#garment worker

[rehnumaproshoon]

#thedailystar #newspaper illustration #bangladesh #editorial illustration #design #cartoon #rehnumaart #illustration #character design #meme #garment worker

[kropotkindersurprise]

October 30, 2023 - Tens of thousands of striking garment workers took to the streets in Bangladesh, demanding fair wages. Many of the workers make clothes for big Western brands, but get paid only around 75 dollars a month. The unions are demanding a tripling of the wage. [video]/[video]

#bangladesh #strike #workers #industrial action #unions #working class #gif #2023 #riot police #garment workers #police #tear gas

[reasonsforhope]

"Nasir Mansoor has spent 40 years fighting for Pakistan’s workers. Whether demanding compensation on behalf of the hundreds of people who died in a devastating 2012 factory fire in Karachi or demonstrating against Pakistani suppliers to global fashion brands violating minimum wage rules, he’s battled many of the country’s widespread labor injustices.

Yet so far, little has improved, said Mansoor, who heads Pakistan’s National Trade Union Federation in Karachi... Regulations and trade protocols look good on paper, but they rarely trickle down to the factory level. “Nobody cares,” Mansoor said. “Not the government who makes commitments, not the brands, and not the suppliers. The workers are suffering.”

Change on the Horizon

But change might finally be on the horizon after Germany’s new Supply Chain Act came into force last year. As Europe’s largest economy and importer of clothing, Germany now requires certain companies to put risk-management systems in place to prevent, minimize, and eliminate human rights violations for workers across their entire global value chains. Signed into law by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in January 2023, the law covers issues such as forced labor, union-busting, and inadequate wages, for the first time giving legal power to protections that were previously based on voluntary commitments. Companies that violate the rules face fines of up to 8 million euros ($8.7 million)...

...As governments come to realize that a purely voluntary regimen produces limited results, there is now a growing global movement to ensure that companies are legally required to protect the people working at all stages of their supply chains.

The German law is just the latest example of these new due diligence rules—and it’s the one with the highest impact, given the size of the country’s market. A number of other Western countries have also adopted similar legislation in recent years, including France and Norway. A landmark European Union law that would mandate all member states to implement similar regulation is in the final stages of being greenlighted.

Although the United States has legislation to prevent forced labor in its global supply chains, such as the 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, there are no federal laws that protect workers in other countries from abuses that fall short of forced labor. That said, a proposed New York state bill, the Fashion Act, would legally require most major U.S. and international brands to identify, prevent, and remediate human rights violations in their supply chain if passed, with noncompliance subject to fines. Since major fashion brands could hardly avoid selling their products in New York, the law would effectively put the United States on a similar legal level as Germany and France...

The Results So Far

As of January, Germany’s new law applies to any company with at least 1,000 employees in the country, which covers many of the world’s best-known fast fashion retailers, such as Zara and Primark. Since last January [Jan 2023], German authorities say they have received 71 complaints or notices of violations and conducted 650 of their own assessments, including evaluating companies’ risk management.

In Pakistan, the very existence of the German law was enough to spark action. Last year, Mansoor and other union representatives reached out to fashion brands that sourced some of their clothing in Pakistan to raise concerns about severe labor violations in garment factories. Just four months later, he and his colleagues found themselves in face-to-face meetings with several of those brands—a first in his 40-year career. “This is a big achievement,” he said. “Otherwise, [the brands] never sit with us. Even when the workers died in the factory fire, the brand never sat with us.” ...

-via The Fuller Project, April 2, 2024. Article headers added by me.

Article continues below, with more action-based results, including one factory that "complied, agreeing to respect minimum wages and provide contract letters, training on labor laws, and—for the first time—worker bonuses"

With the help of Mansoor and Zehra Khan, the general secretary of the Home-Based Women Workers Federation, interviews with more than 350 garment workers revealed the severity of long-known issues.

Nearly all workers interviewed were paid less than a living wage, which was 67,200 Pakistan rupees (roughly $243) per month in 2022, according to the Asia Floor Wage Alliance. Nearly 30 percent were even paid below the legal minimum wage of 25,000 Pakistani rupees per month (roughly $90) for unskilled workers. Almost 100 percent had not been given a written employment contract, while more than three-quarters were either not registered with the social security system—a legal requirement—or didn’t know if they were.

