Photo: Workers in Bangladesh mobilize for just wages (National Garment Workers Federation).Dear friends, As we begin a new year of worker rights advocacy, we are writing to report on some of MSN’s work in 2023, now continuing in 2024.
For much of 2023, MSN, in collaboration with our Clean Clothes Campaign partners, was supporting Bangladeshi unions and garment workers in their campaign to increase the minimum wage to a level that would meet their basic needs. Below, we provide information on their ongoing fight for a living wage, amid intense repression and the government’s imposition of a woefully inadequate new minimum wage. You’ll also find news on the launch of the new 6-year International Accord on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, a report on the industry’s failure to protect garment worker’s rights in Türkiye after the February 2023 earthquake, and a petition calling on Nike to ensure that workers in two supplier factories are finally paid what they are owed after years of waiting. We conclude with links to two recent MSN publications, the first about a new labour rights complaint mechanism that Mexican workers are using to defend their right to organize independent unions, and the second on the wide gulf between current wages and the cost of living for Central American garment workers. In the coming weeks, stay tuned to our website for an in-depth story on the important victory on January 23 at the Delta Staff Manufacturing (Apparel International) garment factory in Nazareno, Mexico, where 563 of the workers participating in a union representation election (recuento) voted in favour of the independent Mexican Workers’ League (La Liga) and only 79 voted for the CTM affiliated union. Lynda Yanz, for the MSN team |