GLOBAL – Organisations behind the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) are rallying fashion brands, manufacturers and governments the world over to establish better social security measures for garment workers in developing nations as they feel the squeeze amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
“For many years, workers have been generating wealth for the brands,” commented Evangelina Argueta, of the CGT union in Honduras. “Now is the time for brands, retailers, and e-tailers to stop taking advantage of suppliers and workers and start paying back for the years of profits made on the basis of poverty wages, little-to-no social security, and the accumulation of risk at the bottom of the supply chain.”
Whilst many brands have vowed to pay their suppliers for goods in production, the CCC believes this is “the absolute minimum” that can be done, and says these firms can be instrumental in creating emergency relief funds and financial support packages which would alleviate pressures on those in the lowest rungs of fashion supply chains.
