Events for ETI Members

ETI Members' Roundtable 7
Working with local monitoring groups

London
20th March 2003

• Background and Purpose of roundtable
• Who participated?
• Overview of the Central American context
  • Central America Women’s Network
• Local organisations as monitors – The benefits and limitations
  • The Honduran Independent Monitoring Group (EMIH)
  • CODEMUH - The Honduran Women’s Collective
• Key points from Company Presentation
  • Chiquita International
• Workshop discussions
• For further information
   

 

Background and purpose of roundtable

The purpose of this roundtable was to increase members’ understanding of local monitoring groups and of the opportunities for companies to work with them.

This roundtable provided members with the opportunity to hear and discuss the experience of the Honduran Independent Monitoring Group (EMIH), which is currently monitoring three factories for a major brand company. It also provided an opportunity to hear from an ETI member company, Chiquita International, on the participation of local human rights NGO’s and unions in their social audits.

Learning points covered included:

• Local organisations as monitors: the benefits and limitations
• Worker relationships: how do workers contact the monitoring group, what sort of complaint mechanisms are in place?
• ETI company members’ experience of working with local monitoring groups
• Independence and accreditation issues
• Advocacy and training with local employers and government officials

 

Who participated?

21 participants attended and amongst members there were 8 companies and 5 NGO’s represented.
The roundtable was introduced and chaired by Elaine Jones, Head Of Ethical Trade, Body Shop International plc.

 

Overview of the Central American context

Presentation by Jane Turner,
Central America Women’s Network

Promoting labour rights in Central America

Two new stakeholder groups, women’s organisations and independent monitoring groups, have appeared on the labour rights scene in Central America over the last few years. These civil society initiatives are independent of the existing regional trade union structures. They are all very clear that their purpose is not to replace trade unions but instead to promote the respect for labour rights in the region which in turn includes respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining which could stimulate the development of more trade unions in the future.

General regional perspective

There is a regional network of women workers organisations with a presence in four countries: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. There is also a regional network of independent monitoring groups: GMIES, COVERCO, EMIH, and PASE. Other organisations who have had some experience of monitoring or are working on labour rights in the region including CIPAF, a women’s organisation in the Dominican Republic, and ASEPROLA, a labour rights NGO with a regional focus in Costa Rica.

Monitoring groups

Monitoring groups consist of individuals and civil society organisations already working on the promotion of labour rights and include:

GMIES:  The Independent Monitroing Group of El Salvador/Grupo de Monitoreo Independiente de El Salvador
Grew from a conflict in a particular factory.

COVERCO:  The Commission for the Verification of Codes of Conduct
A Guatemalan non-profit organisation set up by human rights and church groups.

EMIH:  The Honduran Independent Monitoring Group
Consists of a women’s organisation, human rights and church organisations.

PASE:  Corporate Social Auditing Professionals /Profesionales por la Auditoría Social Empresarial
An initiative which grew from a women’s organisation based in Nicaragua.

(please see further information section for additional organisational details)

How do the women’s organisations and independent monitoring groups inter relate?

The particular interrelations vary from country to country. GMIES and COVERCO are independent from other organisations. PASE is on the way to being completely independent but original stimulus came from a women’s organisation. EMIH currently consists of two civil society organisations directly involved with CODEMUH - a women’s organisation and ERIC - a Jesuit organisation.

Why have these new stakeholders appeared?

• Historically, the economies in the region are highly dependent on the US economy. The EPZ (Export Processing Zone) model was sold to Central American governments as a way to develop, although all the evidence to date suggests it locks these countries further into a dependent model and does not stimulate any autonomous development in the region. More accurately the model just supplies jobs.
• The trade union movement has become further debilitated by the impact of these processes of economic restructuring and most strikingly in the garment for export industry.
• Persistent anti - trade union campaigns by employers have created a climate of fear. The workers fear loosing their jobs and in extreme cases have been threatened with violence and physically attacked, if they try to organise a trade union.
• The weakening of the state due to neoliberal policies imposed by the IMF and World Bank have exacerbated the failure of governments to implement labour legislation such as freedom of association and the right of trade unions to negotiate collective bargaining agreements.
• There is a lack of interest of trade unions to organise women workers in the export processing zones due to male dominated structures and male culture
• Failure of trade unions to effectively articulate and address particular needs of women workers eg, forced pregnancy testing before initial employment contract given, sacking whilst pregnant, sexual harassment, child care needs.

