Suppliers of brands like H&M, Nike and Zara refuse to pay minimum wages to workers in India

Suppliers of brands like H&M, Nike and Zara refuse to pay minimum wages to workers in India

The Indian factories in Karnataka that supply major fashion brands do not pay their employees the legal minimum wage.

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The Indian factories in Karnataka that supply some of the major fashion brands have not paid their employees the legal minimum wage for about 20 months.





Garment workers for big brands in the Indian state of Karnataka say their families are starving because factories refuse to pay them a legal minimum wage. A new complaint that highlights the inadmissible and inhumane working conditions with which some of our clothes are produced.

Karnataka is one of the centers of the Indian apparel industry, with thousands of factories producing apparel for brands and retailers such as H&M, Nike, Zara, Puma, Tesco, C&A, Gap and Marks & Spencer. Hosting hundreds of thousands of workers, this could be the largest wage theft in the fashion industry.

In fact, according to data from the Worker Rights Consortium - WRC, an independent organization that deals with the rights of workers around the world, since April 2020 more than 400.000 employees of these factories have not received the statutory minimum wage of the state. From the association, they estimate that the total amount of unpaid salaries so far exceeds 44 million euros.

If they had raised our salary last year, we would have eaten vegetables at least a couple of times a month. This year I only fed my family rice and chutney sauce (...) I tried to talk to the management of the establishment, but they replied: 'This is what we pay, if you don't like it, you can leave' ", a worker told The Guardian, revealing that she earns only half of what she needs to cover basic expenses like food and rent.

An exploitation of enormous dimensions of which the big brands, which are supplied by these factories, are also protagonists, since faced with this situation they have shown only a shameful but brutal "indifference and inertia".

In terms of the number of workers affected and the total amount of money stolen, this is the most egregious paycheck theft we've ever seen. Children in garment factories are starving to allow brands to make money, ”said Scott Nova, executive director of the WRC.



Despite persistent demands from the WRC over the past couple of years, Western brands have either refused to intervene or have taken no steps to ensure garment workers are paid in line with Indian law.

Apparel suppliers have refused to pay the legal minimum wage for nearly two years and brands let them continue, knowing they are the only ones capable of stopping this widespread wage theft, "he said indicating that" paying the minimum wage is, in fact, the lowest level of responsibility of brands towards their employees. If they don't even insist on paying the money, they will also allow large-scale human rights violations to continue with impunity ”.

If there is a legal minimum wage, why doesn't it apply?

The apparel suppliers say the Ministry of Labor and Employment issued a decree to suspend the minimum wage increase shortly after it went into effect in April 2020 and that a related lawsuit is still pending in the courts of Karnataka. for the request for the increase.

But last September the Karnataka High Court ruled that the Ministry of Labor's request was illegal and that the minimum wage, including all arrears, had to be paid to workers regardless of any other legal proceedings. Despite this - as communicated by the WRC - apparel suppliers are the only industrial sector in Karnataka that refuses to comply with the court decision.

Karnataka workers, whose names are not mentioned to be protected, said the lack of wage increases in the face of rising cost of living has had devastating consequences for their lives and those of their families, especially those of their own. sons.


According to the investigation, Inditex, owner of Zara, declined to comment, while brands such as H&M, The Gap, Puma and others said they contacted suppliers in Karnataka to pay workers the legal minimum wage, including all arrears. and that they expected the problem to be solved "immediately".


This is the other side of our low-cost clothing (and more): forgotten rights and exploitation. In addition to the sustainability of the materials, it is also necessary to be well informed about the working conditions of those who produce our clothes.

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Fonte: The Guardian / WRC

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