When Mansoor, Khan, and some of the organizations raised the violations with seven global fashion brands implicated, they were pleasantly surprised. One German retailer reacted swiftly, asking its supplier where the violations had occurred to sign a 14-point memorandum of understanding to address the issues. (We’re unable to name the companies involved because negotiations are ongoing.) The factory complied, agreeing to respect minimum wages and provide contract letters, training on labor laws, and—for the first time—worker bonuses.

In February [2024], the factory registered an additional 400 workers with the social security system (up from roughly 100) and will continue to enroll more, according to Khan. “That is a huge number for us,” she said.

It’s had a knock-on effect, too. Four of the German brand’s other Pakistani suppliers are also willing to sign the memorandum, Khan noted, which could impact another 2,000 workers or so. “The law is opening up space for [the unions] to negotiate, to be heard, and to be taken seriously,” said Miriam Saage-Maass, the legal director at ECCHR.

Looking Forward with the EU

...Last month [in March 2024], EU member states finally approved a due diligence directive after long delays, during which the original draft was watered down. As it moves to the next stage—a vote in the European Parliament—before taking effect, critics argue that the rules are now too diluted and cover too few companies to be truly effective. Still, the fact that the EU is acting at all has been described as an important moment, and unionists such as Mansoor and Khan wait thousands of miles away with bated breath for the final outcome.

Solidarity from Europe is important, Khan said, and could change the lives of Pakistan’s workers. “The eyes and the ears of the people are looking to [the brands],” Mansoor said. “And they are being made accountable for their mistakes.”"

-via The Fuller Project, April 2, 2024. Article headers added by me.

#pakistan #fashion #fashion industry #fast fashion #labor #labor unions #labor rights #unions #workers rights #capitalism #european union #germany #united states #new york #garment industry #garment manufacturing #supply chain #good news #hope

[repurposedbones]

Saddening to see that in the midst of the appreciation for big naturals people are ONCE AGAIN ignoring the hard labor that goes into making the robes

Do you guys have any idea how hard it is to weave the soft but durable fibers into garments that are sturdy, shapely, supportive, AND conducive to spellcasting? We’re taking hundreds possibly thousands of hours of painstaking skilled labor. Just, maybe appreciate the hard work it takes to support enormous wizard bazonkers, ok?

#wizardposting #tired of garment workers not getting the appreciation they deserve

[pilferingapples]

why would you be lying on a bed to sell gloves though. How does that work. I am both baffled by this Choice and wishing they'd carried it out more completely

#like. y'all get it. right? #it's Les Mis tumblr y'all get it #it's about economic precarity and unvalued labor being the real issues #and how those mark people as Vulnerable to the police #Garment Worker Fantine is CANON and it SUCKED #SING ABOUT THE SHIRTS #but no this was Pastede On Yey

[deramin2]

Anyone who thinks you can automate sewing has never sewed. It's so physical in such a bespoke and microadjusting way. Try to get a machine to pin two pant legs together that are slightly different lengths intentionally and one needs to stretch but there's also slightly different curves and also one piece has a wrinkle putting it together because you've sewed edges of two pieces together that aren't the same width.

And you have to go between sewing and pinning to get everything as flat as possible. And also the fabric has to stay perfectly lined up even though it wants to drift apart and you're constantly adjusting them by millimeters as you feed it.

Machines cannot do all this. They can't make all those decisions on the fly with such inherently physical and inconsistent pieces.

I'm sick of tech bros acting like the solution to poor labor conditions, unfair wages, and devaluing of very skilled labor is to get machines to do a piss poor job.

It's also traditionally women's work and there's so much misogyny in devaluing the skill. Of course it's mostly men who don't even know how to examine the stitching on their clothes let alone actually do the work.

Fuck them all.

And remember that ALL clothing is handmade.

#sewing #clothes #labor #garment workers

[gaytobymeres]

it's kind of hilarious when brands like h&m have a 'sustainable' fashion line because it's like 'so you admit it? you don't think most of your clothes are sustainably produced?'

#ofc their sustainable fashion lines are anything but sustainable. it's just greenwashing. #but theyre basically just admitting that their standard clothes are bad for the environment #<- i mention only the environment bc these companies do not care about their garment workers #though labour is a key component of sustainability #or it should be

[raggedyfink]

There should be a Gordon Ramsey that goes after crappy fast fashion businesses and they scream shit like:

“THIS TOP HAS SO MANY HOLES ITS GOING TO SQUIDWARDS HOUSE TO FUCK WITH HIM!”

“DO YOU ACTUALLY GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE GARMENT WORKERS HERE?! BECAUSE THIS FACTORY SMELLS LIKE A HORSE HAVING DIARRHEA!!!”

