 The meal prepared at a garment worker's home is most often vegetables, sometimes small fish. Photo: Taslima Akhter, Clean Clothes campaign. |
Jaakko Takalainen
Eight trade unions in the Far East and affiliated organisations have created a concise accounting model which would raise the minimum wages of Asian garment workers to the level of living wages.
The starting point of the Asia Floor Wage (AFW) campaign is a multinational accounting model on which one can determine a reasonable wage in each country’s currency. The model has been adopted in the biggest Asia’s garment producer countries such as Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Sri Lank and Thailand. The motto of the campaign is “Stitching Decent Wages across borders”.
Many non-governmental organizations worldwide are participating in promoting and implementing the AFW. In Europe it's being promoted by the international Clean Clothes Campaign which strives to improve the working conditions of workers in the garment industry.
Minimum wage is insufficient
Behind Asia's floor wage campaign is the observation that the minimum wage of Far East countries – if one has been determined in the legislation – is insufficient for a living. Due to intense competition among garment producing countries, international brand names, importers and big producers, can drive down prices and along with that wages.
The garment industry is so vital to the economies of many Asian countries that there is no enforcement in the payment of minimum wage and it is not always paid. Also the low level of trade union organization in the garment sector encourages abuses. The average monthly wage in Bangladesh, according to AFW studies, is only 65-140 US dollars, i.e., about 43-92 Euros.
So women bear the brunt of starvation wages arising from competition between the countries as well as within them. Over eighty per cent of 300 female workers interviewed in 12 garment factories in Bangladesh said they had been forced to work overtime.
According to the respondents the production goals were set too high thereby unreasonably extending the working day. A normal working day for those working overtime is from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm after which there are children to be taken care of and domestic chores to be done. And overtime is paid only after exceeding the production goal.
For the Asia’s floor wage campaign the problem lies in the export-led growth model of the producing countries. It leads to a vicious cycle: wages fall, prices are driven down, companies’ profits fall, international brand names and producers search for cheaper production locations, producer countries compete by trying to produce and export more which again leads to driving down of wages.
Pressure on large brand names
AFW seeks a solution to eliminating the hardships in Asia’s garment industry by putting pressure on international production chains. The main targets of the campaign are international brand names, (for instance Hennes & Mauritz), international retail chains such as Wal-Mart, big producers as well as governments of the producer countries.
- The AFW campaign is trying to pressure the global big brand names and retailers to pay fair wages for the clothes they produce and in addition ensure that the rights of garment worker to organize trade unions are respected. That is, in line with what has already been specified in the operation guidelines of several of the big companies, says Shamima Nasrin, a Bangladesh trade union leader.
The effectiveness of putting pressure on brand names to some extent could be questionable from the perspective of European trade union movement. The other path would be to strengthen the activities of grass root trade unions in Asia, i.e., the formation of local trade unions branches.
Neil Kearney, the former General Secretary of the International Textile Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), however, welcomed the campaign since it was launched in honour of decent work day October 7.
- The campaign places special emphasis on the downward spiral of wages that has afflicted the textile, garment and leather sector for over ten years and the inability of the sector to pay wages sufficient to sustain a living, said Neil Kearney, who died in November.
Six steps in a better direction
AFW uses a six-step programme to define a living wage. The accounting model of the decent floor wage is justified and clear. In its determination AFW uses a six-step programme.
The steps are derived from an impressive natural science circuit diagram that has a humanist gasping for breath. The designers of the model have clearly taken into account the unforeseen counter arguments of the campaign. The first stage is a calculation on basic needs. According g to the AFW campaign a factory worker needs 3000 calories to sustain life and a family has two adults and two children, i.e., 3 consumption units (a child is half a consumption unit). Food takes up half of the basic needs, the other half consists of clothing, accommodation, healthcare, education, basic security and savings. The wage to cover these needs has to come from a 48-hour working week without overtime.
The next stage is to calculate the price of basic needs based on local currency. For instance, going by the definition of basic needs according to AFW, a monthly wage in Bangladesh ought to be 9,500 taka while the government’s minimum wage is 1700 taka. In other Asian countries also, the relation between relative wage and minimum is unreasonable.
The third stage is to compare the purchasing power of local currencies and convert it to corrected US dollars purchasing power. With this AFW’s calculated guaranteed reasonable wage should be 475 dollars a month for the whole of the Asia region in 2009. The extremes are Bangladesh (417) and Indonesia (594) dollars. In the fifth stage the 475 dollar general goal is translated back into local currency taken into account correction for purchasing power parity. With that Bangladesh’s reasonable wage would be 10750 taka i.e., the difference is 6 times the current minimum wage.
Agreement mechanism also pursuit
The sixth and final stage tries to figure out the practical implementation of the campaign. On the one hand, the focus is on the transnational nature of the operations of the textile chains and on the other, the significance of the local trade unions in the fight for interest protection.
In addition to the goal of a decent wage, a local collective agreement mechanism is sought through AFW. Non-governmental organizations, human rights activists and informed consumers also have a responsibility in the campaign. Their task is to organize lobbying the global brand names and putting pressure on them.
Asia’s floor wage campaign is a very modern one. It has declared as its task a wish to unify different forces and projects working many countries aimed a reasonable living standard behind one objective. Thus, the organizers consider it successful if a Bangladeshi child can see her mother at least for more often than once a week before she goes to sleep.
More on the Asia floor wage campaign: www.asiafloorwage.org
On the Clean Clothes Campaign: www.cleanclothes.org
The Finnish Clean Clothes Campaign: www.puhtaatvaatteet.fi
