Socially just, environmentally friendly flower production

'Out of the 62 workers in my section only five do not yet have a permanent contract,' says Alice, a worker on one of the Tanzanian flower farms that have signed up to the Flower Label Program (FLP). The FLP label guarantees that the flowers are produced under humane, environmentally friendly conditions. Workers on FLP plantations have permanent employment contracts and social security entitlements such as paid maternity leave, social insurance, subsidised food, education programmes and schooling for their children. They are also paid a living wage, can form or join a union, and are entitled to elect a workers council to help them assert their codetermination rights.

To date, some 60 flower plantations in Africa and Latin America have signed up to the FLP, which has brought improved living and working conditions to around 15,000 workers. The FLP is the response to reports of inhumane working conditions that alarmed the German public in the early 1990s. The flower campaign, a joint effort by non-governmental organisations and unions in several European countries, highlighted the workers' situation and demanded the introduction of socially just and environmentally friendly production and working conditions. In 1998, this led to the setting up of an International Code of Conduct for socially and environmentally friendly cut-flower production (ICC).

GTZ supports the education programme for workers in the cut-flower industry that is offered by FIAN (Food First Information and Action Network) in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in twelve countries throughout Africa and Latin America. Information on workers' rights, health and safety in the workplace and environmental protection is included in the training programme. It aims to raise awareness of the International Code of Conduct for the cut-flower industry among the workers and to encourage them to become involved in introducing and monitoring the code in the workplace.

• Abstract of the Flower Label Programm
  de-kurzstudie-flp.pdf, 0.70 MB (german)
• Guidelines for the socially just, environmentally friendly flower production
  de-richtlinien-flp.pdf, 0.89 MB (german)
• International Code of Conduct for the Production of Cut-flowers
  en-international-coc-production-cutflowers.pdf, 0.02 MB (english)