Report
Issued on Efforts to Improve
Rev.
David Schilling, (212) 870-2928
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(September
6, 2001) - IMWG News. The
Independent Monitoring Working Group (IMWG) released a
report today on the history and development of
independent factory monitoring initiatives in El
Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The
IMWG is comprised of representatives from the Business
for Social Responsibility Education Fund (BSREF), Center
for Reflection, Education and Action (CREA), Interfaith
Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and Gap Inc.
When
labor problems at the Mandarin International factory in
El Salvador became widely reported in 1995, most apparel
companies doing business at the factory stopped sourcing
their brand-name products from the facility. But
Gap Inc. agreed to stay and explore the creation of an
independent factory monitoring program in El Salvador.
Gap Inc. agreed further to work with Business for
Social Responsibility Education Fund (BSREF), the
Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
and later, the Center for Reflection, Education and
Action (CREA) towards that goal, and the Independent
Monitoring Working Group (IMWG) was formed.
"As
a result of this first-of-its-kind project we
demonstrated that companies and non-governmental
organizations from Central America and the US can join
forces to enhance efforts to respect workers' rights.
During this five-year collaboration, we have
learned a great deal about how different perspectives
can enrich efforts to create fair, harmonious and
productive working conditions," said Rev. David M.
Schilling, Director, Global Corporate Accountability
Program, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
The
IMWG's main goal was to explore the viability of
independent monitoring in Central America.
A first step towards that goal was to identify
local organizations in El Salvador to serve as monitors
at Mandarin, now called Charter.
In
El Salvador, the IMWG engaged four local organizations
that formed the original the Independent Monitoring
Group of El Salvador, or GMIES. The primary objective of
monitoring was to promote harmonious and productive
working conditions through an innovative process of
verifying factory compliance with national labor laws,
international conventions and Gap Inc.'s own Codes of
Vendor Conduct in participating Gap-contractor
facilities.
The
IMWG began its efforts to pioneer independent monitoring
in Honduras in 1999.
The IMWG has worked with Episcopal Diocese
personnel in San Pedro Sula to train monitors and to
launch a factory monitoring program with four factories. Hurricane Mitch and changes in sourcing have delayed
monitoring but a new monitoring initiative with other
local organizations will soon be underway.
In
June 2000, the IMWG expanded the monitoring project to
Gap Inc. supplier factories in Guatemala.
The Commission for the Verification of Corporate
Codes of Conduct (COVERCO) was engaged to provide
independent monitoring and verification of corporate
codes of conduct at two plants sourcing Gap Inc.
products.
As
a direct result of the IMWG's work, independent factory
monitoring conducted by knowledgeable local
organizations is in place.
The report details noteworthy aspects of IMWG's
experience over the past five years.
Key findings in the report include:
*
The IMWG succeeded in establishing the first independent
monitoring project in the apparel and footwear industry,
demonstrating that a diverse range of civil society
organizations and businesses can work in a transparent,
collaborative manner to promote the observance of fair
working conditions to promote a productive and
harmonious workplace. The Independent Monitoring
programs focused attention on the rights of workers in
global supply chains, providing workers a new channel
through which to raise concerns about their treatment
and the conditions under which they work.
Originally designed to respond to a crisis,
independent monitoring has evolved into a method of
providing consistent, systematic, on-going compliance
with applicable national law and Gap Inc.'s. Code of
Vendor Conduct.
*
The IMWG's work played a role in catalyzing the
formation of independent monitoring coalitions in
Central America.
*
Independent monitoring, including its initial
establishment and implementation, is a time-intensive
process, and additional work remains to create a fully
sustainable model that can be replicated broadly.
*
Independent monitoring works best when it is joined with
effective internal factory systems that allow workers to
express their concerns without fear of retaliation.
*
The independent monitoring process provides for a third
party to act as intermediary or negotiator, when
problems or concerns arise.
*
As independent monitoring expands throughout Central
America, there has been a spectrum of responses from
factory managers. Some
factory managers have seen the presence of independent
monitoring in their factories as a marketing tool that
can be used to attract apparel companies committed to
ethical sourcing. At
the other end of the spectrum are factory managers
concerned that the presence of independent monitors may
suggest that theirs are bad factories.
In
the near future, the independent monitoring groups in
Guatemala and El Salvador will issue reports on specific
problems identified in factories.
These reports will detail how factory management
in each location addressed problems.
In late 2000, members of the IMWG agreed that the group successfully met its initial goal of exploring the viability of independent monitoring in Central America. It was agreed that the IMWG would cease its formal operations at the end of 2001, though the monitoring will continue.