The Pay Your Workers campaign has secured over $10 million in unpaid wages and severance stolen from workers who were fired during the pandemic.

Our clothes are made by people around the world who can barely make ends meet on the poverty wages they’re paid. To keep workers from changing this situation, many factories suspend or dismiss workers who try to organise or close unionised factories. And when disaster strikes, workers are usually left to fend for themselves, without payment at all, and without a union to defend them.

Garment brands are directly responsible for these conditions through their refusal to pay more for their product. Moreover, they are the ones that leave garment workers out in the cold when things get difficult. When the pandemic hit, many brands refused to pay for orders already placed or even made – making it impossible for factories to pay workers their wages or severance in case of factory closure. With the climate crisis raging on, we’re likely to see more and more catastrophes leading to factory closures and sudden changes in demand. Will brands continue to evade responsibility for their workers?

The vast majority of these workers are women, stuck in this industry’s massive imbalance of power. Many are skipping meals, borrowing money to buy food for their families. Brands and retailers must sign a legally binding agreement to:

• Make sure workers are never again left penniless if their factory goes bankrupt, by signing onto a negotiated severance guarantee fund; and

• Protect workers’ right to organise and bargain collectively.

Tell brands: It’s time to #RespectLabourRights and #PayYourWorkers! It will cost brands less than #10CentsMore per t-shirt to ensure workers don't go hungry after a factory closure.

Tweet your support for the campaign using the hashtags #PayYourWorkers and #RespectLabourRights

Already did it? → Pick your favourite clothing brand and call on them to step up too! All workers deserve protection.

And whatever you do, share your photos on social media - be sure to tag @adidas!

In total, our petitions urging brands to end wage theft and union-busting
have been signed almost 100,000 times.

WATCH NOW: “How to Steal your Workers' Future”, an intimate and powerful documentary about the long-term devastation that severance theft causes for garment workers and their families