AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

4 Labour Rights Governance, Decent Work and Global Value Chains 45
In 2006, the Cambodian River-Rich factory dismissed 30 trade union
members and representatives who were in process to form a union to
deal with the company’s abusive use of temporary contracts. In 2007, the
CCADWDU (Coalition of Democratic Cambodian Apparel Workers
Unions) requested the help of the ITGLWF, who had recently developed
the addressed IFA with River Rich’s biggest customer, Inditex. The
agreement stressed the responsibility of the company in ensuring freedom
of association and the right to collective bargaining for its workers,
including those in subcontracting factories. The company went then together
with ITGLWF to Cambodia and negotiated with the factory management
to reinstate the dismissed workers. The management was first
reluctant and several strikes took place during 2007. A second visit was
paid in May 2007 and this time a much better agreement was reached. It
led not only to the reinstatement of the dismissed trade unionists, but
also to the payment of their average salary from the date of their dismissal.
The factory also committed not to discriminate any trade unionist
and to convert the fixed-term contracts into long-term (ITUC, 2008).
Other cases stressed by the Dutch FNV trade union also refer to further
enforcement outcomes of the Inditex IFA. Using the agreement in
the Topy Top factory in Peru and Interstoff in Bangladesh, negotiations
achieved the reinstatement of dismissed trade unionists, the recognition
of unions in the factories, an important increase in trade union membership
and the introduction of industrial relations management systems
and grievance procedures (FNV, 2008).
Notwithstanding these positive outcomes, the IFA has also shown
considerable enforcement limitations. During the last shareholder meeting
of the company in 2008, the Spanish Clean Clothes Campaign
stressed alarming shortcomings of the Inditex outsourcing practices.
More specifically, the campaign focused on the issues of living wages,
labour rights violations, the indemnization of the Spectrum Bangladesh
victims, and the need to address Inditex “just in time” purchasing practices
(El economista, 2008).
The failure to properly address such vital issues with CSR initiatives
even when an international framework agreement has been signed,
shows the need for national regulation for the real enforcement of labour
rights and the ensurement of decent working conditions.
However, as stressed by Gereffi, there is a ‘governance deficit of considerable
magnitude’ in terms of national and international institutions to regu-