“YOU NEED TO PAY THESE WOMEN PROPERLY AND NOT HAVE THEM MAKE FIFTY FUCKING SKIRTS THAT LOOK LIKE CHEAP DONKEY SHIT!!”

“LOOK AT ALL THESE CHEMICALS!!! WOULD YOU WEAR THIS BULLSHIT AND GET ASS CANCER FROM IT FOR THE TREND???!!!!”

At the CEOs of these companies

#mine #gordon ramsay #gordon ramsey meme #fast fashion #garment workers #sustainability #sustainable fashion #shitpost #nightblogging #spongebob meme #relatable memes #lol memes #my memes #meme #memes #humorous #sustainable #sustainable fabrics #anti capitalism #anarchopunk #ecopunk #anti fast fashion #antifashion

[bumblingbabooshka]

They're literally just baiting me specifically at this point. From the novel 'First Virtue'

#I have no idea what's going on in this novel but from these snippets? I am biting my own hand off #novel experiences #TUVOK. WHY DO YOU KEEP GETTING IN THESE SITUATIONS. HEY. TUVOK. #Spock Gay is pages of flowery prose about how Kirk is his soulmate and best friend and silly rabbit and no one #in the universe understands him as Kirk does #Tuvok Gay is that some villain of the week has a gun to his head and is like 'If you and this male co-worker don't strip and join my boss #I'm gonna pull the trigger' #both very good and very real and I'm so happy fo rthem both #Tuvok: tch...damn it. I love my wife but this villain of the week is gonna blow up the ship if I don't put on a sexy nurse uniform. :/ #THAT'S the Tuvok homoerotic vibe #star trek voyager #st voy #Tuvok #Jack Crusher #Jack Crusher x Tuvok real??? #also I literally dont know how the cut of a garment can accentuate anyone's skin unless..........oh my god.....Tuvok. Are there cutouts???? #-grabs the author by the lapels- ARE THERE CUTOUTS????

[newyorkthegoldenage]

An International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union notepad, ca. 1950s.

Photo: NY Historical Society

#International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union #ILGWU #union #notepad #vintage unions #1950s #garment workers

[existencebringsonlypain]

You ever start writing a tag and come across a phrase that's. Just ALL the scams

#i always tell my customers why not to buy an ev – here’s five reasons they’re a total waste of money #i always get compliments when i wear this trending perfume #i always get compliments on zara perfumes—9 that could easily pass for designer #i always buy my friends and family jewellery from this chic #i get up at 4am to charge my ev because i’m sick of queues at stations – but now i’m taking even more drastic action #when is the rugby world cup final? latest odds as england face south africa #84 incredible nail art designs to screengrab before your next salon trip #there are serious logistical problems in administering it. said dr. ryan wynn #there are so many more but i can't remember them #existenceunrelateds #horror moment customers attack worker over iphone 15 pro delay as new phone launch sparks buying frenzy across india #kami juga bisa menerima pesanan khusus dengan rasa khusus sesuai keinginan customer #6 cool autumn outfits that will earn you so many compliments #28 low maintenance short haircuts that are guaranteed to earn you compliments #bianca censori’s 32g breasts are saggy – wearing tight garments or swinging them in the wind is a risk #golden aroma food indonesia memiliki lebih dari 150 rasa bumbu tabur & non msg #cancer weekly horoscope: what your star sign has in store for september 10 – 16 #ea sports fc 24 serie a best player ratings revealed – maignan cedes the top spot #ea fc 24 trick lets you score from kick off – here’s how to pull it off #ea sports fc 24 reveals bundesliga best rated players – and harry kane tops the list #at least 26 dead and many trapped after railway bridge collapses while under construction in india #gemini weekly horoscope: what your star sign has in store for august 27 – september 2 #gather to remember young woman 28 years on from disappearance #&039;90s fashion moments: 34 memorable trends we still love #37 of the best candles to make your home smell incredible #former teacher found guilty of sexually assaulting male student in his home while giving him grinds 38 years ago #these are the most successful and rich signs of the zodiac as the full moon lunar eclipse occurs #these are the 8 best shoes to wear with wide leg trousers #are you a cos obsessive? then you need to see these 8 other minimalist brands #these are the 5 best shoes to wear to the pub this season

[severalowls]

Got absolute fucking whiplash today, to illustrate some systems in a work training today we were watching informational videos that were mostly essentially adverts for particular factories or services. Anyway.

