In addition to food, help with communication and rental payments is urgently needed.© SAVE
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the GOI to impose a curfew, which entered into force on 23 March 2020, was originally intended to last until 14 April 2020 and was ultimately extended until 3 May 2020. The effects are drastic and also affect the textile workers in Bangalore's textile industry.
Food distribution to migrant workers on 4 April 2020. © SAVE
Workers from Tamil Nadu have an employment contract with the factory, which either includes a monthly wage or they are paid by piece. They have not received any wages since March 23, 2020. There is no short-time work allowance, as in Germany, where the state supports companies. However, citizens in need can receive food from Tamil Nadu with the help of a ration card.
FEMNET's long-standing partner organisation SAVE At the end of March 2020, the The precarious situation of migrant workers reacts and currently takes care of the care of migrant workers in particular, who do not receive support from the state via the ration card.
Food distribution to migrant workers on 31 March 2020. © SAVE
With the outbreak of the corona crisis, the government of Tamil Nadu imposed a curfew from 23 March to around 14 April 2020. Suddenly there were no more trains or intercity buses. Thousands of migrant workers are stuck. Some migrant workers made their way home on foot - hoping to find a bus along the way - because when all factories are closed, they no longer receive a wage and have to starve.
© Daria Nipot - Depositphotos.com
Bonn / Berlin. The COVID-19 crisis affects all actors in the textile supply chain. However, it hits the weakest particularly hard. Fashion brands and retail companies have suffered a blatant loss of sales due to the stagnation of public life in this country. However, the economic pressure is passed on: Orders to supplier companies in Bangladesh or Cambodia are cancelled and goods that have already been completed are no longer accepted or paid for. The suppliers therefore dismiss the already poorly paid workers or close them completely. For workers, the growing risk of COVID-19 infection on the ground in the event of poor health care is combined with extreme economic hardship due to a lack of wages.
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Globally, the corona virus is spreading. Indiscriminately each of us can hit it - regardless of gender, skin color and nationality. What does this mean for global supply chains and our global responsibility for unprotected people?
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Procurement procedures contain their pitfalls. The inclusion of minimum social and environmental standards often does not make things easier. But even with little experience, a fair award is feasible. Together with lawyer André Siedenberg, FEMNET has developed a digital award tool: an online decision-making aid for all those who want to procure fairer.
© City of Bonn Barbara Frommann
More and more municipalities are making their way to get fairer. However, the concrete implementation is not always so simple. FEMNET has advised smaller municipalities on fair purchasing practices. Now let's take the “lessons learnt“ in one manual together: Our examples show that there are ways to achieve something - even if the staffing level is thin, the political backing is (still) lacking or there are legal uncertainties.
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The district of Fürth dares to: Since 2016, its member municipalities have been working together to make public purchases more socially equitable step by step. They reinforce each other, they coordinate strategies and they share procurement data. In the district of Fürth, many positive aspects intertwine: Active and dedicated Fairtrade Town steering groups that don't let up. The insight that fair procurement can be easier than thought. And the necessary political backing to make fair procurement also possible ‘from above’.
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Important progress has been made by the multi-stakeholder initiative Tamil Nadu (MSI-TN) over the last 1.5 years – this was clearly visible at the conference on 6 February 2020, which was attended by around 140 people.
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Extremely low wages, fixed-term contracts and the suppression of trade unions: Two new studies by FEMNET criticize precarious working conditions in the production of workwear in India and Tunisia. Such goods are also purchased by public institutions in Germany.
