Tag Archives: certification

New Paper: Addressing Downstream Human Rights Risks in the Cotton Value Chain

The textile and apparel industry, although immense in its economic contributions and global reach, harbours persistent challenges in working conditions. In my latest co-authored paper, conducted alongside a fantastic team of co-authors, I set out to explore how actors at the very beginning of the value chain—namely Australian cotton producers—could help address downstream human rights risks that arise far beyond the farm gate. While cotton grown in Australia is widely considered to have a low risk of exploitation, it journeys through multiple tiers of spinners, fabric mills, and garment factories in overseas locations. Understanding and mitigating the labour and human rights risks in these downstream stages became our focal pursuit.

Conceptualising the Cotton Value Chain

We began by examining the way in which the value chain is typically framed. It is easy to imagine a neat, linear progression—cotton fields to yarn spinners to textile producers to garment assemblers, ultimately reaching retailers and then consumers. Yet the reality is very different. Cotton bales from Australia may be blended with fibres from other regions; apparel production occurs in distant factories run by subcontractors, and retailers may struggle to track exactly which fields supplied the cotton in their clothing and apparel. This fragmentation is precisely what makes oversight and accountability so difficult.

Through interviews and desktop analyses, we find that cotton producers typically focus on on-farm issues, such as pesticide use or water management, while fashion brands and retailers concentrate on labour rights in the cutting-and-sewing stages. The zone in between—the realm of yarn and fabric manufacturing—remains partially neglected. Our findings highlight that, although the Australian cotton industry cannot monitor or control every tier of the supply chain, it can still make headway through strategic actions that extend past its usual sphere of influence.

Finding Points of Intervention

Our research revealed several possible intervention points, which include ramping up transparency, implementing robust traceability systems, promoting meaningful certification, forging deeper partnerships with mills and merchants, and supporting worker-driven initiatives on the factory floor. These strategies, however, bring their own obstacles. Small producers rarely have leverage over large global mills. Merchants seldom track precisely where bales travel after a sale, and it can be daunting for an Australian grower to impose contract terms on spinning or weaving facilities in multiple countries. Despite these barriers, there is a shared understanding that doing nothing is neither practical nor sustainable in a world where regulators, investors, and consumers are increasingly scrutinising each link in global production.

Establishing stronger ties with downstream actors rests on recognising that value chains are more intertwined than many of us imagine. Where there is trust and transparency, everyone stands to benefit: crop cultivators gain a more credible reputation for quality and ethical standards, mills secure reliable cotton supplies, retailers reduce reputational risks, and workers find themselves less vulnerable to exploitation. A willingness to break away from purely transactional arrangements—and form stable, multi-year collaborations—could pave the way for improved labour conditions. It may also enhance resilience for all involved in the chain.

Taking a Strategic Enforcement Approach

Another central concept in our work is strategic enforcement. Traditionally, enforcement falls to government agencies that inspect workplaces and impose sanctions for non-compliance. Yet the apparel industry’s far-flung operations have made it difficult for regulators to keep pace. Our research suggests that private, industry-led efforts can complement public regulation by focusing on areas where modest shifts—like including labour clauses in purchase contracts or participating in worker-driven social responsibility programs—may produce outsized effects. This hinges on identifying pivotal points of influence rather than attempting wholesale reform in one swift motion.

Some readers may wonder what this means for brands and consumers. Retailers keen to demonstrate responsible sourcing could champion Australian cotton precisely because it offers well-documented environmental and labour credentials at the farm level and shows promise for strategic engagement downstream. Shoppers, meanwhile, can look for products that disclose meaningful information about the fibres’ origins and the standards maintained throughout the supply chain. While certification logos and traceability innovations are no magic bullet to address downstream human rights risks, they can at least illuminate that formerly opaque passage from field to fashion.

