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The pandemic has put pressure on the entire fashion industry, but it is the low-wage workers in its supply chain who are suffering the harshest consequences.
Many are literally starving, according to a survey (pdf) of 396 workers by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent labor rights watchdog, and Genevieve LeBaron, a professor of politics at the University of Sheffield in the UK.
Since the pandemic began, 77% of those surveyed said they or a member of their household had been hungry, and 20% said they had experienced hunger on a daily basis. Many reported having to buy less meat and vegetables, which also reduced the nutritional quality of their meals.
The report included quotes from the respondents. One who lost her job said that she and her family have had to skip breakfast every day for two months. Others described having to eliminate foods like chicken and fish from their diet or subsist on congee. Most of those surveyed had gone into debt or borrowed money to buy food, and 80% said they will have to cut even more food for themselves and their families if the situation does not improve.
The pandemic has been especially harsh on low-wage workers in a variety of industries. A recent report from the International Labor Organization (ILO) found that Covid-19 had reduced wages in most countries with available data, but it disproportionately affected lower-paid workers, as opposed to those in higher paid managerial and professional jobs.
In developing countries, these workers may have little savings or some kind of safety net to rely on in an emergency. If their income falls sharply, they may be forced to sacrifice their basic necessities, including food.
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 reduced their working hours as a result of Covid-19, as fashion companies canceled or suspended orders for new clothing in large quantities. Even as companies have resumed shopping, many have sought discounts on their orders, contributing to the downward pressure on workers’ wages, although fashion brands do not directly set factory wages.
Between January and September, for example, the price of clothing exported from Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest apparel exporter after China, decreased by 2.1% compared to the previous year. Garment workers in the country have also reported substantial drops in wages.
In the WRC report, the average net salary for workers surveyed before the pandemic was $ 187 a month. By August, it had dropped to $ 147 per month, a decrease of 21%.
The survey also asked workers to identify for which companies they had recently sewn products. The most common responses included Adidas, Gap, H&M, Nike, Walmart, Express, and others.
The report suggests that the problem goes well beyond the workers they spoke directly to: “Because our study found stable patterns across different types of brands that collectively shape working conditions for vast swaths of the supply chain global apparel industry, and because it included different types of in apparel producing countries, there is reason to be concerned that rising levels of hunger and food insecurity are emerging as an endemic pattern throughout the global apparel supply chain To wear “
