An international alliance has called on Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) to deliver on a promise made four years ago to pay a “fair living wage” to the garment workers in its supply chain.
Worker rights group Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) says that since the fashion retailer declared its living wage initiative, it has been “notoriously opaque” regarding its plans – raising questions as to whether their promise was “merely a publicity stunt to allay public concern about their fast fashion brand.”
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It says average wages at H&M supplier factories in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia and India are only slightly above the national minimum wages. In Bangladesh, CCC says H&M claims workers at its suppliers earn on average US$87 per month, which is below the World Bank poverty line of $88 per month.
“Estimates on what a living wage constitutes vary, but on average they indicate that wages in Bangladesh would need to triple in order to afford a healthy diet, proper housing, access to medical care and access to education for children,” the alliance says. “The dire situation of workers stitching clothes for H&M in Bangladesh became particularly clear in December 2016 when thousands of workers spontaneously hit the streets to protest for higher wages in the district of Ashulia [in Bangladesh], many of whom worked for factories supplying H&M.”
The minimum wages in garment producing countries are set nationally by the government. However, CCC says these governments are slow in raising wages out of fear of losing garment orders critical to the national economy, leading to an international race to the bottom in garment workers’ wages.
“Brands could influence these wages, by reassuring governments that raising minimum wages will not make them leave, investing in long term relationships with their suppliers and assuring them that they will continue to receive orders even if prices go up, and taking direct responsibility for wages through direct payments on top of their orders to their supplier factories, meant to raise wages to living wage standards,” Ineke Zeldenrust, of Clean Clothes Campaign explains. “As the most important player for Bangladesh’s export, H&M can have considerable influence over these wages.”
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By GlobalDataAfter making its living wage promise, CCC says H&M set out to “reformulate the promise towards a less ambitious course”. The retailer said it would put ‘mechanisms’ in place to enable payment of living wages to at least 80% of the workers its supply chain.
“The actual practical and measurable steps to achieve this goal have not been shared publicly nor has H&M been transparent about their wage pilot projects. This precludes workers and labour organisations from tracking progress of H&M’s living wage promise,” the alliance says.
“H&M actually paying garment workers a living wage would be a ground-breaking development, as up until today poverty wages remain the norm in the global garment industry, including throughout H&M’s supply chain.
“H&M certainly has the financial means to ‘walk the talk’, and has stated time and again they want to be a leader on these issues,” adds Zeldenrust. “We have looked at the numbers and if H&M were to reallocate just one year of its annual advertising budget towards wages, they could pay their Cambodian workers a living wage for 6.5 years.”
A spokesperson for H&M told just-style the company is in an ongoing dialogue with Fair Action on the subject matter.
