Thousands of workers in garment supply chains in Asia protest over dismissals
"International Fashion Houses Are Leaving Millions of Asians Jobless. The Workers Are Now Protesting", 29 June 2020
...In Karnataka, over a thousand garment workers are now protesting outside [ECC-2 factory]... They call the layoffs “illegal” because they didn’t get a notice, and they aren’t sure if they will be paid for the days they worked...
[H&M said] “The supplier [in Karnataka] wants to lay off workers at one of its units (out of 20 in total) and the conflict between the supplier and the trade unions is about different interpretations of the national law,” said a representative in an email interview. The representative added that H&M are in “close dialogue with both parties” to resolve the matter.
Prathibha R, president of Garment and Textile Worker Union, alleged that the Srirangapatna unit was targeted for a reason. “The factory management shut this one down only because it was unionised. No other units of this supplier have unions,”...
Kalpona Akter, a labour activist and founder of Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity [said]... “Over 40 percent, which is 1.8 million, readymade garment workers will lose their jobs in the coming months,”...