Check behind label to see if clothes are ‘ethically fit’

Sydney
2 June 2002

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Check behind label to see if clothes are ‘ethically fit’

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Check behind label to see if clothes are ‘ethically fit’

By Kathleen Carmody

Shoppers will soon be able to check whether the clothes they buy have been made ethically - i.e. not sewn by underpaid outworkers - just by looking for the identifying label.

The new labels will form part of the NSW Government’s $4 million clothing outwork strategy to stop the exploitation of outworkers.

Australia has around 300,000 outworkers who are paid as little as $2 an hour for their labour.

At the launch of Behind the Label: the NSW Clothing Outwork Strategy, the Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, said that he was committed to making sure these workers got a fair go.

“Behind the Label is backed by Australia’s first laws to protect outworkers’ rights,” Mr Della Bosca said.

“We’ll be taking assistance out to the communities, to both outworkers and their employers.

“We’ll be working with industry, delivering incentives to make these changes work for everyone.”

Currently, clothing manufacturers choose to commit to a voluntary industry code of conduct; agreeing to observe award wages and conditions.

Part of the Behind the Label strategy will be to encourage more employers to sign up to the code.

Julia Murray of Fair Wear - a community group which has been lobbying for legislation to be put in place to ensure proper award wages and conditions for contractors, and which has the strong support of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council - was cautiously optimistic about the Behind the Label program.

“It’s not everything we hoped for but it’s something we’re very pleased with,” she said.

“We’re really excited that the potential’s there, we just hope that it will be realised.”

Ms Murray said she remained sceptical about the effectiveness of self-regulation for the industry because it had a track record of not supporting the code.

“Our campaign’s been going for six years and we’re still waiting for industry to genuinely support (it),” she said.

“They’ve got a track record of not trying hard.”

Fair Wear has a representative on the Ethical Clothing Trade Council, which was established in February as part of the 2001 Industrial Relations (Ethical Trades) Bill. The council is charged with overseeing the treatment of outworkers and reporting back to the Minister. In February the council will advise whether a mandatory code of conduct is needed.

Fair Wear would be pushing for the introduction of a mandatory code, Ms Murray said.

“We want to see a tangible outcome for outworkers.”

A spokesman for the Department of Industrial Relations, Andrew Plumley, said that legislation down the track was a potential option.

“We’re signing up employers with the voluntary code,” he said.

“If they take no steps to sign up in 12 months, it will be at their peril.”