News & Press Releases - Living Wage now!

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Bonn/Berlin. Living wages are a key element of decent work. In the countries of the Global South, however, a large proportion of employees cannot live humanely on hard-earned wages. This also applies, and in particular, to employees in the textile and clothing industry. The Alliance for Sustainable Textiles, founded in 2014 on the initiative of Federal Development Minister Dr. Gerd Müller, has started to change this. The civil society organisations in the Textile Alliance are now calling on all members to follow their commitment to action and to step up their efforts to pay living wages.

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Photo: © Kristof VadionPhoto: © Kristof VadionBonn. Five years of successful work are coming to an end. The Government of Bangladesh opposes the continued work of ACCORD, the agreement on fire safety and building safety in Bangladesh.

The call ‘Never again Rana Plaza!’ is still echoing. Nevertheless, the current decision of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh is intended to put an end to the further work of ACCORD as of 30 November 2018. "The ACCORD is a credible and effective programme that has ensured around 1600 safe export factories. But the situation in many factories is not yet certain, as European buyers see it, says Gisela Burckhardt, CEO of FEMNET and member of the Clean Clothes Campaign.

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© Friedrich Ebert Foundation

© Friedrich Ebert Foundation

In November 2018, FEMNET organizes a tour of Germany with two activists from Bangladesh and Myanmar. The women report on how seamstresses in the apparel industry are fighting for improved working conditions and explain how consumers can influence them.

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16,000 Taka and no less: Workers in Bangladesh have been protesting for months for a fairer minimum wage. Photo: © NGWF16,000 Taka and no less: Workers in Bangladesh have been protesting for months for a fairer minimum wage.
Photo: © NGWF

After a long struggle for an increase in the catastrophically low minimum wage in the Bangladeshi clothing industry, the responsible Commission has now announced the future minimum wage in September: 8,000 Taka (approximately €82) – half of what local trade unions demanded! The total amount is not only far below a credible living wage estimate, but can de facto hardly be regarded as an actual increase, but rather as a compensation for inflation over the past five years. In response to this much too low minimum wage, seamstresses in Bangladesh are now entering the labour market. Hunger strike for fairer wages, FEMNET's partner organization, the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), announced today.

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The NGWF trade union is calling for a minimum wage of EUR 160. Photo: © NGWFThe NGWF trade union is calling for a minimum wage of EUR 160. Photo: © NGWFBonn. The Bangladeshi government has decided to raise the minimum wage from 5,300 Taka (€54) to 8,000 Taka (€80) as of December 2018. This is far from enough just to absorb the increased costs of recent years, let alone to achieve a real wage increase. Wages in Bangladesh's clothing industry are still the lowest in the world. The unions demanded 16,000 Taka (160,-€). There has been no wage increase for five years, although the 2013 legislative amendment provides for the basic wage component to be increased by 5% each year.

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Trade union representatives demonstrate for a minimum wage of 16,000 Taka on 27.7.2018. Photo: © NGWF Trade union representatives demonstrate for a minimum wage of 16,000 Taka on 27.7.2018. Photo: © NGWF

The Bangladesh Clothing Industry Employers' Association (BGMEA) has shown extreme contempt for the well-being of workers and their lives outside the factories. On Monday, July 16, BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) proposed setting the minimum wage for workers at 6,360 Taka (approximately €64). This amount does not reach nearly a subsistence wage level in Bangladesh, nor does it remedy the neglect of the required legal minimum wage increase in the last 5 years.

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Trade union representatives demonstrate for a minimum wage of 16,000 Taka on 27.7.2018. Photo: © NGWF Trade union representatives demonstrate for a minimum wage of 16,000 Taka on 27.7.2018. Photo: © NGWF

The Bangladesh Clothing Industry Employers' Association (BGMEA) has shown extreme contempt for the well-being of workers and their lives outside the factories. On Monday, July 16, BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) proposed setting the minimum wage for workers at 6,360 Taka (approximately €64). This amount does not reach nearly a subsistence wage level in Bangladesh, nor does it remedy the neglect of the required legal minimum wage increase in the last 5 years.

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Demonstration on July 5, 2018. Photo: © NGWFDemonstration on 5 July 2018. Photo: © NGWFTrade unions and workers demonstrate for wage increases in clothing factories

On July 5, our Bangladeshi partner NGWF (National Garment Worker Federation) organized a rally in Dhaka to protest for the long overdue increase in the minimum wage in Bangladesh's garment industry. After the Bangladeshi government brutally suppressed previous protests and imprisoned hundreds of trade unionists and workers, it finally set up a wage authority on 29 January 2018 to reset the minimum wage for textile workers.

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