(More on the Living Wage Campaign)

PRESS RELEASE - Jan 2002

Legal minimum wages are insufficient to cover the basic needs of even single workers according to " Wearing Thin: the State of Pay in the Fashion Industry ", a report published recently by The UK network Labour Behind the Label, part of the International Clean Clothes Campaign. As part of this study, 12 companies were surveyed and none of them acknowledged the need to pay suppliers a price sufficient to pay workers a living wage.

As a result the report finds that workers in the garment industry must work excessive overtime in order to survive. In each country, there was also evidence of suppliers paying less than the legal minimum wage. Workers' rights to form and join independent trade unions were commonly denied, suppressed or undermined by an increase in the use of casual or home workers, which severely affects workers' ability to negotiate living wages.
336 kb) Wearing Thin: the State of Pay in the Fashion Industry

Living wage: a wage that enables workers to meet their needs for nutritious food and clean water, shelter, clothes, education, health care and transport, as well as allowing for a discretionary income.
It should be enough to provide for the basic needs of workers and their families, to allow them to participate fully in society and live with dignity.

The "Wearing Thin" report is the outcome of campaigns begun throughout Europe in 1999 in response to a global deterioration in the wages of garment workers. The campaigns called on retailers to

• commit to a living wage for all workers involved in the production chain
• pay suppliers a price sufficient to cover a living wage for all workers
• ensure that workers had their say in determining a living wage.

During 2000 and 2001 Labour Behind the Label contacted 12 companies to ask how they had responded to living wage challenge:

• most failed to answer specific, wage-related questions
• none acknowledged the need to pay suppliers a price sufficient to pay workers a living wage
• three use phrases such as 'fair or living wages' but give no evidence of working towards that aim
• one - French Connection - responded to neither consumers nor Labour Behind the Label
• one - adidas - reported that it was "developing a methodology to assess the buying power of wages".

Other garment companies which have committed themselves to paying a living wage as members of ethical trade initiatives - and were therefore not targeted by campaigns - were asked how they had begun to deliver on this commitment.

Of the four companies - Levi Strauss, Marks and Spencer, Monsoon and Pentland Group - which responded, three are still only verifying that workers are paid the legal minimum rather than a living wage. Whilst this is an appropriate first step where suppliers failed to pay the legal minimum wage, it is only an adequate response if the same companies are also engaging in consultation about what constitutes a living wage. Although three companies highlighted the need to consult with relevant, local organisations, only one outlined the steps being taken to do this. None indicated that workers themselves were involved in such a process.

Labour Behind the Label and the Clean Clothes Campaign have concluded that the right to a living wage cannot be enforced where the right to organise and therefore to bargain collectively are not enforced, and that the two are inseparable.

The need is greater than ever for garment companies to

• make themselves aware of the value of workers' current wages
• monitor far more stringently the enforcement of wage and labour legislation (rather than view laxity in these matters as an incentive)
• consult unions and/or other relevant local organisations to determine the level of living wages
• establish prices to suppliers which reflect the cost of paying living wages.

Equally, there is a need to strengthen alliances and campaigns so as to increase the pressure on companies to make progress on an issue which is at the top of workers' agenda.

To get the full report, which includes an overview of different living wage methodologies and wage information on garment producing countries (Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Lesotho, Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, Bulgaria and India) contact:

LBL, 38 Exchange Street, Norwich NR2 1AX, UK, +44-1603-610993
lbl@gn.apc.org, http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org

CCC International Secretariat, PO Box 11584, 1001GN Amsterdam, Netherlands, +31-20-4122785
info@cleanclothes.org, www.cleanclothes.org