Un(der)paid in the pandemic. An estimate of what the garment industry owes its workers

Herausgeber_in: Clean Clothes Campaign CCC, Amsterdam NL

Autor_innen: Sofia Barradas, Anne Bienias, Mayisha Begum, Liana Foxvog, Bent Gehrt, Lucy Griffiths, Laura Gutierrez, David Hachfeld, Christie Miedema, Miriam Neale, and Johnson Yeung

Themen:             Arbeitsbedingungen/Unternehmenskritik, Wertschöpfungskette/ Globalisierung/ Welthandel

Zielgruppe:        Student_innen, Erwachsene

Medien:              Hintergrundinformationen

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsbedingungen, Bangladesch, COVID-19, Corona, Decent wage, Decent living, Existenzsichernde Löhne, globale Produktionsströme, Indien, Indonesien, Kambodscha, Lieferkette, Lohn, Myanmar/ Burma, Pakistan, Produktionsländer, Sri Lanka, Unternehmensverantwortung, Wirtschaftskrise

Kurzbeschreibung:

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, garment workers around the world have been left unpaid or underpaid, causing a wage gap between what they received and what they are owed. This report from August 2020 estimates for seven countries the wage losses that workers have suffered and urges brands, retailers and e-tailers to commit to a wage assurance to make sure workers are made whole.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2020

Umfang: 39 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: Deloitte Access Economics for Oxfam Australia

Kurzbeschreibung:

Deloitte Access Economics has been engaged by Oxfam Australia to provide analysis of Australia’s garment industry. Specifically, Oxfam has requested Deloitte Access Economics answer two specific questions:

• Current factory wages: What is the typical share of the overall price to Australian consumers of garments produced in global supply chains which is spent on factory worker wages?

• Living wages: How much would the overall cost of bringing a garment to Australian consumers increase if a living wage were instead paid to factory workers?

• Using previous research, publicly available data, and data from several Australian businesses, Deloitte Access Economics has put together a cost structure framework of Australia’s garment supply industry. This framework represents the whole industry as an average and is not representative of a specific business or garment.

• Deloitte Access Economics has also estimated the impact on retail prices of moving towards a living wage. This analysis assumes that all players within the supply chain pass on the full cost of the wage increase. This does not answer how businesses could adjust their operations or how a living wage could practically be implemented.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2017

Umfang: 30

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug:  kostenfrei zum Download

Autor_in: Dr. Bettina Musiolek

Herausgeber_in: Clean Clothes Campaign

Kurzbeschreibung:

The H&M group is one of the world’s largest retailers with 4,801 shops worldwide. In November 2013, H&M announced that all “H&M’s strategic suppliers should have pay structures in place to pay a fair living wage by 2018. By then, this will reach around 850 000 textile workers.” At the time, those workers made 60% of H&M’s products, sourced from ‘strategic and preferred suppliers’ which H&M grades as gold or platinum. With H&M’s deadline nearing, Clean Clothes Campaign set out to check what workers were making in some of those supplier factories, and how close that was to a living wage. In our understanding, a living wage should be earned in a standard working week and allow the garment worker and her/his family to cover basic needs: food to meet nutritional needs, housing, healthcare, clothing, transportation and education, plus 10% discretionary income for savings, or protection in case of the unexpected. Our researchers spoke with 62 workers in Bulgaria, Turkey, India and Cambodia. This document highlights their key findings as well as some additional facts that shed light on H&M’s supply chain and the brand’s progress in implementing its commitments. 

Erscheinungsjahr: 2018

Umfang: 17 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug:  kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: Fair Wear Foundation

Kurzbeschreibung:

This paper examines the application of human rights due diligence in the area of wages. In order to wage compliance to be achieved and for wages to improve, both a greater transparency in cost price negotiations between apparel buyers and their suppliers, and a precise determination of the labour component must take place.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2018

Umfang: 19 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug:  kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: Fair Wear Foundation

Kurzbeschreibung:

This discussion paper is designed to explore the relationships between productivity, efficiency and living wages, and to locate productivity and efficiency gains within the larger universe of options for funding living wages. It begins with a basic overview of how productivity and efficiency interact in the garment industry. It then outlines the potential effects of productivity drives on both costs and workers and discusses the importance of negotiating with workers on how to manage the potential negative impacts of productivity increases.

This paper is written for a variety of readers who are involved with work on living wages, but who may not normally deal with productivity, efficiency or product pricing as part of their everyday work, including CSR managers, trade unionists, government policymakers or NGO staff, for example. This paper was published as part of FWF’s Living Wage Incubator programme, under the Strategic Partnership for Garment Supply Chain Transformation.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2018

Umfang: 19 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug:  kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: Cividep India, Asia Floor Wage Alliance, India Committee of the Netherlands, Clean

Clothes Campaign the Netherlands

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsbedingungen, Existenzlohn, existenzsichernde Löhne, Gender, Diskriminierung, Unternehmenspraxis

Kurzbeschreibung:

This report is published by CCC Netherlands in September 2016. It presents the results of a study into living wages, working conditions, living conditions and gender discrimination in ten garment factories in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, South India. The ten factories under this research are supplying to various Dutch brands: C&A, Coolcat, G-Star, The Sting (Mills Brothers, Hallinger), MEXX Europe, McGregor Fashions, Scotch & Soda, Suitsupply and WE Fashion. All brands that have publicly acknowledged the importance of living wages.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2016

Umfang: 80 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug:  kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: Fair Wear Foundation

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsbedingungen, Arbeitszeiten, existenzsichernde Löhne, Gewerkschaft, Gewerkschaften, Gewerkschaftsfreiheit, Vietnam

Kurzbeschreibung:

The Vietnamese garment industry is the country’s second largest exporting industry, following electronics, and accounts for 15 percent of the country’s GDP and 20.77 percent of its total exports in 2014. The U.S is the biggest market for garments from Vietnam, while Japan and the EU come second and third, respectively. According to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and ILO Convention 98 on Protection of the Right to Organise, Vietnam has not ratified worker’s rights. Freedom of association remains the most challenging problem for Vietnam. Workers are not allowed to establish independent trade unions of their choice, as all enterprise unions must be affiliated to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, the only recognised union in the country. At the grassroots level, it is common to find enterprise union leadership dominated by high-ranking managers and collective bargaining agreements that are copied from the labour legislation.

