Amazon, Nike, and Next: It’s Time to Pay Your Workers
Millions of garment workers worldwide are losing their jobs without compensation, or receiving much less than their regular poverty wages. Most of these workers are women. Hunger forces those who still have jobs to put their lives at risk in unsafe workplaces.
With #PayYourWorkers, we demand that Amazon, Nike, Next and all other apparel brands and retailers:
Pay the workers who make their clothes their full wages for the duration of the pandemic;
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.
Context
Globally, the millions of people who sew our clothes, are paid some of the lowest wages in the world. Pre-pandemic this was a desperate situation, now it is a crisis. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, garment workers have lost at least three billion dollars in income, a figure which continues to rise. Approximately 10% of the apparel workforce may have already been laid off. Millions more are at risk of being fired and have not received their full wages for months. Of the workers who still have jobs, many work in factories without proper Covid-19 protections in place, having no choice but to risk their health each day. The vast majority of these workers are women. Many of them report skipping meals, borrowing money to buy food, and struggling to afford vegetables or meat for their families as the pandemic’s economic crisis rages on. In the meantime their right to stand up for themselves through organising is further curtailed.
Garment brands must take immediate steps to ensure the workers who make their clothes are paid in full or receive the full severance money they are owed. They must give these workers back their futures. It would take just ten cents per t-shirt for major clothing brands like Amazon, Nike and Next to make sure garment workers have the income they need to survive the pandemic, and to strengthen unemployment protections for the future. Tell brands: It’s time to #PayYourWorkers and #RespectLabourRights.
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the deep injustices in the garment industry, now is the time for change! Sign the petition to brands and retailers and join us in campaigning for a just garment industry where people and planet take priority over profits. We will hand over your signatures to the target brands of this campaign.