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The negative economic and public health shocks of COVID-19 are reverberating in Ethiopia, and in particular in the country’s garment and textile sector.

A global collapse in demand for garments has been witnessed since the first quarter of 2020, following measures by governments to slow the spread of the pandemic. Restrictions on movement and economic activity has produced widespread retail closures and effects throughout supply chains, including prompting factory production suspensions and workforce layoffs. Cancellation of orders has left some garment manufacturers unable to pay workers as required.
A survey among Ethiopian manufacturers in April revealed the average capacity utilization rate had taken place by 30 per cent in Q1 2020 relative to the same period in 2019. Fully half of management trained in the same survey said they expected employee layoffs in the second quarter of the year. Ethiopia has yet to reach its expected peak of COVID-19 infections, but the pandemic has accelerated in the country. As of the first week in June, the World Health Organization stated that there have been over 2,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the country. Factories are on high alert with regard to efforts to prevent, contain, and address fallout from the spread of the disease. As yet, no clusters of cases have been reported in major industrial zones in the country.

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With the new product test, the environmental protection organization Greenpeace tested outdoor equipment for harmful perfluorinated and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFCs). PFCs are used in many industrial processes and consumer goods. The outdoor industry uses them in the production of waterproof membranes and water- and dirt-repellent coatings. These include substances that are harmful to the environment and health, which spread globally and can be found in the liver of polar bears as well as in breast milk and human blood. In addition to outdoor clothing and shoes, Greenpeace examined camping and hiking equipment such as backpacks, tents and sleeping bags for the first time. Of the 40 products tested, only four did not contain PFCs.

The underlying study was published in English under the title ‘Leaving Traces’.

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There are an estimated 1200 garment factories in Bangalore employing approximately five hundred thousand garment workers. The majority of this workforce is comprised of women garment workers. Exploitative working conditions in garment factories prevent women workers from making any improvements in their lives via their work. Furthermore, women workers leave factories at a young age in order to meet the needs and demands of social reproduction.

This study depicts the post-work life of garment workers in Bangalore. The findings show that most former women garment workers take up informal work to sustain their livelihoods. The precarious nature of employment in garment factories leaves women workers with very little savings, thereby reducing women’s bargaining position and their agency to transition into a decent post-industrial life. This important piece of research sheds light on the “industrial afterlife” of former garment workers in Bangalore, which more often than not is a life of debt and informal work.

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This report unpacks the concept of ‘living wages’ and sets out companies’ human rights obligations to pay workers a living wage. It details the steps multinational garment companies and garment manufacturers can take to ensure they are meeting those obligations by moving credibly towards paying workers a living wage and developing a roadmap to do so. At the end of most sections, the report summarizes practical tools for companies to further investigate how they can develop their plans.

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Women workers in garment factories around the world endure sexual harassment on a daily basis. The international apparel brands that source from the factories they work in claim zero tolerance for such workplace abuses, but their efforts to stamp it out have been ineffective. Governments have short-either not passing laws prohibiting sexual harassment at all or failing to implement the laws and policies they have. Now though, the International Labor Conference is considering a binding convention on violence and harassment at work, including sexual harassment. This presents a moment of opportunity to improve global efforts to address some of the most pervasive abuses facing women workers.

This brochure brochure the experiences of women garment workers struggling against abuses at work across several countries. It also explains why company-led efforts to police factory conditions have fallen short-and are particularly ill-suited to detecting and ensuring redress for sexual harassment at work. The brochure argues that the effort to create an ILO Convention is the best pragmatic path forward, and one that governments, civil society and industry leaders alike should get behind it.

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