In late January, SOMO hosted a meeting in Amsterdam for Project Partners and Steering Committee Members of the GoodElectronics Network. The occasion was a substantial subsidy from the European Commission which will help GoodElectronics move forward in the coming five years.
In late January, SOMO hosted a meeting in Amsterdam for Project Partners and Steering Committee Members of the GoodElectronics Network. The occasion was a substantial subsidy from the European Commission which will help GoodElectronics move forward in the coming five years. The gathering involved three days of meetings, which revolved around making plans and choices with regard to the focus, strategy and organisation of the network. It resulted in ambitious ideas and concrete agreements on (joint) research, publications and training sessions!
SOMO is one of the four project partners and functions as coordinator of the Network. The other project partners, who are also in the Steering Committee, are CEREAL (Mexico), Cividep (India), and IndustriALL Global Union (Switzerland). The subsidy has been awarded to the entire GoodElectronics Network, which is why the Steering Committee (besides the project partners consisting of Globalization Monitor, WorkersHub4Change, International Campaign for Responsible Technology, and Workers Assistance Center) was also present. In total, the GoodElectronics Network has over 90 members. The emphasis for GoodElectronics is always on the labour rights of employees in electronics producing countries.
In addition to intrinsic strategic subjects, aspects such as project management, financial reporting and internal & external communication were also discussed.
Guest presentations
The meeting was supported by several guest presentations. A representative of AchAct (Belgium) shared her experiences and insights in campaigning and organising workers in the clothing industry as part of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). CCC is currently going through a restructuring process from a European consumer network to a global network that works together with clothing labourers in a flexible and effective way. The coordinator of the OECD Watch Network discussed the methods of providing financial and intrinsic support to network members.
To widen the discussion, several ‘resource persons’ were invited as well. The Director of Environment, Health & Safety from Philips Group Sustainability held a presentation on the position of electronics brand Philips in the electronics markets and Philips’ vision on sustainable business. The Philips business model is currently shifting: from selling products to providing services. Various other companies, including Google, HP and Dell, have also taken on this approach.
During an informal dinner, guests including Fairphone, The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and Vodafone each gave a five-minute pitch on their approach towards human rights and sustainability issues as well as their vision on cooperating with stakeholders such as GoodElectronics.
Future
In the coming years the project partners will each perform various individual activities (under the umbrella of GoodElectronics), as well as joint actions. Follow the developments at GoodElectronics via the website, newsletter and social media (Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo).
