Shameful behaviour of Olymp
stored in the Museum of Broken Relationships
More than a year has passed since the bankruptcy of the Croatian factory Orljava, when 172 woman workers were dismissed without paid severances. German shirts brand Olymp, Orljava's largest customer, still owes them 450.000 EUR of severance pay. So far, Olymp doesn't want to accept responsibility for workers, even though Orljava produced at least 80 percent of the orders exclusively for them for more than 50 years.
They pretend to be humanitarians by donating money to various humanitarian initiatives through campaign #Olympherzenwunsch (Olymp's hearth wish), while at the same time they ignore and steal from their workers.
More than 100 Clean Clothes Campaign members and partners gathered together with the workers of Orljava on 5th July in the centre of Zagreb, capital of Croatia. One of the reasons for their stay in Zagreb was international forum “Living Wage is Possible!”, where they discussed steps towards achieving living wages, the fundamental human right which is not respected especially in garment industry.
With the aim of putting pressure on Olymp participants of the forum gathered on 5th July at 6 pm CET in front of the Museum of Broken Relationships, which is located in Zagreb Upper town.
The Museum of Broken Relationships is a unique exhibition of items, stories, photos and other memorabilia, paying tribute to a wide variety of broken-up human relationships.
Three former Orljava workers, members of Novi sindikat – Mirela Bonić, Mirjana Pavić and Manuela Kajinić – handed over memorabilia from their workplace to the.
Sewing machine, workers uniform, shirt that they sewed in 90s and flashing business sign of Orljava's store now are part of the Museum's collection and symbolize the broken relationship between the factory and Olymp. Exhibition in the Museum also contains workers' statements, where they explained bad treatment by Olymp: lousy conditions, low salaries, excessive overtime work.
At the handing-over ceremony in front of the Museum Novi sindikat's shop steward Mirela addressed Olymp for failing to live up to its supply-chains responsibilities: “All of us, 172 workers who were laid off in July 2021, worked for Olymp for at least 30 years. Now they need to show that they respect us by paying our severances. When Olymp stopped orders in April 2021, our factory could not survive. Still, we did not expect to be treated this badly. After working at the plant for many years, it broke our hearts to be treated this way.”
Worker Mirela said that many of them started to suffer from health problems during their work life, and handed over her purple uniform.
Olinka Vištica, the director of the Museum, noticed that the color of Orljava is the same as the color of the Museum, which can also have symbolic meaning, and said: “Museum of Broken Relationships is here to give voice to people who have been neglected. We're very happy to store the items from the factory and support workers in this way.”
“Olymp must ensure the workers who made their clothes receive their full severance”
Vivien Tauchmann, coordinator of the Pay Your Workers campaign for Germany (Kampagne für Saubere Kleidung), advocated for living wages for garment workers and the end of manipulations in the textile industry, where wages are lowered to a minimum by moving production to the Third World.
With this action the organizers wanted to make sure that painful situation and arduous working conditions inflicted on Orljava workers by Olymp will forever be highlighted and visible to all who care. This is the first time that a behaviour of one brand is featured in the museum, and the shame will be on them for as long as the museum exists.
Support of cultural institution and support of about 100 people 20 European countries, Africa, India, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan were for sure strong message and warning to Olymp: the whole world is watching you and we want you to pay your workers and take responsibility for the violations of working rights in your supply chain!