Addressing Downstream Human Rights Risks

Our research underscores the significance of looking beyond the farm gate, of forging new collaborations, and of recognising the potential for downstream and upstream stakeholders to contribute to a fairer, safer, and more transparent value chain. The work is not merely about diagnosing downstream human rights risks, but about proactively brainstorming and testing constructive solutions. In the complex network of global fashion and apparel, Australian cotton has a chance to stand out as a trusted and responsible fibre if it is willing to follow its crop downstream and help cultivate better outcomes for the people who spin, weave, sew, and ultimately wear cotton around the world.

What can Australian Cotton Farmers do to Protect Garment Workers?

Ten years ago, the garment industry’s worst industrial accident – the Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh – killed more than 1,100 workers and highlighted the travesty of conditions for millions of garment workers globally.

It spurred action to address exploitation, but for many workers little has changed.

Just in the past few months, Britain’s Tesco supermarket chain has been accused of profiting from the “effective forced labour” of workers in Thailand (making Tesco-brand jeans), while the world’s biggest clothing retailer, China’s fast-fashion brand Shein, has been exposed for rampant human rights abuses.

Such incidents are meant to have been eliminated, as big brands are supposed to leverage their power to effect change in global supply chains. Australia’s Modern Slavery Act, for example, requires companies with more than A$100 million in annual revenue to publicly report on their efforts to ensure their supply chains are free of labour exploitation.

The expectation has been that pressure from consumers and investors will be enough for retailers (who profit the most from driving down production costs) to drive change. Campaigners for better conditions say these requirements are all too often a “fig leaf”, because audits can easily be fudged.

Limited attention has been given to what suppliers can do to ensure their products aren’t associated with exploitation.

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How an Industry Known for Exploiting Workers is Cleaning Up its Act

The cleaning industry has long had a reputation for exploiting workers, as cut-throat competition delivers contracts with profit margins so thin there’s little room to pay cleaners their legal entitlements.

The Cleaning Accountability Framework, with the help of a group of business, law and IT researchers, is making inroads into what has seemed at times an intractable problem.

Dr Martijn Boersma, who lectures in industrial relations and business ethics at the University of Technology Sydney Business School, has been working with CAF and says non-compliance with labour standards has been a big issue in the cleaning industry.

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Update: Open Letter to Coles and Woolworths – Shareholder Resolution

The open letter to Coles and Woolworths was covered by the New Daily and the supermarkets have written a response to our letter. The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), who have been engaging both supermarkets since 2017, have prepared a response to the supermarkets. You can find the response here:

What’s next? A Shareholder Resolution!

Justine Nolan, Laurie Berg and Martijn Boersma have supported a shareholder resolution by ACCR that will be heard at the Coles AGM on the 13th November 2019. You can help by calling on UniSuper to support the resolution. All you need to do is send them a message here. You can use the sample text below, copy and paste, or write your own.

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Message to Coles, Woolworths: Act now to end modern slavery

The Australian horticultural sector is one of the most at-risk industries for modern slavery.

recent survey by the National Union of Workers among 650 workers found severe underpayments and withholding of wages, excessive overtime, retention of identity documents, threats of and actual physical and sexual violence, and coercive and excessive payments for transport and board.

A group of academics, experts in the area of labour and human rights, modern slavery, and supply chains, have initiated an open letter in which they ask Coles and Woolworths to address labour exploitation and the risk of modern slavery.

Australia’s Modern Slavery Act requires businesses to report yearly on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, the actions taken in response, and the effectiveness of these actions. The first reporting cycle started on July 1.

Unfortunately, although companies and consumers are increasingly aware that modern slavery exists, it is a phenomenon that is often dismissed or misunderstood.

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How to Stop Businesses Stealing from their Employees

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A Senate inquiry has revealed that wage theft and underpayment are so prevalent in some industries that they have become the norm. Around 79% of hospitality employers in Victoria, for instance, did not comply with the national award wage system between 2013 and 2016.

Regulators and unions don’t have the resources to combat this issue, and so we need another method to tackle wage exploitation. One way is to introduce a multi-stakeholder certification scheme, using market forces to reward companies that have committed to fair working conditions and punish those that don’t.

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