The second biggest challenge in the Vietnamese textile industry is excessive overtime. The current annual overtime limit for garment industry is 200 hours (which can be extended to 300 hours in special cases) or 30 hours per month, but a large number of garment factories violated this legal limit. The 2015 minimum wage that is used by garment companies as the basic salary is estimated to meet 75 percent of the minimum living needs. The garment association and the national garment trade union have a sector Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that covers around 100 companies, mainly state-owned enterprises. However, according to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), at least 60 percent of registered CBAs in Vietnam were just copies of the law. The lowest wages provided by the CBA are only slightly higher than the minimum wages.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2015

Umfang: 45 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download (PDF-Datei)

Herausgeber_in: Research Center for Employment Relations

Autor_in: Do Quynh Chi

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsbedingungen, existenzsichernde Löhne, Frauen in der Bekleidungsindustrie, Gewalt, Gewerkschaft, Gewerkschaften, Gewerkschaftsfreiheit, sexuelle Belästigung, Vietnam

Kurzbeschreibung:

Garment and textile is the second biggest exporting industry in Vietnam, after electronics, accounting for 15 percent of the country’s GDP and 14 percent of its total exports in 2015. The United States is the biggest market for garments from

Vietnam while Japan and the European Union EU come second and third respectively

With the Party-controlled VGCL remaining the only recognised union organisation, freedom of association has been the most challenging area in terms of labour rights for Vietnam. The enterprise unions are mostly dependent on management and incapable of independently representing workers in negotiations with employers. Social dialogue at the workplace is encouraged by the law but due to the unions’ weakness, has not been effectively practised. The Labour Code of Vietnam provides that the minimum wage should cover the basic living expenses of a worker and his/her family, but the current minimum wage is still lagging behind the minimum living needs. However, the National Wage Council, a tripartite institute, has become more active in MW negotiations, taking into account minimum living needs as well as economic and productivity growth.

Gender-based violence at the workplace has rarely been reported and grievances are few. However, related research shows that gender-based violence is an extensive problem in a society like Vietnam.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2016

Umfang: 50 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download (PDF-Datei)

Herausgeber_in: Clean Clothes Campaign

Schlagwörter: Bekleidungsindustrie, Billiglohnproduktion, existenzsichernder Lohn, Existenzsichernder Lohn, Existenzlohn, Europa, Osteuropa, Sweatshop 

Kurzbeschreibung:
Presentation highlighting the wage gap in the garment and shoe industry in Central, East and South East Europe. There is a dramatic gap between the actual wages garment workers receive and the cost of living in Central, East and South East Europe. The implementation of labour laws is failing and having a detrimental impact on workers’ lives.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2017

Umfang: 32 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: Südwind e.V.

Autor_in: Friedel Hütz-Adams

Schlagwörter: Nachhaltigkeit, existenzsichernde Löhne, Existenzsichernde Löhne, Existenzlohn

Kurzbeschreibung:
Vor dem Hintergrund der massiven Menschenrechtsverletzungen durch sehr niedrige Löhne schreitet die Diskussion über die notwendige Höhe existenzsichernder Einkommen voran. Trotz aller Schwierigkeiten, die mit der Ermittlung und Umsetzung eines existenzsichernden Lohnes verbunden sind, wird dies derzeit in vielen Branchen und Regionen versucht. Beteiligt sind Unternehmen, Gewerkschaften, Nichtregierungsorganisationen, Standard setzende Organisationen wie beispielsweise Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance und UTZ Certified, wissenschaftliche Institutionen sowie in einigen Fällen auch Regierungen. Die Aktivitäten in dieser Richtung haben sich in den vergangenen Jahren vervielfacht. Zwischenergebnisse zeigen, dass sowohl eine Definition dessen, was durch einen existenzsichernden Lohn abgedeckt werden soll, als auch eine regionalspezifische Ermittlung von dessen Höhe möglich sind. Erste Branchen arbeiten an Stufenplänen, wie die errechnete Lohnhöhe umgesetzt werden soll. Um diesen Prozess nachzuzeichnen, wird im Folgenden in einem ersten Schritt erläutert, wie die Forderung nach existenzsichernden Löhnen mit den Vorgaben der Vereinten Nationen (United Nations - UN) zur Einhaltung von Menschenrechten verknüpft ist. In einem zweiten Schritt wird erläutert, wie ein existenzsicherndes Einkommen definiert ist. Daran schließen sich Fallbeispiele aus verschiedenen Branchen an, in denen die theoretischen Aspekte in die Praxis umgesetzt werden oder wo zumindest eine praktische Umsetzung geplant ist. Die Broschüre schließt mit einer Einschätzung, was die Einführung existenzsichernder Einkommen für die Entwicklung von Preisen einzelner Beispielprodukte bedeuten kann sowie mit Forderungen an die Verantwortlichen für die Wertschöpfungsketten.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2017

Umfang: 24

Sprache: Deutsch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Factsheet kostenfrei zum Download