Issue 326
May 27, 2015
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Welcome to the  WRAP Weekly Newsletter! Please enjoy it and thank you for being a loyal reader. 
The WRAP Up
Last week we certified 38 factories in 13 countries:
Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, USA, and Vietnam. 



 

 
Bangladesh
The High Court of Bangladesh has ordered the Protham-Alo newspaper to pay Tk. 100,000 (US$1,286) to a female employee of the Apex Footwear factory who was the subject of a fabricated yet damming story published in the paper earlier this month. On May 10, the paper published a report saying that the woman was forced to endure a miscarriage while at work because her bosses denied her request for maternity leave. A further investigation revealed that while the miscarriage did indeed happen at the facility, it occurred partly because she did not reveal that she was pregnant to her bosses. The High Court has also admonished the facility of any wrongdoing and the Protham-Alo may face further civil action from the factory itself. ( BD News 24)

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh says that only 20% of the safety concerns it has raised as part of its inspections have been addressed. The statement was made during a press conference observing the second anniversary of the initiative, where Accord leaders noted that lack of awareness about safety remediation requirements among factory owners may be one of the reasons behind the slow progress. The Accord says that it identified some 80,000 safety hazards across all of its 1,500 constituent facilities. ( Financial Express)

Bangladeshi authorities say that they arrested an alleged supporter of the Islamic State (IS) militant group in a garment factory in Gazipur on May 24. Police say the man, who is reported to be a citizen of Pakistan, was working in the factory as an electrical engineer for the last 11 months. ( The Report 24)

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has signed an agreement with the Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) aiming to increase occupational safety and health in the country's readymade garment industry. The agreement marks the beginning of the second phase of a 2-year plan supported by Canada, the Netherlands, and the U.K. aimed at training up to 800,000 workers on how to avoid workplace accidents. During the signing ceremony, ILO Bangladesh Country Director Srinivas Reddy noted the importance of establishing a strong culture of occupational health and safety throughout Bangladesh's readymade garment industry. ( UNB)

Cambodia

The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) says that the number of factory strikes increased 74% year-on-year during the first 3 months of 2015. Analysts attribute some of this to a moratorium on public demonstrations enacted following a deadly clash between demonstrators and police in January 2014, while others say that poor communication between workers, management, and the government has also contributed to the uptick. The GMAC also found that most strikes involve unions which are not registered at the factories where they take place.

(Phnom Penh Post

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WRAP Blog 
Latest Entry:
*NEW THIS WEEK
By: Clay Hickson

Authorities in Svay Rieng say they have arrested a former policeman involved in a 2012 shooting that injured 3 protesting garment workers. The arrest comes after a conviction handed down on the cop in December for illegal gun possession in connection with the February 2012 incident at a sportswear factory that left 3 women injured. He is expected to serve 6 months in prison. (Phnom Penh Post)

 

CARE Cambodia has joined forces with the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) to offer a 2-day training session to garment factory managers on preventing gender discrimination and sexual harassment in their workplaces. The training will educate managers on what constitutes sexual harassment and how to identify, and minimize, discrimination and gender-based harassment. It's estimated that 90% of Cambodia's garment workforce is comprised of women. (Phnom Penh Post)

 

China

China says that it will cut import taxes on some consumer goods, including apparel, by 50% in an effort to boost domestic consumption. China's finance ministry says the move will take effect on June 1 and will cover items like suits, fur garments, boots, and sports shoes. Retail spending in the country has been sliding in recent years leading to sluggish economic growth overall. (Fibre2Fashion)

 

India

India's textile exports failed to meet a US$45 billion target for FY2014-15, according to industry groups, bringing in only US$41.4 billion. That number also represented nearly flat growth as compared to previous years. In spite of this, India has actually set an even higher export goal for this year at US$47.5 billion. (Fibre2Fashion)

 

Textile industry leaders in Tamil Nadu are asking the country's Minister of Road Transport, Highways, and Shipping to assist with addressing the issues currently facing the industry. Industry stakeholders say they are asking for assistance in relaxing cabotage laws (pertaining to the ability of foreign air carriers to operate domestic air routes in India), making man-made fibers available at more internationally-competitive prices, and pushing more renewable solar energy initiatives. (Fibre2Fashion)


Indonesia

Nearly 47,000 footwear and textile workers in Indonesia have lost their jobs in recent weeks due to an ongoing economic slowdown in the country. Textile and footwear trade associations in the country say that upwards of 200 footwear producers and 120 textile producers have shed workers as domestic demand continues to slump around the country. Indonesia's economy only grew by a reported 4.71% year-on-year in the first quarter of the year, the slowest pace in nearly 6 years. (Jakarta Post)

 

