All News & Press Releases

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“We are tired and emotionally drained. If we have to stay hungry, we prefer to be at home – with our family and children.” says Vijendra Mandal from Jharkhand, who works in the textile industry in Tamil Nadu.

The lockdown was extended a second time and the resumption of work in the factories remains unclear. Meanwhile, it comes to Protests by migrant workersThey want to finally be able to travel home.

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The current COVID-19 pandemic makes face-to-face events more difficult. Therefore, in addition to our regular offer, there is currently also the possibility to arrange an impulse consultation via online seminar.

In this format, too, we offer tailor-made support in the form of impulse advice for decision-makers, procurers and users of clothing and shoes. According to the respective initial situation, we jointly identify which of the next steps to implement your eco-fair procurement project and Which actors You need them for that. Our workshop offer is aimed at municipalities of all sizes throughout Germany and can take place, for example, on the FEMNET Webex account or your own video conferencing tool. Contact us and we will be with you digitally soon.

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Precarious working conditions and wages that serve scarcely to secure livelihoods. Textile workers are clearly feeling the COVID-19 crisis. The slump in Bangladesh's export business is having an impact on their shoulders. Demands for wages and fair treatment in the crisis are being made.

The Rana Plaza disaster seven years ago exposed the precarious working conditions of the garment industry in Bangladesh. Bijoy (left in the picture in front) and Pervey (right in the picture in front) lost their parents when the factory building collapsed.

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The effects of the corona crisis are increasing and changing. At first, migrant workers were affected by the national curfew – they were stranded without work in the cities. Now they are threatened with the challenge of the global decline in orders and the long-term loss of their work.

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© Markus Spiske - unsplash.com

Berlin and Brandenburg want to be fairer: In the future, the employees of the public service should wear sustainable service clothing. FEMNET is currently advising the Central Procurement Office for Brandenburg. This procures workwear bundled for both federal states.

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Press release of civil society in the Textile Alliance

Seven years after the factory collapse of Rana Plaza, textile workers are once again plunging into a crisis due to COVID-19. Right now, the Alliance for Sustainable Textiles must prove itself as an authority for safeguarding human rights responsibility, demands civil society in the Textile Alliance. While brand and retail companies are responding to the COVID-19 crisis with far-reaching cancellations from their suppliers, textile workers in the producing countries are suffering extreme economic hardship due to the loss of income. If the regular wage falls away, which often does not reach the end of the month anyway, there are no social security systems in place.

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© Taslima Akter

The coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the entire textile industry, both here and in the producing countries. Many companies cancel orders, no longer accept ordered goods or trade discounts. Others try to agree with their producers on burden sharing.

In Germany, all clothing stores are currently closed, manufacturers and retailers without online sales are particularly bad. Strongly affected by the closures are in particular the fast fashion chains, which change their assortment every 4-6 weeks and buy huge quantities. Now they remain on the spring collection, which probably can no longer be fully sold when the shops reopen. Discount battles are to be presumed.

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© FEMNET

On April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,134 textile workers. Now, seven years after what is arguably the biggest catastrophe in the clothing sector, general working conditions for workers have improved little. Especially in the current corona crisis, it is also clear how little responsibility the big fashion companies really take on for their textile value chains. Unfortunately, many planned events and demonstrations had to be cancelled, so we are starting a special event for this year's Memorial Day. Join in action!

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The NGWF trade union distributes educational brochures and food in Bangladesh. © NGWF

The NGWF trade union is committed to the health and care of workers in the textile industry. In order to protect workers from infection and reduce the risk of pandemics, NGWF has published brochures on COVID-19 and necessary prevention measures. The leaflets were distributed in the local Bengali language as well as in English.

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