^{Photo: Solidarity kitchens support workers through Sri Lanka's crisis (FTZ&GSEU).}

Dear friends,

Skyrocketing prices in many garment producing countries have had a devastating impact on workers, where even minimal increases in national minimum wages are not enough to pay for basic necessities. In this network update, we share news from Sri Lanka highlighting the urgent need to support workers’ incomes and rights during the country’s economic and political crisis.

Decreased consumer demand in the U.S. and global supply chain disruptions, along with global brands’ continued focus on profit maximization, has motivated many major brands to cancel or temporarily suspend orders. This has led to recent mass layoffs and factory closures in many garment-producing regions, including Central America.

Our partners in Central America continue to promote and defend the rights of maquila workers despite numerous challenges. Of particular concern is shrinking political space, with the extended state of emergency in El Salvador, further politically motivated closures of civil society organizations in Nicaragua, and rampant impunity in Guatemala. As the hurricane season intensifies, people in the region have already experienced widespread flooding and damage to homes and infrastructure that has resulted in evacuations, roadblocks, and the suspension of operations in at least one garment factory.

To help ensure workers’ rights are protected through crises such as these and ongoing devastation caused by the global pandemic, MSN continues to play an active role in the global #PayYourWorkers campaign, currently targeting adidas. The campaign has been ramping up over the past couple of months, with letter writing and actions in stores and on social media.

In the wake of a September 2022 report documenting endemic safety hazards in Pakistani garment factories, MSN is joining with Pakistani unions, the Clean Clothes Campaign and other international allies in calling for the expansion of the International Accord for Health and Safety beyond Bangladesh to Pakistan.

As Mexico fully transitions to its new labour justice tribunals, MSN profiles one of six important recent victories in which workers have won the right to be represented by an independent, democratic union. Below we profile the August 31 union representation election at VU Manufacturas maquila factory in Piedras Negras, Coahuila.

We also share the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability’s (CNCA) newly launched “non-negotiable” website which promotes the networks’ efforts to enact mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation in Canada.

Finally, at the end of July, MSN was deeply saddened by the unexpected news that our friend and defender of garment workers’ rights in the Philippines, Cecilia Viscayno Tuico, passed away. We include more about her work in our tribute below.

Thank you for your continued interest and support for our work. We will keep you posted on these issues and others affecting garment workers, trade unions, and labour rights organizations.

Lynda Yanz, for the MSN team

Photo: Sri Lanka solidarity kitchen organized by FTZ&GSEU and the Women's Center.

Sri Lanka: Ongoing political and economic crisis jeopardizes freedom of association

On September 23, MSN, in collaboration with the Clean Clothes Campaign, Labour Behind the Label, War on Want and Workers United - SEIU, sent a letter to major international clothing companies sourcing from Sri Lanka raising concerns about the deteriorating labour rights situation and urging brands to voice their concern about recently proposed regressive labour reforms that threaten to weaken vitally important legal rights provisions and protections, especially for women workers. The letter also calls on companies to ensure ILO standards, uphold stable pricing, contract terms and working conditions, and protect the right to freedom of association.

Under the current State of Emergency, peaceful protests have been met with violence and a disregard for freedom of association.

Over the past month, the largest union representing garment workers, the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union (FTZ & GSEU), has been subjected to a number of attacks. The union’s offices were broken into twice and documents were rifled through. Meanwhile, the national body responsible for registering trade unions has questioned the legitimacy of the union, alleging anomalies in its constitution. The FTZ & GSEU has been vocal in criticizing recent government actions, including the reforms that favour employers instead of workers during the crisis.

Photo: Action organized in Bangladesh for the global day of action in August.

Global campaign calls on adidas to stop stealing from workers

The #PayYourWorkers global campaign continues to ramp up efforts to convince German clothing and footwear giant adidas to negotiate a legally binding agreement to ensure workers are paid their full wages and severance throughout the pandemic, to contribute to a negotiated severance guarantee fund to prevent future wage theft, and to ensure respect for workers’ right to freedom of association. The campaign has launched an “adidas steals” website and international actions later this fall will build on recent efforts.

