Femnet e.V.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and amplified inequities and instabilities within the global garment supply chains feeding United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canadian, and European Union (EU) consumer markets. In March 2020, as lockdowns were imposed and consumer demand for clothes plummeted, MNCs cancelled orders and refused to pay for apparel that had already been produced.1 Even as governments made vast public funds available to help them weather disruption and shocks, many MNCs continued to eschew contractual obligations and transfer losses and risks onto their supply chain partners overseas.

The key aims of the research are to:
1) understand and compare whether, to what extent, and how the Covid-19 pandemic is deepening worker vulnerability to forced labour (Ethiopia, Honduras, India, and Myanmar)
2) determine and compare how company and government responses to the pandemic are shaping patterns of inequity within the garment supply chain
3) Investigate how governance in global garment supply chains has changed during the pandemic and with what consequences for workers and companies
To explore these questions, the research revealed a new primary dataset between September 2020 and April 2021, consisting of:

• Quantitative digital survey of workers in Ethiopia, Honduras, India, and Myanmar
• Interviews with workers in Ethiopia, Honduras, and India
• Expert interviews
• Database of 2020/2021 annual financial statements and sustainability reports and government information about pandemic business financing and assistance and social protection

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The globalisation of the shoe trade has led to a relocation of production to countries where work must be carried out in disregard of human rights at work and under irresponsible social and environmental conditions. Businesses and politicians have a responsibility to improve conditions so that human dignity is respected and the achievements of international labour law are no longer violated. These include:
In particular, the payment of living wages, ending the devastating environmental pollution, moving away from toxic chromium tanning in leather production and transparency along the entire value chain.

Editorial team: Janda, Lena

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The RMG industry, which accounts for 80% of Bangladesh’s total exports, is a major contributor to the country’s economic advancement. As the coronavirus12 spread across the world in early 2020 and a lockdown in Bangladesh became inevitable, businesses were forced to respond quickly to the evolving situation. This report seeks to capture the responses of global brands and the subsequent effects on workers in the immediate aftermath. The report is drawn from indepth interviews with international brands, Bangladeshi suppliers, representatives of the international civil society, and Bangladeshi labour activists. It seeks to understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and the workers. It proposes changes to policies and practices that can lead to long-term changes that would benefit global retailers, suppliers, and workers.

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The country profile provides basic information on the clothing industry and wage situation in Georgia. In terms of wages, average wages, minimum wages and subsistence wages are discussed. The country profile shows wage-related labour and human rights violations and formulates demands on the government, brands and retailers as well as on multistakeholder initiatives. It summarizes the results of an on-site investigation and statements from interviews with workers and gives case studies.
The country profile is linked to the study ‘Abandoned : the poverty wages of women workers in garment factories in Eastern Europe and Turkey’.

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The globalization of the clothing industry from the 1980s led to the outsourcing of production to other countries and subcontractors. Driven by low prices, the industry moved to low-wage countries, working conditions were secondary. It wasn't long before activists and journalists began to uncover violations of labour and human rights in the supply chains of well-known fashion companies. In response, the companies developed so-called codes of conduct, i.e. rules that set out which labour and social standards the supplier factories should comply with. Compliance with these rules was in turn monitored by other companies as part of so-called social audits. These audit firms usually had little experience in the apparel industry, so serious deficiencies were not and will not be detected on a regular basis. As a result, this audit system is not only inadequate for detecting and resolving problems, but also contributes to the continuation of labour rights violations worldwide. Nevertheless, a veritable industry of social audits has developed in the meantime, in which audit companies earn well. Examples of the failure of the social audit system include numerous deadly disasters and the continuation of systematic harassment and illegitimate exploitation of workers in factories under the alleged control of these surveillance systems.

The publication is a German summary. The full report was published in English under the title ‘Fig leaf for fashion – How social auditing protects brands and fails workers’. One English summary can be found here.

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