Coronavirus threatens Indian garment workers stranded in factory housing
Chennai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation The coronavirus pandemic has left tens of thousands of Indian garment workers stranded in cramped accommodation on factory premises where social distancing is difficult to put into practice, labour rights campaigners said on Monday. A three-week nationwide lockdown has left an estimated 300,000 workers in India’s multi-billion dollar garment stuck in […]
Film on Bangladesh’s garment workers spotlights women driving change
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation A new film offering a glimpse into the lives of garment workers in Bangladesh is challenging stereotypes about women by showing them driving the economy and fighting for justice in factories. Made in Bangladesh is based on the life of Daliya Akter, a garment worker who escaped child marriage and went […]
Bangladesh fashion workers at risk with ‘shocking’ reform delays
Thomson Reuters Foundation The safety of workers making clothing for global brands like Adidas and H&M could be at risk if Bangladesh’s Supreme Court moves on Sunday to shut down a factory inspection mechanism set up by European fashion labels, campaigners said on Tuesday. The government has shown “a shocking level of unreadiness” to take […]
Global database maps fashion factories to crack down on slavery
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation A fashion data organisation aims to crack down on slavery and worker abuse by mapping every clothing and footwear factory in the world, with a free, open-source tool launched on Thursday. The Open Apparel Registry seeks to untangle often opaque supply chains by identifying every factory by name and address, increasing transparency […]
Complaints about safety in Bangladesh factories hit a high in 2018
Thomson Reuters Foundation Garment factory workers in Bangladesh filed a record number of complaints about safety – 662 – last year, showing that a mechanism set up by European fashion brands to improve working conditions was proving effective, trade unions said on Tuesday. The Bangladesh Accord was signed by some 200 global brands and unions […]
Clothes sold in Australia made by workers surviving on “poverty wages” in Bangladesh and Vietnam, according to new Oxfam research
An Oxfam investigation has found widespread payment of “poverty wages” among garment industry workers in Bangladesh with nine out of 10 workers interviewed there saying they were forced to regularly skip meals and eat inadequately or go into debt as a result. The research, presented in a report, Made in Poverty, released in Australia on […]
Bangladesh unions say ‘downgraded’ garment workers miss expected pay rise
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Bangladesh’s union leaders said on Tuesday that some garment factories were assigning long-standing workers lower salary grades than they deserved to reduce the impact of a pay rise, after a week of violent protests in which one person was killed. The government and factory owners said they were unaware of the […]
Global initiatives failing to stop labour abuses in India, activists say
Thomson Reuters Foundation International efforts to make it easier for garment workers in India to speak out against sexual harassment, dangerous working conditions and abuses are failing, campaigners said on Tuesday. The US-based certifying agency Social Accountability International and Britain’s Ethical Trading Initiative – an alliance of unions, firms and charities – are not enforcing procedures they […]
Indian crime thriller shines spotlight on garment sector exploitation
Thomson Reuters Foundation A crime thriller about the death of an activist rescuing women from exploitative work conditions in garment and textile factories in southern India has become an unlikely bestseller among those campaigning for workers’ rights. The 300-page debut novel by a lawyer from Coimbatore, a district in Tamil Nadu state, is being used […]