15 Amendments of Sven SCHULZE related to 2016/2140(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas 60 million people worldwide work in the textile and clothing sector and the sector creates many jobs, particularly in developing countries;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas this industry is particularly closely intertwined internationally and supply chains are therefore particularly complex and as a result isolated national initiatives quickly reach their limits;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas textile manufacturers in developing countries are constantly exposed to aggressive purchasing practices by the international wholesale and retail trade, which is also due to fierce global competition;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas the scope for entrepreneurial influence is limited, in particular in performing the tasks of sovereign States, but the governments of the producing countries should rather create the economic and legal framework conditions in order thereby to carry out their control functions;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital A e (new)
Recital A e (new)
Ae. whereas international treaties are an essential part of combating labour and social protection abuses in third countries and companies are required to base their entrepreneurial activities on these principles;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that the garment industry is one of the most precarious for workersre are inadequate working conditions in the garment industry both within and particularly outside Europe, particularly as regards protection of the health and safety of workers; calls on the flagship initiative, therefore, to put ratification and implementation of ILO conventions and the Decent Work Agenda at its core, with particular focus on those most vulnerable to exploitation;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that voluntary initiatives are not adequatelyby the textile industry make an important and effective contribution on the ground in addressing issues such as health and safety, living wages, social security and working time;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Encourages the EU initiative to promote skills training which contributes to economic and social development and women’s empowermentthe enhancement of women’s role in the societies of third countries;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes the current flagship initiative doeis not go fartargeted enough in improving the garment sector; calls on the Commission to release as a matter of urgency the report it commissioned identifying gaps in current policy;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that trade unions must be able to operate independently and freely to promote and protecte need to promote the existence of employers’ organisations and trade unions and to enable them to operate independently and freely in order to ensure the introduction of a collective bargaining agreement system which allows workers’' rights, particularly health and safety, and thatin they are a necessary partner in social dialogueof the protection of health and safety at work and collective bargaining in a social dialogue;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses also the need to strengthen the capacity building of rule- of-law structures in the producing countries, which should be consistently promoted and required within the framework of European development and foreign policy;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Notes that under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinationals, enterprises are accountable in their supply chain; notes also that enterprises should develop procedures that enable them to identify and mitigate the impact of their entrepreneurial activities on human rights and working conditions wherever European enterprises, which are often only contractors in producing countries, are able to do so; calls on the Commission to act to provide assistance in this area; stresses in this context the need to set different standards for small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) owing to their relatively scarcer financial and human resources than for multinational corporations; stresses that the different size and performance of textile enterprises stand in the way of introducing a binding legal obligation of due diligence;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that price is still the determiningan important factor in the buying practices of brands and retailers, often at the expense and can have an impact ofn workers’ welfare; calls for the EU to work with stakeholders to develop a fair and stable pricing mechanism which guarantees that a decent proportion of sales revenue is paid to the worker in the form of a living wage; promote a successful social partnership in the producing countries so that sales’ proceeds are distributed as far as possible to the workers in order to meet the basic needs of workers and their families; notes that neither an internationally recognised definition nor a uniform calculation method for living wages exists so far; stresses, therefore, the need for collective bargaining agreements to prevent negative wage cost competition;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises the importance of independent labour inspections in early warning and prevention, yet notes that factors such as audit fatigueaudits reflecting only the current state of affairs at the time they are conducted can undermine their effectiveness; recommends further research on ways of improving audits and inspections, such as sending different labour inspectors each time, which can lead to more stringent standards, especially in countries with corruption issues; stresses, in this connection, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinationals, which determine the accountability of enterprises along their supply chain;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Believes that responsibility should extend throughout the entire supply chain, and commends existing efforts to this effect; believes, however, that the EU is best placed to develop a common framework through legislation on mandatory due diligence and supply chain transparencythe appropriate level for supporting and further developing the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinationals with regard to due diligence and supply chain transparency as part of global initiatives of the OECD, G 7 and G 20; recommends that regulation guidelines should come in addition to and in support of voluntary initiatives, and that information gathered as a result of EU action should be publicly available.