Workers from a towel, linen and apparel supplier in Pakistan are fighting for their jobs after being dismissed for taking part in union activities.

The factory, called International Textile in the Korangi Industrial Area of Karachi, Pakistan produces for international hotel chains including Marriott and Accor, the hotel linen brand Standard Textile, and UK company Marks & Spencer.

In October 2021, 25 workers were illegally dismissed for their participation in union activities and for demanding their legal rights, in clear violation of their freedom of association. These workers had recently participated in union organising at the factory relating to underpayment of wages and benefits. Following a worker-led protest demanding their jobs back, 18 of the workers were reinstated but the 7 workers who were leading union organising in the factory did not get their jobs back. A further worker was dismissed for unionising in January. These 8 workers appear to have been blacklisted by International Textile for their union organising and are unable to find any jobs in other factories.  

All of the fired workers were employed as ‘contractors’ through the labour agent (which is illegal), but the factory say that because they weren’t direct employees their reinstatement isn’t the factory’s responsibility.

Widespread labour violations in the factory led to worker unionization efforts. These violations included non-payment of the double rate for overtime, non-payment of double overtime rate for working on gazetted holidays, forced overtime beyond legal limits, pay discrimination against women workers and general underpayment of wages.

The workers have started a court case demanding their rights and jobs back, but this is slow and the workers are stuck without income while the court processes are delayed.

The union, NTUF, is demanding that International Textile respect workers’ rights defined by local and international laws, and ensure that the 8 workers be reinstated with back pay for wages and benefits covering the period since their dismissal. They are further urging International Textile to enter into dialogue with NTUF to address the other documented labour rights violations, and to negotiate the terms of the workers’ return.

We have contacted brands in this case but no resolution has yet been reached.

Adidas has left the workers in its supply chain without the payments they are owed during the pandemic and in the economic crisis that followed. Adidas claims that all is fine, but the workers in its supply chain beg to differ. In eight adidas supplier factories in Cambodia alone, Adidas owe their workers US$ 11.7 million in wages for just the first 14 months of the pandemic – that’s $387 per worker. Workers no longer making clothes for Adidas are also owed money. Workers of the Hulu Garment factory in Cambodia who were laid off at the beginning of the pandemic are still owed 3.6million USD. In May 2022, 5,600 workers at another Adidas supplier in Cambodia went on strike over unpaid wages – the factory responded by having union leaders arrested. This wage and severance theft stretches far beyond Cambodia across Adidas’ global supply chain. 

It is not that Adidas does not know that it carries responsibility to ensure that workers in its supply chain are paid what they are owed. In 2013, Adidas finally paid the PT Kizone workers in Indonesia who had fought for two years for the 1.8 million USD severance they were owed after losing their jobs.

It is time for Adidas to sign a binding agreement on wages, severance and the freedom to organise to ensure that workers in its supply chain never have to go without their full wages and severance again.

Trade unions and worker rights organizations, including the Clean Clothes Campaign, Labour behind the Label, Maquila Solidarity Network, War on Want and Workers United have written a letter expressing their solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka.

They’re calling on upon national governments, international financial institutions, private sector enterprises (including international brands and retailers sourcing garments from Sri Lanka), and other stakeholders to support a program of emergency relief, mid and long-term financial support, and a democratic political solution to the crisis.

Sri Lanka’s apparel and textile manufacturing industry is the most significant and dynamic contributor to Sri Lanka’s economy. The apparel industry employs about 350,000 workers. Sri Lanka’s 1,000 plus factories supply nearly half of all merchandise exports and contribute 6% of the island nation’s gross domestic product. Sri Lanka is among the top apparel-producing countries in the world relative to its population.

The rising cost of shipping and logistics has been a growth impediment factor in the apparel industry but the current crisis seems to be hurting the business the most. A loss of buyers’ confidence in the industry because of the “political instability” is a real risk. Small-to-medium scale apparel makers are being badly effected by the countries energy crisis and fuel shortages, affecting their ability to transport goods, provide staff transport, or generate power. Anti-Government protests across the country have also impacted workers ability to reach their factories because of lack of transportation.

In a statement released late last month, the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) warned of “serious negative consequences” if policymakers continue to drag their feet on the sweeping reforms required to put the island nation back on track. The crisis has brought about widespread food, fuel and medicine shortages, sky-rocketing inflation and mass protests calling for the president’s resignation.

Export earnings in Sri Lanka’s clothing sector for the June to August period are set to fall by 20-25%. Sri Lanka’s Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) secretary-general Yohan Lawrence told Just Style in terms of the value, this is “nearly a loss of $125m per month for the next three months.”

