The guide is a result of several projects carried out in South-East Europe by industryAll European Trade Union and it provides an overview of the textile sector worldwide and in the region, with special emphasis on global framework agreements (GFA) and the ACT initiative to address the issue of living wages in the sector. Several major brands with a GFA operate in the region through their supply chains.
„Of the 600,000 registered textile, garment and footwear workers in South-East Europe, very few are unionised and working conditions are very poor. Building trade union power to secure a living wage and safer and healthier workplaces for these workers is therefore urgent,” the industryAll press release says.
The guide also sets out various steps to be taken to prepare, carry out and win an organizing drive. The steps are accompanied by extra resources, such as how to research a company, a checklist for identifying the right issues.
The guide is primarily directed to textile unions in South-East Europe, but can be used for other sectors and regions as well.
“Some 6.500 new members were organised in the textile sector in South-East Europe as a result of the project. 36 company level collective bargaining agreements and 1 sectoral collective agreement were signed in Bulgaria and talks were launched on sectoral agreements in Albania and Croatia. We hope that the new practical guide will help many more affiliates to run successful organising campaigns,” Luc Triangle, industriAll Europe’s General Secretary says.
The guide is produced as part of an EU-funded project, ‘Strengthening the capacity of trade unions in South-East Europe to improve wages and working conditions in the garment and footwear sectors’ carried out in cooperation between IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union. Unions from seven countries participated in the project; Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.
