Living Wage For Garment Workers Demanded

Living Wage For Garment Workers Demanded

Ahead of an International Labour Organization (ILO) conference, a campaigner for higher wages in Asia has stressed that global clothing brands must take responsibility for the millions of workers in the continent who are poorly paid by suppliers and ignored by governments.

Asia accounts for more than 60 per cent of the world’s garment production, with the industry employing more than 15 million people directly, most of whom are women.

Anannya Bhattacharjee, a coordinator with the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), a supply chain lobby group, said workers deserve a living wage because the minimum wage set by most Asian countries is inadequate to keep them out of poverty.

AFWA, along with other campaigners, will lobby the ILO at its conference in Geneva next week to move forward on setting a global standard for supply chains, including for wages.

“The complexity of the supply chains is often used as an excuse for brands having no control over paying a living wage,” Bhattacharjeesaid.

“But brands have so much leverage with governments and suppliers, and they have the power to set prices,” she said.

Higher wages in China, the world’s largest clothing exporter, are driving brands worldwide to seek cheaper alternatives in countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.Suppliers in these countries are under enormous pressure to reduce costs and produce garments as quickly as possible.

Wages in the garment industry are “structurally failing” to meet workers’ basic needs, leading to excessive overtime, ill health and workers being forced to live apart from their families, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign, which is a member of AFWA.

Garment exports from Asia are worth more than 200 billion US dollar annually.

Many garment workers in South Asia tend to be landless labourers or lower-caste workers who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and are often in debt bondage.