News - Photo: © Saskia Wulfinghoff 05 June 2019 Strike in Ethiopia Since 7 March 2019, thousands of textile workers have been on strike in Ethiopia's largest textile park, Hawassa. The unorganized workers (trade unions are banned in Hawassa Park) demand higher wages, safe working conditions and a stop to sexual violence in the workplace. The textile park with 52 factory halls has been made available by the Ethiopian government to foreign inverters since June 2017. Companies such as H&M and PVH (Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger), but also producers from India, China, Sri Lanka and other countries have low wages produced there. The park is one of five parks, with a total of 30 industrial parks planned by the government by 2015. Currently, export revenue from clothing production from all industrial parks in Ethiopia is $145 million. Hawassa Park currently employs around 25,000 people, most of them women, for a salary of just $26 a month. According to a study by the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU), a worker needs at least $146 to survive alone, with a family the minimum wage is even higher. In Ethiopia, there is no state-defined minimum wage and workers are not allowed to organize in trade unions. More information can be found in Blog of the trade union umbrella association IndustriALL and in Report of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights on the wage situation in Ethiopian textile and clothing production. The report is based on research by researchers at several factories in the Hawassa Industrial Park in Ethiopia and shows the precarious wage situation of Ethiopian workers in clothing production. The report also contains recommendations for the Ethiopian government as well as for the clothing companies operating in the country.
