Urge brands to end severance theft and union busting
Poverty wages are the harsh reality of making clothes, but on top of that, in the face of crisis, workers are often being denied legally owed wages or severance if they lose their jobs. Earning poverty wages for decades have left garment workers no savings to fall back on. Moreover, with freedom of association continuously under threat in most garment producing countries, garment workers are also denied the right to collectively stand up for their rights.
You can not view this content at this moment because you have selected to disable thirdparty cookies in the privacy settings.
At a time of crisis, the livelihood and rights of workers are usually not the first thing on brands' minds. We have seen this during the pandemic, and again during crises since, like the 2023 earthquake in Turkey, the economic downturns in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the ousting of the government in Bangladesh and the tariff war. Saving profits trumps saving workers. In the face of more catastrophes to come in the wake of the climate crisis, we can't let this knee-jerk reaction rule the industry.
That is why we need brands to sign a binding agreement to:
Make sure workers are never again left penniless if their factory goes bankrupt, by signing onto a negotiated severance guarantee fund;
Protect workers’ right to organise and bargain collectively.
Take action for workers
As part of the Pay Your Workers campaign, we support workers in factories who have experienced wage and severance theft, to win back their legally owed compensation and confront brands with the fact that this is a real problem in their supply chains that they need to prepare for.
Check out the campaign pages to take action.
Loading
Why do brands need to #PayYourWorkers and #RespectLabourRights?
Brands and retailers have a responsibility under international standards as well as a moral responsibility to ensure that the workers in their supply chains are not paying the price if a crisis hits the industry. As the primary profit makers in the value chain, brands have the capacity and the obligation to intervene. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights clearly state the role and responsibilities of businesses with respect to the human rights of the people their business affects. Brands must ensure that the workers who make their clothes are paid income equal to or greater than what they received at the onset of the crisis and severance if they lose their jobs.
They can publicly show that they are safeguarding the livelihood of their workers by coming to the bargaining table with unions and signing the Pay Your Workers agreement. This will commit them to ensuring that workers in their supply chains are paid what they are owed during the pandemic, and that they will join a severance guarantee fund so that workers are never again left penniless if their factory goes bankrupt.
Attacks on labour laws, plant closures targeting unionised factories, and brands’ failure to perform human rights due diligence have systematically undermined worker protections and left workers in garment supply chains extremely vulnerable. Brands must protect workers’ right to organise and bargain collectively.
How can I help out?
First of all: sign the petitions above in solidarity with workers who were tricked out of their severance! But you can do more. We want to put workers' voices on blast; where better than in the clothes they made but weren't paid for? Download our labels with a QR code leading people to our action page and hide them in the stores of brands which have not been paying their workers. Please take pictures of your action and share them online, to amplify the workers' voices even more.
Take action by spreading our clothes labels in shops. Make sure you take pictures and spread them on social media mentioning the brand and #PayYourWorkers.
