‘Living Wage Now’, a documentary released by Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) revealed the working conditions of Asian garment workers in Cambodia, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia in the face of inadequate pay, excessive overtime, unsafe working conditions and more.
The film includes footage shot inside Asian garment factories that supply leading clothing brands and retailers. ‘Living Wage Now’ follows the global garment supply chain from factory floors in Asia to department stores in Europe.
There are roughly 40 million workers engaged in the garment sector across Asia, but their stories are so rarely told. In the film, a worker in Dhaka, Bangladesh tells of narrowly escaping death when the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed in 2013, killing over 1,100 of her fellow workers.
Workers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia share their daily struggles to make ends as trade unions are violently suppressed.
“Do you think that workers who are producing high-level fashion for the global market should be living like rats? We don’t think so. We think that workers should be having a wholesome and a dignified life for themselves and their families. And this is what Asia Floor Wage is about,” Anannya Bhattacharjee of the Asia Floor Wage Alliance said.
The AFWA and its partners are currently attending the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, where they are pushing the International Labour Organization to enact legally-binding standards for global supply chains.