Independent monitoring groups – What do they do?:

• negotiate contract with brand for monitoring factories
• monitor factories according to brand code and local labour legislation
• provide a continuous model of monitoring
• provide a complaint mechanisms for workers
• public reporting

Women’s organisations – What do they do?:

• Training women workers in a range of areas including labour rights, self-esteem, sexual and reproductive health, health and safety at work, domestic violence. Provide women workers with information so they can directly defend their rights
• Provide legal advice and support to women workers pursuing cases of violations through the courts - with the long term aim of promoting a culture of respect for labour rights
• Lobbying at local, national and international level
• Direct dialogue with local employers, local and national government, and brands
• Building alliances at local national and international levels

 

Local organisations as monitors – The benefits and limitations

Presentation by Suyapa Melgar, Monitor
The Honduran Independent Monitoring Group (EMIH).

EMIH was set up in 1997 following an agreement with a local factory to assist in dealing with a range of problems, which had led to a loss of contracts for the factory. Unfortunately due to a lack of commitment from factory management to deal with these problems, which included poor factory conditions and the sacking of trade unionists, EMIH decided to pull out and informed those companies buying from this factory of their decision. EMIH continued to provide training and capacity building to women workers and were subsequently approached by a major brand company to monitor three factories. An agreement was signed between the brand company, employers and EMIH.

The monitoring methodology used by EMIH consists of:

• Visits to observe factory practices
  One a week, eg, of workers entering the factory – to look to see if searches are carried out appropriately
   
• Social audits
  Three to five days
  Of the whole factory, including health and safety checks, financial, sound levels
   
• Interviews of workers
  A significant percentage of workers are interviewed in relation to conditions

Benefits of a local monitoring group:

• Local people from that area
• Knowledge of culture, industry and country
• Knowledge of issues and concerns of factory workers
• Monitors have knowledge and experience of the reality of factory conditions and practices and therefore credibility
• Other external monitoring systems are expensive and in some cases ineffective.

 

Presentation by Maria Luisa Regalado, Director
CODEMUH - The Honduran Women’s Collective

CODEMUH provides training on gender, health, citizen participation, self-esteem, gender based violence, sexuality and rights. The organisation also co-ordinates awareness raising, lobbying and campaigning on issues which are of concern to women, particularly women maquila workers. This work is directed at government bodies, maquiladora companies, and national and regional civil society networks. 

However, whilst working with workers in maquilas [1] for over 20 years it became apparent that different strategies to address worker issues needed to be explored. CODEMUH began in 1996 to look at how to raise awareness amongst companies about the conditions of workers in their factories. This was a major challenge as many companies needed to be convinced of the benefits of addressing these issues. In the past, organising workers and particularly women workers was very difficult. CODEMUH took a role of facilitating (policy) between these companies and monitoring organisations such as EMIH. CODEMUH therefore concentrated their efforts on developing a programme to work with women outside the factory. Following employer and sourcing company participation with the organisation this has become easier. For example, if a woman worker had a complaint concerning harassment or violence they would have to report this to the police, which more often than not, resulted in the victim being reprimanded. But, there has been some progress. Companies and employers will now contact CODEMUH if they come across cases of sexual harassment, domestic violence, etc and allow the worker time to meet with CODEMUH to address the problems. It has been a lengthy process of negotiation to reach these agreements and there is now a better relationship between all parties and more importantly improvements for the workers.

