MALTA: Garment workers exploitation common problem
BharatTextile.com (subscription), India
VALLETTA: Research on working conditions in the fashion sector in garment-producing countries shows that violations of labour rights, such as excessive overtime and extremely low wages, are common. Other serious problems are inadequate health and safety measures, and violations of trade union rights.
In China, for example, workers are not allowed to join a free trade union. As there are many similarities between fashion and workwear production it seems very plausible that similar violations are occurring in the workwear sector as well.
Public authorities, such as the police, public cleansing, the hospitals and the army spend a significant amount of money on uniforms and other workwear. This clothing is mostly bought from local workwear companies. Most workwear is now manufactured in low-income countries like Turkey, Tunisia, a number of countries in Eastern Europe and also in the Far East, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Taiwan.
A commonly-accepted definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is that used by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development: “CSR is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as the local community and society at large.†So it would seem pertinent to ask whether the workwear companies that supply Maltese public authorities have a CSR policy.
CSR is not a matter of priority for Maltese workwear companies. Only one company states it has a policy not to buy goods from companies that employ children or exploit workers in the production process.
Procurement directives from the European Union open up possibilities for public purchasers who wish to integrate social criteria into public purchasing policies. The European Commission encourages public administrators to examine their own practices. What is needed on a national level is a political initiative to introduce ethical principles into purchasing policies. In a world with a global market, one must consider how our purchasing affects the situation of workers beyond our shores. Today, there are no guarantees that Maltese tax money is not contributing to child labour or exploitation of workers.
