In conjunction with Living Wage week, we revisit the plight of underpaid garment workers and zoom in on what The Circle’s doing to support a living wage.
We all know that fashion is broken. Behind the luxury and high-street trends of the fashion industry lies the hidden cost borne by its underpaid workers – mostly women – who struggle to survive. In countries like Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Bangladesh, garment workers earn wages significantly below what’s needed for basic living, impacting their health, families, and future.
“The contrast between the glamorous image of fashion and the poverty wages earned by those who make the clothes is both shocking and unjust,” says Padmini Weerasuriya, the founder of Women’s Centre Sri Lanka – one of The Circle’s grassroots partners. “The current national minimum wage is simply not enough to live on, let alone thrive.”
In Sri Lanka, the national minimum wage sits at the equivalent of £43 per month, which is significantly below what is needed for a decent standard of living – estimated to be £234 per month to meet basic needs of a family of four.
Padmini’s journey from garment worker to activist is a powerful testament to the need for change. “I was a young garment worker in the 1980s, facing long hours, low pay, and unsafe working conditions. But these experiences fuelled my determination to fight for the rights of women like myself,” says Padmini, who led a major strike in 1984 for better conditions.
Now, Padmini and her team run Women’s Centre Sri Lanka providing legal aid, counselling, and a voice for garment workers. But despite decades of campaigning, things haven’t changed much for garment workers and poverty wages are still commonplace in the sector. “Brands have ignored us time and again. They choose profit over people, leaving us no option but to demand change through legislation.”
At The Circle, we stand with garment workers around the world and worker activists like Padmini and the Women’s Centre in Sri Lanka who continue to push for a better life for women garment workers.
Evie Gilbert, The Circle’s Living Wage Project Coordinator, says: “Brands have had the opportunity to make a difference, yet many have chosen not to. The Circle is demanding a change in legislation that gives every woman working in the garment industry the same rights to a living wage, safe conditions, and fair treatment from their employers.”
In 2021, we set out a legislative proposal for the EU aimed at addressing the race to the bottom. Since then, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) has been established, and while it is less than what we hoped for, the explicit inclusion of a living wage as a human right is a win for our advocacy efforts.
Meanwhile in the UK, we are working on pushing for specific UK living wage legislation. “We hope to take what the EU has implemented and make it stronger, ensuring a living wage is an essential element of human rights due diligence and legislating living wages for garment workers,” says Evie. “We continue to campaign for the recognition of the role living wages play in conditions of forced labour and modern slavery faced by so many women garment workers around the world.”
The push for a living wage is a global feminist issue. Padmini says: “A living wage is about restoring the value of labour, about ensuring that those who power this industry are treated with fairness and humanity. It would allow us to send our children to school, access healthcare, and live without the fear of debt.”
Want to support? Here’s where you can start:
- Get in contact with your local MP and ask them to support the introduction of legislation that mandates companies operating in the UK to carry out human rights and environmental due diligence and holds them to account when they fail to prevent human rights abuses and environmental harms.
- Learn more about living wages and brand action
Take time to explore which brands have living wage commitments to help make more conscious consumer choices. We use the Fashion Checker learn more about brands’ supply chains.
- Spread the word
Share information, educate others, and use your platform to speak out in support of a living wage. Share this read with your friends and family.
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