Freedom of association – a major challenge

In all high risk countries, there is a danger that the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining may be violated. The workers are usually not fully informed as to what their rights are. Their representatives are often not legitimately elected, but determined by the management. We have uncovered cases of this during audits, and are working to rectify the situation with a Workplace Education Program (WEP) from the Fair Wear Foundation.

In China, the freedom of association is severely restricted. All workers' organizations must be members of the ACTU (All China Federation of Trade Union), which is largely influenced by government and employers.

In all of the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) audited production facilities in China and Vietnam, there were complaints in relation to freedom of association or collective bargaining. Generally, the management does not voluntarily offer information on these issues for fear that the workers will go on strike or could become "powerful", and often determine employee representatives themselves. In addition, the management is often not even informed about the rights of workers in this field.

In annual supplier talks with their top management as well as after each audit, we address the issue of freedom of association. A Workplace Education Program (WEP) was conducted at six production facilities in China in 2014.

All levels of management, top management, middle management as well as workers were informed as to the rights, duties and responsibilities of each employee, regardless of his or her level in the hierarchy.

As much as possible, we provide guidance and further support for these facilities after the WEP. This has been well received by all sides, but in order to bring about real change, is a long process.

In 2014, the Fair Wear Foundation offered training on the Workplace Education Program in Vietnam for the first time. Two of the audited companies were trained in a Fair Wear Foundation pilot project. Because these production facilities are located in rural areas where the state of knowledge is correspondingly low, we consider it important to be involved as the first company in this project.

The response was very good and all other audited facilities will participate in this training in 2015.