Our public institutions buy one in five computers sold in Europe and therefore have the ability to urge brands to improve working conditions within their supply chains in return for our tax money. What is more, they have an obligation to socially and environmentally sustainable purchasing, both towards the citizens and under new European directives on public procurement.

Many manufacturers producing ICT equipment in countries like China and India have been found to violate labour rights, including health and safety issues to suppression of union rights, forced overtime and the refusal of living wages.

The public sector institutions affiliated to Electronics Watch are able to use their procurement of ICT products strategically and collaboratively to drive change in the industry. This allows them not only to ask for compliance with specific labour codes of conduct, but also to demand access to monitoring & improvement services in the factories formed by trade unions and labour organisations in the producer countries.

The campaigns are planning to submit the petition signatures simultaneously to several public administrations and institutions in a European-wide day of action.

Increasingly, European agencies, with public universities in the lead, are realising the potential they have to bring about changes in the electronics industry by acting together through Electronics Watch. This petition will surely lead many more to join this initiative.

Go to Avaaz now to sign the petition