Outi Moilala
Translation Linus Atarah
China, Thailand, Bangladesh, Estonia, Latvia… nowadays work uniforms purchased by the state and municipalities are more and more produced where fashion clothing also are.
Within the past years there have been demands for introducing ethical working conditions but cheap prices is still the basis for as much as two-thirds of public procurement.
Still twenty years ago a large portion of Finnish work uniforms – construction workers’ overalls, suits of hotel attendants, police uniform, etc., were manufactured in Finland. But then as a result of a combination of several factors the manufacture of work attire are being transferred more and more to low wage countries. The impact has been a reduction in trade with neighbouring countries as well as a reduction in the number of people engaged in such jobs and a demand for the clothes has therefore fallen.
Nowadays, many Finnish people going shopping think about the place of origins where products are manufactured and demand social responsibility from the companies. But in public procurement, those who purchase work attire for workers of municipalities, cities officials, and state companies as much as two-thirds of them still value cheap prices more. There are high ambitions for public procurement objectives in many European countries but not in Finland.
The information came to light in Finnwatch’s report – Cheaper Markets – in March. Finnwatch researched on the responsibility of companies producing work attire used by Finnish companies and asked what kind of social and ethical criteria are used by public procurers when purchasing work attire.
“That even a third of public procurement set ethical criteria in the purchase of work attire is a step forward, but the glass is not yet even half full. At the moment for instance, a factory paying starving wages would pass the ethical guidelines set by many firms, says Executive Director of Finnwatch, Janne Sivonen.
Company factories are located in the Baltic
The garment industry is typically an industry of emerging economies. Setting up a dressmaking workshop doesn’t require more investment than sewing machines. Factories quickly change locations in search of low wage countries and labour rights violations are commonplace: wages are insufficient to support a living, working days are long, it also involves child labour, and trade union mobilisation can be dangerous.
That is why it is not unimportant under what conditions public procurement is purchased with Finnish tax money.
Finnwatch sent questionnaires to fourteen clothing companies through whom public procurement of work attire is made. It emerged that E. Laiho is the only one of the companies which still manufactures all its products in Finland.
A couple of others have their factories in Finland and a few others have theirs in the Baltic countries and one other even has a factory in Thailand. But also a bulk of their sewing is done by sub-contractors where factory working conditions, wages and working hours are difficult to oversee than in their own factories.
Asia procurements have code of conduct
Overall, the largest portion of work attire is manufactured under sub-contraction in Asia or the Baltic countries. The most popular country is Estonia and second most important is China. But the portion of Asia’s manufacture in work attire is not as large as in fashion clothing. This is shown when a comparison is made between Finnwatch’s new report with its earlier reports on the contribution of clothes and sportswear.
According to the research, all companies who procure a little more of their supplies from Asia have a code of conduct for social responsibility agreement with their partners and even have some kind of auditing of their own factories or those of a third party.
But those who procure their supplies only from the Baltic countries, a lot less had auditing. The responses were otherwise narrow in scope in relation to inspection, according to the Cheaper Markets research.
From the perspective of social responsibility, the Kwintet concern rises above all others in the survey and it is part of those who source a lot of clothing from Asia. The Asia procurement unit of Kwintet is a member of Fair Wear Foundation recommended by Clean Clothes Campaign, which is developing the social responsibility standards in the whole production chain in diverse ways. Kwintet has also announced that it plans to reduce the number of its suppliers which would make it easier to develop the production conditions.
The mixed practices of procurers
Finnwatch also enquired from state and municipal procurement services what criteria they set for their purchases. A questionnaire was submitted to 19 of such organisations. The responses – or the lack of them – revealed the harsh truth.
The cities of Lahti, Tampere, Turku and the Criminal Sanctions Agency confessed outright that they do not set any conditions whatever for responsible production.
The rest coldly left the questionnaire unanswered. Those were Jyväskylä, Espoo, Oulu, The Finnish Boarder Guard, Uudenmaan sairaalapesula and, VR, the state railways company. The Helsinki Transport company (HSL) invoked business confidentiality which sounds strange because it’s procurement is with tax money.
But progress has been made. Four years ago the last time Finnwatch enquired about responsibility criteria in public procurement not a single one was mentioned in their tenders.
Now a third of them are setting standards. In practice they all are about the core labour rights of the International Labour Organization (ILO) or the fulfilment of United Nations human rights declarations that have to be fulfilled in factories.
The practices vary from one procurer to the other. The City of Helsinki demands a fulfilment of the core labour standards of ILO if production is outside the European Union. Also the Finnish Defence Forces preconditions procurement on the fulfilment of ILO core labour standards and in addition a check on the sub-contractors. Finnair and Itella-Posti demand that conditions in factories should meet the demands in the United Nations human rights declaration.
The Finnish Customs demand an inspection of the whole production process and regularly discusses with suppliers about the working conditions. The City of Vantaa demands information on subcontractors as well as an affidavit as prove that no child labour has been used.
“There has been progress in the companies but the demands set for the working conditions should be tightened. Also there is still a lot to be done on monitoring to ensure that companies adhere to the set standards”, says Finnwatch’s Executive Director Janne Siivonen.