Questions and answers

Q Who provides funding for monitoring?

A The company/brand will pay 50% of the cost and on occasion will pay transport costs. Core to the work of these monitoring organisations is the involvement of volunteers and supporters who provide assistance.

Q What is the process of identifying/dealing with problems?

A Workers will contact CODEMUH directly. CODEMUH will then act as an advocate for the worker with either the factory (and trade union if present) or with external organisations eg, government, social sector. If the problem is within the factory, EMIH will investigate and send a report with recommendations to the brand company. The brand company will then communicate with the factory about a remedial plan and EMIH will monitor the action taken and provide updates as necessary.

 

ETI Member Company Presentation: Chiquita International

Presentation by George Jaksch, Chiquita International,
Director Corporate Responsibility Public Affairs

Chiquita is a leading international marketer and distributor of bananas, employing over 19,800 banana workers in five Latin American countries.

Chiquita's commitment to environmental and social responsibility is reflected in having completed 100% certification of our owned farms (supplying 50% of our banana production) to the standards of the Rainforest Alliance, in 2001. The Rainforest Alliance is a U.S.-based NGO which has developed criteria for environmental protection, workers’ rights, and for worker health and safety in banana farms. Our farms continue to undergo Rainforest Alliance annual audits by local monitoring groups belonging to the Sustainable Agriculture Network.

Corporate Responsibility:
Chiquita Definition
In 2001, Chiquita published a new Code of Conduct which includes the SA8000 [2] social accountability standard. This standard was selected because it is based on the core conventions of the ILO as well as recognized human rights standards (in this respect virtually identical to the ETI Base Code). It also includes requirements concerning management systems, in view of the provision for independent auditing and certification. In late 2002 Chiquita’s farms in Costa Rica were awarded the first SA8000 certificate in Latin American banana production.

Working with local monitoring groups

Factors in Chiquita’s decision to work with local monitoring groups.

• Initial reservations:
  • Confidentiality
  • Interference
  • Unions – effect on worker participation
• Benefits:
  • Objectivity
  • Credibility
  • Competence
  • Quality of Results

The Decision:

Invitations to COSIBAH (Banana and Agroindustrial Unions in Honduras) and COVERCO (Commission for the Verification of Corporate Codes of Conduct) in Guatemala to participate in 2002 internal audits with the approval of IUF (International Union of Food Workers) with clear conditions of participation for both parties.

Participation means complete participation during the entire audit process including:

• Auditor training and audit planning
• Opening session with local management
• All interviews and document reviews
• Closing meetings and report preparation
• Decisions on major/minor non-conformances
• Presentation of results to regional management
• Review of audit summary prepared for Corporate Responsibility Report
• Publication of verification statement in Corporate Responsibility Report

The observers from local monitoring groups commented:
"The internal assessment teams conducted their evaluations with both rigor and professionalism. The findings are aligned with my own observations during these assessments, which involved extensive interviews, site visits and document reviews."

"Inviting independent labor representatives to be part of the assessment teams and publicly reporting the findings are both important steps for Chiquita. They better enable the company to identify problems and develop solutions to improve the quality of work life of employees. They signal Chiquita’s willingness to fulfill its responsibility as a major employer throughout Latin America."

"We believe the internal assessment findings provide an accurate picture of Chiquita’s performance in its owned farms. Chiquita faces a variety of challenges in becoming fully compliant with SA8000."

"With regard to freedom of association, COVERCO recognizes that the audit found no evidence of violations. However, COVERCO believes that the existence of Permanent Committees .. and Solidarity Associations .. inhibits the free formation of independent labor unions .."

"The next major challenge will be for Chiquita to work toward assessing the social performance of the farms of its independent suppliers .."

