UNIONS from six countries in south and south-east Asia have joined forces to demand an end to wage theft by United States-based big fashion companies.

The unions and their global allies Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) and the Global Labour Justice – International Labour Rights Forum ( GLJ-ILRF) launched their campaign to “Fight the Heist” today.

In a report titled Big Fashion investors cash in on wage theft published last week, the unions revealed how Nike, VF Corporation and Levi’s and their wealthiest investors are profiting through wage theft from workers in their Asian supply chains.

Campaigners say profits have skyrocketed as firms buy back their own shares from the stock markets and pay their shareholders bumper dividends.  

Meanwhile the vast majority of garment workers — who lost on average 22 per cent of their normal wages in 2020 — remain in permanent crisis, with factories continuing to steal overtime pay or pay sub-minimum wages.

GLJ-ILRF executive director Jennifer Rosenbaum said: “In 2020, the US government provided billions in Covid relief funds to Big Fashion brands to shore up the industry. 

“Garment supply-chain workers will now join with workers in the US who are fighting back against the brand executives and Wall Street investors who manipulate the market, making billions while everyone else gets pushed into crisis.”

Netra, a worker who makes Nike wear in Indonesia, said: “At the start of the pandemic, I was furloughed for weeks at a time and lost all my savings. My factory never paid my back wages and I’m struggling to send the money my parents and siblings rely on.”

AFWA International Coordinator Anannya Bhattacharjee said: “The pandemic was a global shock that has had a severe impact on the health and finances of garment workers.

“But workers are fighting back and linking arms with workers in the US to demand that these companies pay them what they are owed before they make lavish payouts to investors.”

Campaigners are demanding that the Big Fashion firms negotiate with unions over their wage claims, stop payouts of dividends until all garment workers are repaid lost wages and provide living wages for all workers in the supply chain.    

The AFWA is a worker-led global alliance for garment-producing countries such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Cambodia and Bangladesh, while the GLJ-ILRF is a non-governmental organisation that works transnationally to advance policies and laws that protect decent work and to strengthen freedom of association.