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15 March 2021 Fashion companies must guarantee wages for workers - #payyourworkers campaign launched

Press release of the Clean Clothes Campaign

With extensive demands on fashion companies, the #PayYourWorkers #RespectLabourRights campaign of numerous well-known NGOs and trade unions from 37 countries started today on 15.03.2021. The alliance calls on companies such as Amazon, Nike and Next to support workers who have fallen into distress through no fault of their own during the pandemic and the associated loss of income.

With a petition, the campaign is campaigning for major fashion brands and retailers to create a severance fund that provides financial security for textile workers when their business goes bankrupt. In addition, the brands should respect the rights of workers to freedom of assembly and organisation as well as collective bargaining and support them in securing income in the medium and long term.

“We calculated that it would cost the brands only ten cents more per T-shirt to ensure that textile workers can at least survive the pandemic. This is the minimum that brands should do on their way to living wages. It's achievable, and brands and retailers who deny it put their profits above the well-being of the people who make their products.Fabienne Winkler of the Clean Clothes Campaign.

Textile industry after one year of coronavirus

A look at the fashion trade and employees in the textile industry after one year of the coronavirus pandemic shows: While many brands and retailers compensated for their initial drops in sales by delaying or even refusing to pay their bills and trying to push down supplier prices further, millions of employees in production are left empty-handed and struggling to survive. Textile workers worldwide were deprived of $3.2 to $5.8 billion in wages in the first three months of the pandemic alone⁽¹⁾.

This hardship is countered by the fact that many fashion brands are again recording profits despite the crisis, for example Next and Nike. According to Tagesschau.de, Amazon increased its sales by 37 percent in the third quarter of 2020 – its profit even by almost 200 percent.

Sophorn Yang, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Trade Unions (CATU), said: Workers in Cambodia have lost millions of dollars in income because of the measures taken by the brands during the pandemic. It's time for brands to take responsibility for the needy workers who bring them billions of dollars in profits year after year.

#PayYourWorkers campaign – Week of Action 15. – 21 March 2021

The more than 200 organizations supporting the campaign include grassroots unions such as the Garment Labour Union in India, major trade union federations such as the UNI Global Union, and international organizations and networks such as the Clean Clothes Campaign. CCC). In a global week of action from 15 to 21 March, trade unions and activists will carry the campaign's demands into the public eye.

Press contacts:

Isabell Ullrich
Clean Clothes Campaign ⁇ Coordination
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Telephone: 01511-64 739 42

Fabienne Winkler
Clean Clothes Campaign ⁇ Board of Directors
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