Chiquita’s conclusion on participation of independent observers (from limited experience)

Advantages

• Properly conducted, internal audits are a highly effective measure of performance.
• Participation of independent observers strengthens the process
• Local monitors contribute unique skills and local knowledge
• A balance of internal and external certification audits is probably beneficial
• In the future, audits and certification by local monitors is desirable – for reasons of cost and effectiveness.
• Companies can contribute to development of local audit capacityBased on our experience, we recommend working with local monitoring groups. We also recommend their participation in social audits as expert witnesses.

 

Workshop discussions

Opportunities and Challenges:

• Companies welcome working with local NGOs and unions and to tap their local knowledge and skills (including language) and would appreciate them shadowing or conducting audits. However, there are concerns/questions over trust, confidentiality and independence.
• Companies also need to be convinced that what happens on audits are kept between the involved parties. If issues of illegality arose the companies would want the issues raised internally first before going outside.
• Some companies have tried to approach NGOs but found there were blocks to working with them.
• Contracts can be broken at any time by either side.
• Who pays for improvements? Some felt that brands should demonstrate their commitment by financing monitoring and corrective action.
• The expertise available in Central America is not available as yet in Africa or Asia and will take time to develop.
• How can local groups be financially sustainable? Should they take funds from brands or other sources?
• To make the process work, power needs to be shared. This is a risky process for both sides but brands need to balance this against the risk of non-compliance.

Suggestions:

• All relationships have to be negotiated (e.g. commercial relationships with suppliers) – developing relationships with local monitoring groups is no different.
• Important to identify the common aims and win/win ways of working together with different parties.
• Important to recognise there are compromises made on all side (not just from companies) in entering into these kind of relationships.
• ETI has a role to play in this with building capacity of local unions and NGOs.
• To identify which group to work with companies should look around, ask others and enter into dialogue in order to decide the appropriate group to work with. Once a group is identified you can then build dialogue and partnership.
• Local groups are looking at the issue of funding and are open to discussing it with companies. They need, however, to be very clear about the process.

 

For further information:

GMIES
The GMIES is an organisation, which has carried out monitoring and verification of compliance
with codes of conduct in El Salvador since 1996.
http://www.gmies.org.sv/gmies/quees.htm (in English)

COVERCO
The Commission for the Verification of Codes of Conduct (COVERCO) is a Guatemalan non-profit organisation which conducts independent monitoring and investigations of workplace compliance with labour standards in Guatemala's major export industries - including apparel, bananas, coffee, and electricity - for multinational companies and international organisations.
http://www.coverco.org/eng/about_us/ (in English)

COSIBAH
The Co-ordination of Banana Unions in Honduras.
http://www.cosibah.org/

IUF
International Union of Food workers
http://www.iuf.org.uk/en/

PASE
An initiative which grew from a women’s organisation, based in Nicaragua.

CAWN
Central America Women's Network (CAWN) is a UK-based network of women united by a commitment to women's human and labour rights worldwide and a desire to support, publicise and learn from the struggles of women in Central America in the defence of their rights.
http://www.cawn.org/

WWW
Women Working Worldwide is a small UK voluntary organisation working with a global network of women worker organisations.
http://www.poptel.org.uk/women-ww/

Maquila Solidarity Network
The Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) is a Canadian network promoting solidarity with groups in Mexico, Central America, and Asia organizing in maquiladora factories and export processing zones to improve conditions and win a living wage.
Particularly relevant to this roundtable: Codes Memo: Number 13
Year End Review: Emerging Trends in Codes, Monitoring and Verification
December 2002/January 2003
http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/resources/codes/memo13.htm

 

 
Footnotes:

1. In Latin America maquilas are mainly garment factories producing for export and are what most people envision when they think of sweatshops with poverty-level wages, long hours, and no unions. While not all maquilas are dark and dirty factories, most violate internationally-recognised worker rights [note1 context]
2. SA8000 - a standard developed by the Council on Economic Priorities Accreditation Agency (CEPAA).
   SA8000 is based on accepted norms of the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation and is verified according to an accreditation system based on the standards of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). [note2 context]
    

[ends]

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See also:

• Advance programme for this event
• Events: Roundtables