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How to address wage issues in garment industry: boycott, pressurise or invest?
December 5, 2014
How to address wage issues in garment industry: boycott, pressurise or invest?
How the garment industry and consumers can bring about a change in the sweatshop conditions endured by workers in developing countries
Harriet Swain
Friday 5 December 2014 11.53 GMT
The collapse last year (2013) of the Rana Plaza factory building in Bangladesh, killing more than 1,130 garment workers, shocked the world. While campaigners had warned for years about the poor conditions endured by many of those making the cheap clothes worn and regularly discarded by western shoppers, the tragedy meant that the workers’ plight could no longer be ignored. It also helped to highlight just how little they were paid for their work ? often less than £30 a month.
How to address some of these issues and achieve a fair wage in the fashion industry was the subject of a recent seminar held by the Guardian, in association with the fashion retailer H&M.
The seminar, chaired by Jo Confino, an executive editor at the Guardian, involved a panel of experts:
- Helena Helmersson, head of sustainability for H&M
- Jenny Holdcroft, policy director of IndustriALL Global Union, which represents 50 million workers across the world
- Ilona Kelly, campaign director at Labour Behind the Label, which campaigns to improve conditions and empower workers in the global garment industry
- Lucy Siegle, the Observer’s ethical living columnist
- Manuela Tomei, officer in charge at the International Labour Organization (ILO)
It was attended by an invited audience of sustainability experts, NGO employees and specialist fashion journalists.
Read more at The Guardian.
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