Women Working Worldwide Newsletter, Summer 2011

Inside this issue:

Research: Productivity, garment workers wages and working conditions

Special report: Ugandan women in words and pictures

New project: building decent workplaces for women garment workers

Download as pdf (12 pages)

International Meeting for Organisations Working to Support Horticulture Workers
Luther King House, Manchester UK (12–14 April 2011)

A two-day workshop workshop in Manchester hosted by Women Working Worldwide (WWW) bringing together different activists/organisations working with East African horticulture workers to map our work and identify best practice, to discuss potential strategies for addressing the Living Wage problem and to discuss current changes/challenges in respect to social codes of conduct and fair trade. Three key topics were identified as the meeting focus:

1. East African Horticultural Workers – Strategies for Change
2. Living Wage – Challenges and Opportunities and
3. Social Codes of Conduct – Engagement and Development.

Download as pdf (33 pages)

International Networking Workshop in Support of Women Workers,
Friends Meeting House, Manchester UK, 18th – 20th October 2010

Hosted by Women Working Worldwide and supported by Oxfam Novib

Meeting report: In October 2010, Women Working Worldwide brought together thirty organisations from Europe, South Asia, North America, East and Southern Africa and Central America working to support women workers in the formal and informal sectors to organise and improve their conditions at work. The objectives of the conference were to discuss:

• the key challenges affecting women workers;
• actions to assist women workers to organise themselves;
• advocacy strategies to improve working conditions;
• and how we can access the necessary resources for our work.

Download as pdf (43 pages)

Learning Together – An educational manual for workers on flower and vegetable export farms of East/South Africa, 2011

Produced by Women Working Worldwide partners with the aim of encouraging a greater understanding among workers on key issues and provide a toolkit to enable workers to develop action plans that will foster greater organisation and collaboration to improve their situation and have their rights to a decent working life respected. Modules include:

• how and why the export farms grew;
• us in the world; how we farm workers are treated;
• our workplaces must be safe and healthy; the environmental impact of our farms;
• how unions can help farm workers;
• combating sexual harassment in the workplace;
• cooperatives = worker’s economic empowerment.

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Developing strategies for change for women workers in African Horticulture, The case of Uganda, 2011

Uganda Workers Education association UWEA in collaboration with WWW

" The project aimed at development and supporting initiatives and strategies designed to tackle the causes of labour rights problems on the commercial horticultural farms. Further it was intended to strengthen the capacity of the local organisations to support horticultural women workers. Key outcomes for the project were identified as mainly relating to improved working conditions and employment terms of workers in the flower industry. "

Download as pdf (92 pages)

Executive summary (pdf, 8 pages)

Action research report on Workers conditions and industrial relations in the Ethiopia horticulture sectors, 2011

Hanan Aman, National Federation of Farm Plantation Fishery Agro Industry Trade Union NFFPFATU

" The Action Research examines working conditions and industrial relations in the Ethiopia horticulture sector. Especially the experiences of women who comprise the majority of the workforce. "

Download as pdf (49 pages)

Executive summary (pdf, 7 pages)

Promoting Workers Right in the African Horticulture, Labour Condition in The Ethiopian Horticulture Industry, 2010

Tewodros Worku Nigatu, National Federation of Farm, Plantation, Fishery & Agro-industry Trade Unions of Ethiopia NFFPFATU

NFFPFATU/WWW Action research report the Ethiopian chapter:

" Ethiopia’s flower industry is the recent and fast growing in Africa. The industry is a source of direct employment for over 50,000 Ethiopians. However, the majority of them live in appallingly poor conditions including high levels of casualisation, low wage, inadequate training & provision of PPE. The prevailing aspects of better working conditions in the sampled farms can be attributed to factors such as the consistent need or demand by unions for better working conditions and farm owner’s/ management’s disposition. "

Download as pdf (41 pages)

Action Research Report: Factors Affecting Labor Conditions in Horticulture Industry in Tanzania, February 2011

This is the report of research conducted by the Tanzania and Agricultural Workers Union (TPAWU), from November 2008 - December 2009, as part of the project 'Developing Strategies for Change for Women in African Horticulture'.  The report focusses on three main themes:

1. Purchasing practices of European retailers
2. Non-supply chain influences causing gender-specific issues such as sexual division of labour, inability to manage domestic roles and workplace abuse
3. Effectiveness of codes of Practice regarding gender issues.

Download as pdf (70 pages)

Executive summary (pdf, 5 pages)

Overview of research into conditions on horticulture farms in Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda, Sept 2007

This document is an overview of research into working conditions on horticultural farms collated by our partners during our three year project in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania. It includes an introduction for the project, overview of the sector, research findings, gender analysis and recommendations.

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Overview of research into conditions on horticulture farms in Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda, Sept 2007: Research Summary

This 4 page document is a summary of the above report (research overview) and includes a summary of of our research, activities and recommendations from the project "Promoting Women Workers' Rights in African Horticulture".

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Promoting Women Workers' Rights in African Horticulture: Report of the Planning Meeting, 2005

Includes information about project partners, initial project planning and country overview, as well as a brief about horticultural supply chains, Ethical Trade and Fair trade

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Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from a Workers' Perspective. Edited by Angela Hale and Jane Willis, 2005 
£18.99

This book presents empirical research by a network of garment workers' support organizations in different locations in Asia, Europe and Mexico and makes sense of global supply chains from the bottom up. It creates a blueprint for conducting worker-orientated action research in order to better understand and resist the negative impact of globalization on labour.

Threads of Labour is available from Amazon.co.uk, or send us a cheque for £18.99 and we will send you a copy.

Garment Industry Supply Chains: A Resource for Worker Education and Solidarity, 2004

This education pack is for use in workers' education and organisation by tutors, facilitators and organisers. It is designed for use with garment workers, primarily but not only women. They may be factory-based workers, workers in small production units such as 'sweatshops' or homeworkers. It can also be used in a wider range of educational settings, for example with retail workers who sell garments, consumers who buy clothes, transport workers who deal with garments as cargo, students who are studying world economy, globalisation campaigners, as an example of a key global industry.

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Bridging the Gap

Gap's well-known chain of retail outlets span the globe. behind this chain of stores is an invisible chain of factories and workers. This booklet explores how these chains function and the issues that workers in those chains face. It also looks at consumer campaigns focused on Gap and how they are responding to these campaigns.

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