"It's time for global clothing brands to defend Sri Lankan workers"

... Sri Lanka’s yearlong economic and political crisis, which led to the president being toppled last year, is unsurprisingly hitting the country’s lowest-paid workers hardest.

Some 350,000 garment workers have lost jobs, seen their wages disappear into thin air after an overnight currency devaluation, and faced huge price hikes of up to 85% on food.

At the same time, their labour continues to put profits in the pockets of the country’s three major garment factory conglomerates and their powerful customers, including brands such as PVH (Calvin Klein), Gap, Nike, Victoria's Secret, and Amazon.

Our recent survey of more than twenty garment factories, many owned by these giants, shows that most workers are not even being paid the minimal “Emergency Relief Allowance” of LKR 10,000 ($27 USD) that is meant to help them weather the crisis despite their now heavily devalued base salaries.

Our research shows that some factories initially paid some form of relief, but that most have now ended or decreased the payments. Factories that do pay workers extra to meet their increased cost of living pay less than one-third of the LKR 10,000 proposed by the unions...

We are therefore calling on all brands sourcing from Sri Lanka, including the ones mentioned above and others, such as Asos, Next, Marks & Spencer, and Ralph Lauren, to ensure the payment of full “Emergency Relief Allowances” every month to all workers in their supply chain in Sri Lanka. Workers must also enjoy freedom of association and the basic standards of labour protections, both in their supply chain and in Sri Lanka as a whole...