In most of the apparel factories, the management is now forced to spend 400 per cent more on fuel and generator costs, compared to the same period last year, which has pushed up overheads. With fewer operating hours, workers are likely to get paid one-third less this month as they don’t work over-time.

Any strategy to stabilise the economy, JAAF secretary-general Yohan Lawrence says, must prioritise support to apparel manufacturers large and small.

Read the solidarity letter from Trade unions and worker rights organizations, including the Clean Clothes Campaign, Labour behind the Label, Maquila Solidarity Network, War on Want and Workers United here. 

I am 28 years of age. I work in one of the garment factories in the UK and I live in Leicester.

I came from India few years ago. In India I live in Moti Daman a place in Gujarat near Mumbai. When I was in India, I heard many stories of the UK. How you can earn so much money, there are very nice houses, people are very nice, the government supports you in every way, free health care, free education, you can find jobs easily and can save a lot of money, buy so many things like a brand-new mobile within a month, designer clothes, watches, perfumes and living a life of a King.

It made me dream about going to the UK and living my life in the best way possible. I saw when people use to come back home from UK, they use to bring many presents, such as clothes, perfumes, luxury item, watches, chocolates, and lots of money. They always said how wonderful UK is and how much money they earned and how successful they became.

I tried to get my passport and visa sorted to come to the UK desperately. My parents sold many valuable items such as Gold & Land, which my father worked hard to have all his life. They were also in the hope that if I came to the UK I can earn money and send home and this way whatever lost can be returned and have a lot more.

Being the only son all the responsibility of looking after my parents was mine. I have 3 younger sisters to marry and, in our culture, we have to pay dowry, without this no one would accept my sisters hand in marriage.

When I came in the UK, I only had an option to come to Leicester as my relatives live here and can support me for short time until I find work and I settle. I knew I could only ask there help for max 2 weeks and I started hunting for work ASAP. Straight away it hit me that the biggest issue I will face is language barrier. Wherever I went I couldn’t communicate and when someone is unable to communicate it becomes same like a person who is mute. I started realising that I am so disabled in this country. I felt I was in need all the time.

Cont. in second column.

Fast fashion brand Missguided went into administration in May 2022 leaving a wake of unpaid debts to suppliers and workers owed wages. The worker from this story was a victim of this crisis and is owed money.

Labour Behind the Label have been campaigning for the Missguided workers who are owed wages to be paid, including holding demonstrations alongside workers outside the offices of their administrators, and their investors. You can sign the petition to Missguided in solidarity.

NEXT supplier Neo Trend in Turkey closed down in the middle of the pandemic and the factory owner fled the country, leaving workers with nothing. The 104 workers who were employed there are calling for justice. NEXT must ensure workers are paid what they are owed.

Neo Trend Textile closed officially on 1 July 2021 due to loss of orders in the pandemic. The factory had put workers on suspended leave in Spring 2020, and workers had been told that they would be paid for this leave as per government regulations. Workers were protected from being dismissed during this period because the Turkish government had introduced a ban on dismissals for the duration of the covid-19 lockdown. However, after the final order for buyer Next had been completed by a small group of workers towards the end of August 2020, the factory owner started emptying out the factory and selling all factory assets. When workers returned to work at the end of the lockdown in July 2021, the 104 workers of Neo Trend found the factory closed and were left empty-handed without their due severance, notice and other allowances.

The factory owner has transferred all financial resources out of the company and left the country, meaning workers have no access to justice via the courts in Turkey. Neo Trend workers have tried to get support from Next, which according to worker testimonies was the only buyer, since the fall of 2021. While Next representatives attended a meeting with a union that was supportive of the workers, this did not result in any concrete outcome. A group of workers has approached the Clean Clothes Campaign network for support in this case. They have since established a formal Worker Committee to represent themselves. At this time, 30 workers are participating, and it is these workers whom the CCC network is seeking remedy for, although it is possible that more may come forward in due course. Unfortunately, Next has refused to engage with the worker committee. The company has merely offered their support if “the workers choose to pursue a legal avenue as per local labour law”, which is highly unlikely to result in any payment to the workers for the aforementioned reasons.

It is clear to us that in cases of factory closure in countries with limited or no recourse to justice for workers, buyers in supply chains have a duty to ensure that workers are not left without their legally owed severance and wages, as outlined in the UNGPs. As the rights situation in any given country is clear to brands when making sourcing choices, the much-reduced risk that brands enjoy the vast majority of the time, needs to be offset by a responsible approach taken when the liability for workers’ rights isn’t picked up by suppliers. Factory closures are a case in point, where the disappearance of employers doesn’t remove the duty on companies further up the supply chain to ensure that workers are dismissed legally with the full amounts owed under the law. We are requesting that NEXT, as the main buyer, engage constructively to ensure the sum that is owed to these workers is transferred to them.