COVID-19 | Defending Workers’ Rights and Livelihoods in the Time of the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, declared in March 2020, laid bare the immense and historical structural inequalities of the global garment and footwear industry. Millions of garment workers around the world faced widespread loss of jobs and income, forcing many deeper into poverty without the ability to meet basic needs.

    Many international brands and retailers responded to the crisis by refusing to pay their bills for clothing orders and using the decreased demand for clothing to extract even lower prices from suppliers. A year into the crisis, many brands’ profits returned to previous levels, with some registering record level earnings, while workers in their supply chains struggled to survive.

    MSN worked closely with labour and women’s rights organizations and trade unions in Central America, Mexico and Asia, and with allies at the international level, to demand protection of workers' health, incomes and rights throughout the duration of the crisis and beyond.

    As part of the Clean Clothes Campaign global network, we called on governments, international financial institutions, brands, and other stakeholders to take steps to mitigate the immediate and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers in global supply chains, and to ensure that workers would have access to a living wage and a more resilient social safety net, moving forward.

    In March 2020, the #PayYourWorkers #RespectLabourRights campaign was launched, endorsed by more than 200 unions and civil society groups from over 40 countries, including national garment worker unions from major garment producing regions, international labour rights organizations and regional and global coalitions.

    The campaign demanded that brands make enforceable commitments to ensure workers who made their products received their full wages throughout the pandemic, legal severance pay when factories closed and respect for their basic labour rights like the right to freedom of association.

    From 2020 to 2024, the #PayYourWorkers campaign successfully supported workers in securing millions of dollars in unpaid wages and stolen severance after they were dismissed or suspended during the pandemic. The campaign continues to address post-pandemic cases of wage and severance theft and to demand respect for workers’ rights in a shifting global context.

    How did COVID-19 impact workers in the industry?

    Country-specific information

    Photo Credit: Solidarity Center/Molly McCoy

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