As the largest buyer in the country, the government wields considerable financial power in its procurement of public goods and services. Over the past three years it undertook some Lm50 million worth of contracts for each year. Until today no social or ethical criteria have been included in public procurement policies. This means that there are no guarantees that the Maltese people’s tax money is not spent on activities that use child labour or exploit workers by, for example, not paying sufficient wages.

Public authorities, such as the police, public cleansing, the hospitals and the army spend a significant amount of money on uniforms and other workwear. This clothing is mostly bought from local workwear companies. However, a study of the Maltese workwear sector, carried out on behalf of Koperattiva Kummerc Gust, shows that most workwear is now manufactured in low-income countries like Turkey, Tunisia, a number of countries in Eastern Europe and also in the Far East (mainly China, but also Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Taiwan).

Research on working conditions in the fashion sector in garment-producing countries shows that violations of labour rights, such as excessive overtime and extremely low wages, are common (see www.cleanclothes.org). Other serious problems are inadequate health and safety measures, and violations of trade union rights. In China, for example, workers are not allowed to join a free trade union. As there are many similarities between fashion and workwear production it seems very plausible that similar violations are occurring in the workwear sector as well.

A commonly-accepted definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is that used by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development: “CSR is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as the local community and society at large.” So it would seem pertinent to ask whether the workwear companies that supply Maltese public authorities have a CSR policy.

The study by Koperattiva Kummerc Gust clearly shows that CSR is not a matter of priority for Maltese workwear companies. Only one company states it has a policy not to buy goods from companies that employ children or exploit workers in the production process. None of the workwear companies selected for the study had a written CSR policy. The chairman of one company found the questions about CSR and working conditions at the supplying factories too sensitive. He did not want to answer them at all. The director of another company does not regard the labour conditions at the supplying factories as his company’s responsibility: “They are their workers, not mine.” “We are not responsible, we just place orders” and “We are not directly involved in the product chain” are two other comments from the managers.

Conclusions from the study show that the companies who place the orders do not yet have an incentive to adopt a CSR policy. As long as the customer, in this case the government, appears to care solely about the price and the quality of the product, the companies have no other obligations to fulfil.

Procurement directives from the European Union open up possibilities for public purchasers who wish to integrate social criteria into public purchasing policies. The European Commission encourages public administrators to examine their own practices. What is needed on a national level is a political initiative to introduce ethical principles into purchasing policies. In a world with a global market, one must consider how our purchasing affects the situation of workers beyond our shores. Today, there are no guarantees that Maltese tax money is not contributing to child labour or exploitation of workers.

The government should set an example of “good” consumption and provide the impetus for companies to adopt CSR policies.

In December 2006, Koperattiva Kummerc Gust sent a letter to the Prime Minister, to the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and to the director general contracts, urging the Maltese government, through its ministries, departments and local councils to take ethical aspects into consideration when purchasing goods. Unfortunately, we are still awaiting a reply.

Nina Zita, volunteer with “Koperattiva Kummerc Gust”

“Ethical public procurement in Malta – indications from the workwear sector” can be downloaded from www.l-arka.org.

It has been published as part of this year’s Civil Society Project Report by The European Documentation and Research Centre, the University of Malta