For adidas’ 73rd anniversary, on August 18, campaign groups organized actions at adidas stores in eight countries, and over 50 letters were sent to the company from national coalitions, campaign organizations and unions in both exporting and importing countries.
Eight Canadian endorsers of the global campaign, including MSN, sent a joint letter to adidas Canada, which was hand delivered with a “PayYourWorkers” birthday cake at a downtown Toronto adidas store, thanks to the organizing efforts of Workers United Canada and the United Steelworkers.

Adidas’ response to the letters was disappointing, and the company has still not responded to a previous letter sent by the four #PayYourWorkers endorsing unions coordinating communication with the brands - BGIWF (Bangladesh), C.CAWDU (Cambodia), FTZ&GSEU (Sri Lanka), and Workers United.

Photo: HBWWF and NTUF call for the expansion of the Accord.

Pakistan: 10 years after fatal factory fire, demands for effective safety program continue

September 11, 2022, marked the 10th anniversary of the catastrophic Ali Enterprises factory fire in Baldia, Karachi, in which 250 garment workers lost their lives.

Ten years after this preventable disaster, MSN joins with Pakistani garment unions, the Clean Clothes Campaign and other international allies in remembering the lives lost and calling for the lifesaving International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry to be extended to Pakistan without further delay.

A recent report by the Clean Clothes Campaign and Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data at Cardiff University demonstrates the need for an independent and legally-binding safety agreement in Pakistan by documenting the dangerous working conditions for garment workers in numerous factories.

As a witness signatory to the Accord, MSN continues to advocate for its expansion to additional countries, with Pakistan as the first priority, where it could ensure credible, independent inspections, remediation, safety trainings, and a complaint mechanism to keep workers safe.

Even as workers advocate for urgent safety measures in factories, Pakistan has been hit by devastating monsoon rains and flooding, leaving one-third of the country under water, killing over 1,000 people, displacing millions, and destroying homes, crops and public infrastructure. Members of the Clean Clothes Campaign network have launched appeals to support relief work.

Photo: Julia Quiñonez and two independent union delegates celebrate victory.

Mexico: Workers win independent union in Coahuila

On October 3, Mexico completed the transfer of labour justice responsibilities to new impartial judicial tribunals in the country’s 11 remaining states. The labour justice reform, which promises to guarantee the right of workers to be represented by a union of their free choice and to vote on their collective bargaining agreements, is already being tested in elections to replace unrepresentative unions that have signed “employer protection contracts” with new democratic unions.

For this MSN story, we interviewed Julia Quiñonez, Director of our long-term partner the Comité Fronterizo de Obreras (CFO). Julia describes the organizing efforts of workers at the VU Manufacturas maquila factory in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, which culminated in the August 31 election victory of their independent union.

Photo: CNCA

CNCA launches website for 'non-negotiable' campaign

On October 3, the Canadian Network on Corporation Accountability (CNCA), of which MSN is a member, launched a new website, Human Rights & Accountability are Non-Negotiable. The website profiles the networks’ efforts to establish mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (mhredd) legislation in Canada. It includes an action page where Canadians can write to their Member of Parliament to voice support for two private member’s bills tabled in March 2022; a resource section featuring useful links to CNCA’s own model mhredd legislation, recent reports and infographics explaining why Canada needs mhredd legislation; and an online petition to the House of Commons.

Photo: MSN archives

Honouring Cecilia Viscayno Tuico (1969-2022)

At the end of July, MSN was deeply saddened to receive the unexpected news that our long-time friend and fierce defender of garment workers’ rights in the Philippines, Cecilia Viscayno Tuico had passed away.

Over the past two decades, MSN worked with Cecilia and others at the Workers Assistance Centre (WAC) to support Cavite export processing zone workers who were fighting for recognition of their legal right to organize unions and bargain collectively for better wages and working conditions.

In Canada, and among our network colleagues, Cecilia was known for her calm, thoughtful and optimistic outlook, even in the most difficult moments when workers faced violent repression for standing up for their rights. She saw crises, and even temporary defeats, as opportunities for workers to become better educated about their rights and class interests and the long-term goals and objectives of their struggle.