A new report from the Clean Clothes Campaign is further evidence that the garment industry supply chain is unsustainable and unjust, no matter where it is in the world.

1. Garment industry sourcing model fundamentally flawed |ISweek - Industry
sourcing
A new report from the Clean Clothes Campaign is further evidence that the garment
industry supply chain is unsustainable and unjust, no matter where it is in the world.
The report, ‘Stitched Up’, released 11 June, surveyed garment workers in Turkey and
Eastern Europe producing clothes for labels such as Hugo Boss, Adidas, Zara and H&M
in 10 different countries.
It found that garment workers in the area were subject to poverty wages, poor working
conditions and long working hours, mirroring the experiences of workers in other parts of
the world.
Some three million people are employed in the garment industry in Turkey, Georgia,
Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and
Slovakia.
Jenny Holdcroft, policy director at IndustriALL Global Union, which represents garment
unions in the surveyed countries, said:
It comes as no surprise that workers in Turkey and Eastern Europe are subjected to
similar poor wages and working conditions as those in countries such as Bangladesh or
Cambodia. The sourcing model for the garment industry is based on paying the lowest
possible wages and so is fundamentally flawed. Made in Europe is not a guarantee of
better rights or wages for garment workers.
The survey found a considerable gap between the legal minimum wage and the
estimated minimum living wage in all the countries. The report said:
Jobs with such a tremendously low wage create poverty rather than fighting it.
A seamstress in Belarus spoke of working 0.45 Euro per hour embroidering blouses for
Zara for a contract that had been outsourced by a Greek agent. In some cases, workers
told of growing their own vegetables and doing a second job in order to survive. Others
complained of damage to their eyesight after sewing for long days without breaks.
The report also found that garment workers, the majority of whom are women, suffer
sexual harassment, discrimination in pay and treatment, and limited union representation.
A Croatian unionist stated that “unions do not have the opportunity to bargain for higher
wages since they have to constantly fight illegal practices such as long-term unpaid
overtime and unpaid social contributions or long-term unpaid wages.”
Holdcroft said:

2. “The report’s findings are a reflection of the endemic practices throughout the global
garment industry. Wages are squeezed through brand purchasing practices and
furthermore the absence of collective bargaining leads to a reliance on the legal minimum
wage, which is in many cases a poverty wage."
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