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| Issue No 116 |  |
19 October 2001 |
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NewsUnions Triumph in Bra Battle
In a major victory in the union-led campaign against the Burmese military junta, Triumph International has ceased production of bras in Myanmar. Triumph made the decision to cease production of the bras days after unions and community groups undertook a ritual bra burning outside a Sydney department store. David Jones CEO Peter Wilkinson, one of the corporate leaders lobbied in the campaign, says he's been informed that triumph is no longer sourcing garments from Burma. Triumph was one of the companies targeted for their refusal to cease trade in Burma, following the decision by the International Labour Organisation to invoke penal clauses over the regime's use of slave labour. It was the first time the penal clauses had been activated in the ILO's history. That decision followed a long campaign by the ICFTU and is regarded as a key test of the ILO ability to impose core global labour standards. Union and community groups are now campaigning in individual member states to pressure government and companies to abide by the sanctions. The sanctions recommend ILO members - workers, employers' groups, and governments, to review their relations with Burma and take steps to ensure their ties do not help continue or extend forced labour. Unlike Security Council sanctions, which spell out limits on trade and other punishments for the offending nation, the ILO measures allow individual governments, employers' organisations and labor unions to determine what they will do. Right Attacks Outworker Campaigns Meanwhile the right-wing thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs is trying to villify attempts to improve conditions for outworkers. The FairWaer alliance has described the new report on the clothing industry as a shabby attempt to undermine the work of Fairwear, unions and churches. "The IPA contradicts a decade of reports by Courts, Commissions, Academics and Inquiries into Outwork at both National and State level which have all acknowledged the vulnerable situation of outworkers and recommendedproposals to change their unfair working conditions," Pamela Curr of FairWear says. "The report is full of lies, inaccuracies and reflects a lack of understanding of the industry." She says outwork in the clothing industry has been so extensively investigated and documented that it is difficult for the Government to ignore the growing clamour for legislation. "This report is designed to pave the way for the IPA mascot Tony Abbott to announce draconian legislation which enables a continuation of the exploitation of outworkers in the face of wide community concern and awareness about the issue," Curr says. Annie Delaney, Outwork co-ordinator at the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union, Victorian Branch says the arguments used by the IPA were similar to those used to discredit the Fair Employment Bill, in Victoria earlier this year. The Federal Government had promised a Bill to cover elements of the Fair Employment Bill, but this has never appeared. Unions believe the Coalition is planning something more sinister. "It seems like the IPA is doing Tony Abbott's dirty work and if the Coalition gets back into power they will push through legislation which will entrench exploitation, " Delaney says "The IPA ignores the companies who are doing the right thing, paying fair wages and who are being driven out by companies who undercut them by exploiting and underpaying workers." UPDATE/CLARIFICATION Since publication we've been informed that the decision to withdraw from Burma has onbly been made from Triumph's Australian subsidiary. This will mean no Burmese-made bras will be sold in Australia. However we understand that Triumpyh International is continuing production in Burma, meaning the international campaign against Triumph will continue.
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   Interview: The Green MachineNick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens. Industrial: Regaining Control France�s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of �worksharing�. Unions: Home Of The Longest DayAustralia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world. Campaign Diary: Week Two: FightbackLabor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign. Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die?Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness. History: American TerrorIncredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective. International: Global Day of Action In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead. Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term LoomsThe global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard. Review: FlashbacksCultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
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