Join the fight for garment workers’ rights

Garment workers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka struggle daily to survive with sexual harassment, unpaid overtime, low wages, excessive targets, poor or no access to healthcare and other exploitative conditions to support their families. These abuses likely wouldn’t be ignored if they belonged to a union. Sign the petition and call on governments to guarantee garment workers’ right to freedom of association.

What’s the problem?

For years, governments and fashion companies have profited from the poor working conditions of the women who make our clothes. In Sri Lanka, some workers said their targets have increased by up to three times, meaning they don’t have time to go to the toilet, so they don’t drink water or use their lunch break, otherwise they wouldn’t meet their targets to get paid. In India, Mahir, a 40-year-old worker, must work 10-12 hours a day, six or seven days a week, to earn just enough to survive.

Garment workers want to improve their conditions but can only do so with a collective voice. When they try to form unions, they are threatened. When Sumaaiyaa in Pakistan tried to form a union to put an end to daily sexual harassment, she was forced to leave her job. In Bangladesh, Susmita, who worked in a garment factory as a child, was denied a promotion because she was a union member.

As an activist told us, when workers raise their voices, they are ignored; when they try to organize, they are threatened and fired; and when workers protest, they are beaten, shot at and arrested. Attempts to unionize or demand better conditions are often met with threats, violence or dismissal.

Changing these conditions is only possible if governments are willing to protect workers’ right to organize.

What can you do to help?

Sign the petition and call on the governments of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to ensure garment workers’ right to decent work and freedom of association.