The largest alliance of labour unions and non-Governmental organisations in the garment industry, CCC or Clean Clothes Campaign has, reportedly, found evidence of what is termed ‘wage theft’ in the supply chains of some of the major brands.
The Guardian quoted the findings of the CCC report which found evidence of this ‘wage theft’, underlining, this led to devastating consequences for garment workers in Bangladesh, apart from Cambodia and Indonesia, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the report found that the brands had failed to ensure workers were paid properly throughout the pandemic although none of brands had broken any law.
… ‘wage theft’ of poorly paid workers has occurred at a significant scale throughout the pandemic, linked to many of the world’s largest fashion brands, maintained the report while adding that interviews with dozens of garment workers in the said countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia and Cambodia) revealed many had experienced tough times last year, when they weren’t paid full wages.
Meanwhile speaking to the media, the Executive Director of Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS) Kalpona Akter, reportedly, stated that due to ‘wage theft’, many garment factories laid off workers without any severance pay and went on to add that most brands did it with their workers and none of the garment workers who lost their jobs in the pandemic received any kind of severance benefit even as she held both the brands and manufacturers responsible for this.