Nigeria

Textile industry leaders in Nigerian are becoming increasingly worried about a flood of Chinese-made textile goods that have made their way into the country. They say that while the goods have been a boon for low income consumers, the flood of these products has resulted in stiff, unfair competition for many of Nigeria's native producers, many of whom say they are now stuck with millions of dollars in worthless inventory. Some experts point to a World Trade Organization deal struck between China and Nigeria that opened the gates for Chinese imports into the country as a driver of the trend. (Fibre2Fashion)


Pakistan

Trade officials in Pakistan are urging Belarus to begin negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with the country. The push came during a recent visit by Belorussian trade officials to Islamabad, where they signed 12 Memoranda of Understanding with Pakistan in several areas of trade. Belarus has expressed interest in setting up several production facilities in Pakistan to make goods like buses, tractors, and harvesters. (Fibre2Fashion)

 

Portugal

After a string of difficult years, Portugal's apparel and footwear industries have been riding a recent wave of success. Last year, the country exported a record 89 million pairs of shoes, bringing in over US$2 billion in export revenue. Overall apparel and footwear exports grew by 7.7% in 2014, marking the fifth consecutive year of growth for the country. (Just Style) *NOTICE: This article requires a paid subscription

  

Sweden

A pair of Swedish water conservation projects that helped more than 40 Indian textile mills save millions of gallons of water are slated to expand to more countries. The Swedish Textile Water Initiative (STWI) and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) say they plan to expand to Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, and Turkey, as well as to additional facilities in India this year. As part of this expansion, both programs say that they will match the investments that each of their participating facilities put in to their water conservation efforts as well as work with local and national authorities to promote greater conservation efforts. The groups say they have educated over 14,000 managers and employees about the importance of water conservation. (Sourcing Journal*NOTICE: This article requires a paid subscription

 

United States

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would give President Barack Obama nearly unilateral authority to participate in trade negotiations. The Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) act is seen as an essential step for finalizing U.S. negotiations of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which could affect upwards of 40% of the global economy. The measure still be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives before becoming law. (Reuters)

 

The nearly year-long dispute between West Coast dockworkers and port operators that hampered the flow of goods through several major U.S. container ports has officially come to an end. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents the workers, recently signed a new labor agreement with the Pacific Maritime Association that will be valid through 2019. Both groups joined individual port operators in praising the agreement. (Reuters)


Vietnam

Around 60 garment workers at a factory in the province of Dong Nai were hospitalized after breathing a noxious gas that had leaked from a neighboring facility. Workers say that they began picking up an odor of pesticide on May 25 at around 3:30 in the afternoon prompting an evacuation. Many of the workers fainted due to exposure to the gas before they could get out, however, and were rushed to a nearby hospital. Most of the workers are expected to recover fully from the incident. (Than Nien News)

 

Vietnam's Ministry of Labor says that it plans to conduct thorough inspections of hundreds of garment and textile factories throughout the country over the next 5 months. Ministry officials say that the inspections will look at factory working conditions and training courses provided to the workers. Statistics collected by the ministry say that up to 80% of factories inspected in 2014 had some form of labor compliance violation. (Vietnam Net)

 

Vietnam's Ministry of Labor has issued a new Code of Conduct aimed a preventing sexual harassment at the workplace. The new code provides practical guidance to employers and workers' groups across the country on how to identify and eliminate harassment. Government leaders hope that individual employers will use the new code as a basis for developing their own internal policies on the subject. (Vietnam News)

 

Over 600 workers at a factory in Hai Phong staged a strike last week claiming that they were forced to work overtime hours without lights. Workers say that the facility raised its daily production quota, forcing many workers to work through their lunch hour when the factory reportedly turns out lights to allow workers to nap. Factory officials have since reduced their quota to its original level. (Than Nien News) 

 

Leaders in Ho Chi Minh City say that a shortage of qualified workers is hampering their ability to turn the city into a garment industry powerhouse in Southern Vietnam. Last year, the city's Department of Trade and Industry said it would need an additional 19,500 workers and up to 1,000 skilled laborers, including engineers and technical experts, to achieve a goal of 8.5% growth this year. City leaders say that the 11 local vocational training centers are only capable of producing 1,900 workers and 200 skilled laborers per year, way below the rate needed to achieve the city's growth goals. (Voice of Vietnam)


About WRAP
Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A., with regional offices in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Hong Kong S.A.R., and representatives in India and Southeast Asia (Thailand and Vietnam), WRAP is an independent, objective, non-profit team of global social compliance experts dedicated to promoting safe, lawful, humane, and ethical manufacturing around the world through certification and education.
To learn more about WRAP, please visit www.wrapcompliance.org.

Notice: The WRAP Weekly Newsletter is a collection of links to current news articles, relevant to social compliance. While most articles are freely available, some may require a paid subscription to access. WRAP is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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