“Garment workers are starving”, 07 December 2020

The pandemic has put pressure on the entire fashion industry, but it’s the low-wage workers in its supply chain who are suffering the harshest consequences.

Many are literally going hungry, according to a survey (pdf) of 396 workers by Worker Rights Consortium (WRC)…

Since the pandemic began, 77% of the respondents said they or a member of their household had gone hungry, and 20% said they had experienced hunger on a daily basis. Many reported having to buy less meat and vegetables, reducing the nutritional quality of their meals as well.

The report included quotes from respondents. One who lost her job said she and her family have had to skip breakfast every day for two months. Others described having to cut items such as chicken and fish from their diet, or subsisting on rice soup…

The garment workers surveyed by WRC were located in countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, and India. Many lost their jobs or had their hours reduced in the fallout from Covid-19 as fashion companies canceled or suspended orders for new clothes in large numbers. Even as companies have resumed buying, many have sought discounts on their orders, contributing to downward pressure on worker wages even though fashion brands don’t directly set factory wages themselves.

In the WRC report, the average take-home pay of workers surveyed before the pandemic was $187 per month. By August, it had dropped to $147 per month, a 21% decrease.

The survey also asked workers to identify which companies they had recently sewn products for. The most common answers included Adidas, Gap, H&M, Nike, Walmart, Express, and others.