous (...) read
date of on-line publication : 30 March 2009
dossier
Playing with labour rights: Music player and game console manufacturing in China
> MakeITfair, FinnWatch, SACOM and SOMO - March 2009
makeITfair’s new report Playing with Labour Rights tells that hiring workers through labour agencies is increasingly common in the electronics industry. In China, the number of contract workers increased by seven million to 27 million in 2008. The studied factories made no exception. "The sales figures of both game consoles and portable music players have increased rapidly in recent years. Still, particularly workers hired through agencies who are making these products have to bear the high (...) read
date of on-line publication : 18 March 2009
dossier
Cashing In! Giant retailers, purchasing practices, and working conditions in the garment industry
> February 2009
Major global retailers Carrefour, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, and Walmart are seeing massive profits and increasing market share in the garment sector, as workers in their supply chains face increasing poverty, appalling conditions, and serious workers rights violations, according to a new report released today by the Clean Clothes Campaign. “With a heavy heart we live like prisoners,” said one young woman working at a Bangladesh factory producing for Carrefour, Tesco, and Walmart where there is no (...) read
date of on-line publication : 11 February 2009
dossier
CSR Issues in the ICT Hardware Manufacturing Sector
> Irene Schipper and Esther de Haan, September 2005
This report examines the ICT sector, a relatively young sector that often portrays itself with a clean image of highly skilled jobs and ‘clean rooms’ where professionals work in a controlled and dust-free environment. Who could imagine that, behind this radiant representation of young professionals building the industry of the future, we find poisonous production sites were workers assemble computers during 12-hour workdays, sometimes for months on end without a single day’s rest? Since its (...) read
date of on-line publication : 6 January 2009
dossier
The Dark Side of Cyberspace: Inside the sweatshops of China’s Computer Hardware Production
> Jenny Chan, Charles Ho, SOMO, Weed (World Economy, Ecology & Development), Procure IT Fair, December 2008
China is currently the world’s largest producer of electronic products. As in other developing economies, the transformation in electronics has been characterized by rapid upgrading from lowcost consumer goods to higher-technology items. Today, information technology (IT) is predominant – for example, the manufacturing of personal computers (PC), cell phones, MP3, and game consoles. The study is based on 45 interviews conducted with employees of two suppliers of well-known computer (...) read
date of on-line publication : 18 December 2008
dossier
Mini Action Guide Forced Labour 2008
Forced labour is often associated with slavery. That is correct. Forced labour is therefore often associated with the past. This is incorrect. Forced labour continues to manifest itself in new forms throughout the world, and certain contemporary forms are even increasing in numbers of victims in a context of globalisation and increased migration. The ILO made a very conservative minimum estimate in 2005 stating that at any given moment 12.3 million people are working in forced labour (...) read
date of on-line publication : 24 November 2008
dossier
Corporate Social Responsibility: Whose Voice Is Heard?
> MVO Platform
“The voice from the South is not heard enough when it comes to defining corporate social responsibility.” That message came clearly across during the CSR World Wide Week in May 2008. Some 27 civil society representatives, mainly experts from NGOs and trade unions, from Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America came to The Netherlands to discuss their experiences with CSR, and how the mainly ’Northern’ concepts influence the daily life of people in developing countries. The CSR World Wide (...) read
date of on-line publication : 23 October 2008
dossier
Key Feminist Concerns Regarding Core Labor Standards, Decent Work and Corporate Social Responsibility
> Anja K. Franck
Historically, women workers hold a marginal position in discussions on workers’ rights. Instead, such rights have been developed with male, full-time and regular employment as the model. For a feminist analysis a central question is how these measures impact the conditions for women workers also performing informal, home and casual work (Singh & Sammit, 2004). Also, are women being represented in the forums articulating workers’ rights – in trade unions, governments, international (...) read
date of on-line publication : 23 October 2008
dossier
The Sour Taste of Pineapple: How an Expanding Export Industry Undermines Workers and Their Communities
> October 2008, 44 p.
Since the 1960’s, pineapple production has quadrupled and export has tripled worldwide. While profits for some have tremendously expanded under such development, this report demonstrates how pineapple workers, their families and communities, and the environment in the largest pineapple producing nations have not enjoyed the benefits of such growth. ILRF’s partner labor advocacy NGOs in Costa Rica, ASEPROLA, and in the Philippines, EILER, have found abundant evidence that labor rights abuses, (...) read
date of on-line publication : 23 October 2008
dossier
Silenced to Deliver: Mobile Phone Manufacturing in China and the Philippines
> MakeITfair, SOMO and SwedWatch, September 2008, 76 p. (pdf)
The mobile phone industry is often presented as a clean, unproblematic industry, but makeITfair’s report ’Silenced to Deliver’ shows that this is not the case. Young electronics workers handle chemicals without protective gear. They work inhumane overtime hours to cover basic needs and are punished if they make mistakes. In the export processing zones in Asia where the factories are located, protests are often brutally suppressed. “As the prices of mobile phones steadily decline, the factory (...) read
date of on-line publication : 21 October 2008
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