One is about The Circular Economy and it opens with like 'nature is self sustaining but our economic system is not' nodnod

'we buy new things and the old things get thrown away, wasted' nodnod

'in a circular economy these thrown away items would be reclaimed and the parts used in the construction of the new things' yep

'but to do this we may need to rethink our entire economy' wait is this flashy ad about to actually advocate against excessive consumption?

'To achieve this we must envision a world where we do not own things, but loan them from manufacturers, who can then recycle them'

Oh so like, nightmare world in the name of profit. Cool. Death.

#the next video was about repairability and a company that offered free repairs on their jeans #but there was no acknowledgement that these were like. horrifically contradictory. #like literal amazondysyopia shit. #it was just a whole segment (+ garment workers get like 1% of the profit from the shit they make) #that felt like 'yeah our clients [fashion companies] are a bundle of dicks'

[thisisnotmyname]

The police has murdered another garment worker in Bangladesh. They opened fire on a group of protesting garment workers in Gazipur. Over thirty were injured as well.

The victim's name was Anjuara Begum. The police are as usual denying she was killed by their bullets, even though shotgun shots were retrieved from her body. The mainstream media is avoiding words like murder or kill while reporting incidents like this, and some news is not being made available in English. The ongoing garment workers' strike is being ignored as well.

#garment workers' strike #Bangladesh #tw: murder #tw: death #tw: police brutality

[girlactionfigure]

The New York Shirtwaist Strike -- a nearly three-month-long strike by New York City garment workers and the first major successful strike by female workers in American history -- began on this day in 1909. The workers, who were nearly all young, Jewish, immigrant women, organized the strike to protest the dangerous working conditions, low pay, and grueling hours which were common at the factory sweatshops of the day.

One of the strike's leaders Clara Lemlich, who had immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine, was known for challenging the mostly male leadership of the women's garment workers union. At an organizing meeting on November 22, after listening to the male leaders cautioning against a strike for over four hours, she demanded the right to speak and declared: "I have listened to all the speakers, and I have no further patience for talk. I am a working girl, one of those striking against intolerable conditions. I am tired of listening to speakers who talk in generalities. What we are here for is to decide whether or not to strike. I make a motion that we go out in a general strike."

In what came to be known as the "Uprising of the 20,000," approximately 20,000 out of the 32,000 workers in the shirtwaist trade walked out in the next two days. The strike lasted until February 10, 1910 and resulted in union contracts with better pay, hours, and working conditions at nearly every garment shop except the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

The following year, on March 25, 1911, 146 garment workers -- nearly all young women between the ages of 16 and 23 -- perished in a horrific fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. Due to poor conditions at the factory, doors to hallways and stairwells were locked during the work day, trapping the women inside the building when the fire broke out. The fire was the deadliest industrial disaster to have ever occurred in New York, and spurred the passage of 60 new safety and labor regulations in the two years following the tragedy.

The future U.S. Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, who was among the shocked bystanders of the tragedy, went on to advocate for reform of working conditions as a result of what she witnessed that day. The disaster also further energized the efforts of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union to fight for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

A Mighty Girl

#New York #Shirtwaist Strike #Ladies' Garment Workers' Union

[freckledsweetpea]

I can't help but notice that a lot of stores with limited plus sizes will have a dress be $124 and then as soon as the XXXL and XXL are out of stock it goes on sale for like $57 so the thins can buy it for what it should actually cost.

#like you're not a small business with sustainable and ethical practices #that dress shouldn't cost that much #your profit margin is too high for how little you're paying your garment workers

[poetlcs]

even tho I get why it's said (and I've lamented it before too) I feel this whole 'booktok is book fast fashion' thing is so overplayed because the publishing industry is not even comparable to the fashion industry, which is so incredibly detrimental to the environment and relies on child/slave labour. like yes I don't think people need to buy 30 books at once but we can criticise overconsumption without watering down words like fast fashion, or implying consumption is equally as bad as humans rights abuses in the fashion industry. also, I feel this conversation is doing nothing but center the focus back on western countries. like ur literally hand wringing about books while children are losing their childhoods to the fashion industry rn!!!

#and the people doing it are sooooooo self righteous too #buying 30 books may be stupid but its just simply not as unethical as buyin from shein is like be SERIOUS! #also. booktok is just the new booktube and people said the SAME THING a decade ago when booktube was getting popular #while actual ecological systems collapse bc of fast fashion and garment workers are literally losing their lives #ur annoyed someone has 3 SJM edition like just shut upppppp #making smth up to discourse abt