On the Line is a weekly roundup of sourcing and labor quick hits in the apparel and footwear industry, from worker protests to boardroom maneuvering, tracking the developments shaping conditions on the factory floor and beyond.
Karnataka’s wage protest
Garment workers in Karnataka are protesting the southern Indian state’s new minimum wage revision, calling it discriminatory and harmful to the sector’s mostly female workforce.
While the Garment and Textile Workers’ Union welcomed the government’s 60 percent wage increase for many sectors, it condemned the exclusion of 19 labor-intensive industries—including garments—from the immediate revision.
“The government has shown total negligence toward the most vulnerable workforce,” Prathibha Ramanath, GATWU’s president, said in a statement. “Our workers are already earning 30 percent less than laborers in other manufacturing and commercial sectors. For the last 40 years, the garment industry has consistently faced injustice during wage revisions. Excluding us from this uniform hike while raising wages for others is both inhumane and deeply unjust.”
GATWU is demanding that the labour department immediately revoke the exemption clause and include the garment sector and the other 18 excluded industries under the uniform minimum wage revision.
“The state boasts about women’s empowerment, but when it comes to fixing baseline legal wages, it is actively practising institutional gender discrimination,” Ramanath said.
Next says no
Walton Pantland, campaign director at IndustriALL Global Union, attended Next’s annual general meeting in Leicester last week.
There, he posed a series of questions to the British retailer, though one stood out from the rest: Why hasn’t Next signed an ACT agreement to support collective bargaining that would enable living wages in Cambodia?
“We had quite a useful exchange with the company,” he said afterward. “One of the things they said that struck us as particularly notable is that they recognize only two mechanisms for setting wages: the market and the government-mandated minimum wage. We took that to mean they will pay the least they can get away with.”
From IndustriALL’s perspective, however, collective bargaining is the most effective wage-setting mechanism because it is fair, transparent, and responsive to market conditions while meeting workers’ needs. Pantland described the garment industry as a “global race to the bottom,” with brands shifting production from one sourcing country to another as wages rise. He argued that ACT’s agreements in Cambodia could help counter this dynamic by requiring signatories to maintain sourcing commitments despite higher labor costs.
Next, however, remains the only holdout from the original negotiations, Pantland said, before adding, “We came to the AGM to ask them to sign again, and again they told us they will not.”
Gap compensates Haitian workers
After months of a pressure campaign, Gap Inc. has ensured that a dozen women who were fired from a Haitian factory producing Old Navy clothing—illegally, activists say—have received roughly $40,000 in back wages, along with commitments to be first in line for job openings at the factory.
Gap, according to the Worker Rights Consortium, a Washington watchdog, originally backed The Willbes’ claims that the women, including unionists and pregnant workers, had chosen to be fired, voluntarily giving up critical benefits to which they were entitled.
The organization said efforts to remedy the violations were complicated by Better Work Haiti, a factory auditing program formed through a partnership between the International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation. Better Work Haiti said the firings were legal, a determination Gap used to support its position.
Still, the delay in remedy has hit workers hard, according to Partners for Dignity & Rights, a New York nonprofit that has also been following the case.
“This compensation is especially important because of the difficult situation in Haiti. Personally, it has helped me because I have three children who need to go to school, eat every day and have clothes. I used the compensation to help provide for those needs,” one of the dismissed workers, a union leader, said in a statement through the organization. “The situation in Haiti is also very difficult because of the high cost of gas. As a result, everything has become more expensive.”
Haiti’s ILO pact
Speaking of Haiti and the ILO, the Haitian government, together with employer and worker representatives, has reached a two-year agreement with the ILO to advance decent work by strengthening social dialogue, labor governance, job creation, and social protection—an effort that comes as the country grapples with deepening economic and security challenges.
Signed at the ILO’s Caribbean office in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago—and marking a new phase in Haiti’s relationship with the agency—the agreement integrates gender equality, youth inclusion, conflict sensitivity, and climate and environmental considerations.
Maulik Radia, president of the Association of Industries of Haiti, said the agreement underscores the importance of structured cooperation at a time of national strain.
“Haiti, as everybody knows, is going through a major crisis,” Radia said. “In times of crisis, coming together in unity is very positive. This brings all sectors of the country together and will allow us to work in a more formal and cooperative way.”
Modern slavery reform Down Under
A coalition of 100 investors, businesses, unions and advocacy groups is calling for major reforms to Australia’s Modern Slavery Act, arguing that current laws are insufficient to combat exploitation in corporate supply chains.
Together, they’re demanding a shift from voluntary reporting to mandatory human rights due diligence that would force companies to identify, prevent and address modern slavery risks and more meaningfully improve conditions for supply chain workers.
“With an estimated 50 million people in modern slavery globally, including nearly 28 million in conditions of forced labor, Australia must move beyond disclosure alone and strengthen the Act to drive meaningful action,” organizations including Anti-Slavery International, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, IFM Investors and Walk Free wrote in a letter to Michelle Rowland, Australia’s attorney-general.
The upcoming reform, they said, is a “crucial opportunity to bring clarity” to businesses already acting in good faith, hold noncompliant ones to account, improve conditions for people trapped in forced labor and align Australia with international standards.
“This will support business productivity by reducing barriers to global markets and refocusing efforts on action rather than just reporting. It is a chance for Australia to continue showing leadership in building supply chains where the people who produce our food, clothing and technology live and work in freedom and dignity.”
Pakistan’s wage demands
Ahead of Pakistan’s federal budget on June 5, Asia Floor Wage Alliance partners, trade unions, and labor rights organizations held a press conference at the Lahore Press Club, demanding that the monthly minimum wage be doubled to 80,000 Pakistani rupees ($287) and that wage-setting shift toward a rights-based system that reflects workers’ lived realities.
“Workers in Pakistan are confronting rising inflation, soaring food prices, escalating utility costs, expensive transport, and growing healthcare and education expenses,” AFWA wrote in an Instagram post. “Yet workers continue to be expected to absorb the costs of economic uncertainty they did not create while sustaining industries and generating profits through their labor.”
The organization added that wages must meet the needs of workers and their families to “sustain a life of dignity,” including food, housing, healthcare, education, transport, and social protections.
“Global brands sourcing from Pakistan cannot continue shifting the costs and risks of production onto workers,” AFWA added. “Responsible pricing and purchasing practices are essential to ensuring that workers receive a fair share of the wealth they create.”
