FAIR SCHOOL WEAR

for the latest list of schoolwear companies whose Australian production is accredited by the Homeworkers Code of Practice check out thie site:

www.nosweatshoplabel.com

Why should schools be involved in the campaign?

The involvement of schools in the Fair Wear Campaign is important for several reasons: (download more as a Fact Sheet - Uniform Ethics for Schools)

* Many children in our communities belong to families directly affected by outworker exploitation.
* Children often help their parents after school and into the night.
* School Uniforms are a significant component of the local clothing industry.
* Uniform suppliers are likely to respond to concerns from school communities about the conditions in which their garments are made.
* Awareness of unfair work practices in our communities is a relevant issue for parents, students and staff.

The Fair School Wear campaign has been running since 1999. Some of the most active members of the school community have been high school students who have been prepared to go to their school councils, principals and to the community to ask that their school uniforms be sourced under sweatshop-free conditions.

Now direct action by schools is leading to direct improvement in wages and conditions for clothing workers. Schools in NSW and Queensland using the same uniform supplier wrote independently to their supplier asking them to become accredited under the Homeworkers Code of Practice. The supplier, keen to retain business with these schools, asked the union to help check out his sub-contractors. The union found that the main subcontractor making the uniforms was not paying award wages or superannuation. The supplier demanded the sub-contractor comply with the award and those workers now have dramatically improved working conditions. Due to the Behind the Label strategy and new legislation in NSW, new outworker legislation in Victoria, and discussions on legislation in ACT, Queensland and South Australia there is a heightened sensitivity throughout the clothing industry at the moment.

How you can help

Fair Wear is keen to capitalise on this and build on the story above by creating a wave of Fair School Wear activity to pressure more school manufacturers to become accredited. There are a variety of ways you can help us?.

(these ideas can be downloaded as a leaflet)

1) get your school thinking about outworker issues. Fair Wear may be able to send a speaker to talk to classes, assemblies, SRCs or social justice groups. Click here to for Fair Wear resources you could use, such as the Twenty Pieces video and lesson plans. We also have a DVD resource "No Sweat School" launched in 2005. Click here for order form.

2) we ask you to write to all of your uniform suppliers, asking them to become accredited to the Homeworkers Code of Practice -- the only guarantee that outworkers are being treated fairly. Click here for a sample letter to send to uniform suppliers, and for tips on what to ask when contacting your supplier by phone or email.

3) please send us information about the suppliers of each item in your school uniform using the Uniform Information Form (if you have done this before, please send us an update). We will share this information with the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union, for them to include these suppliers in their inspections. We will also identify companies supplying to a number of schools involved with Fair Wear, with a view to those schools considering some combined lobbying activity.


4) we have discovered many FairWear schools doing a lot more than they tell us about. We want to hear your stories. Let us know what you are doing! Contact us and if possible give us a story we can put up on our website. Also let us know what responses you have been getting from suppliers so we can follow them up or assist you in following them up.

5) make sure we have a current email address for FairWear contacts at your school so you can receive regular FairWear updates from us. 

6) if your school has not yet signed the Fair School Wear Statement of Commitment then please consider doing so now. Click here for an updated version of the Statement of Commitment. 

Your assistance in these ways will help us turn energetic FairWear lobbying into direct improvements for outworkers. 

Further information and support is available by contacting FairWear.

Thanks heaps!