Originally postponed for renewal by the pandemic, garment brands and global unions have come to an agreement on workplace safety. The original accord grew out of a response to several factory fires in Bangladesh in 2010 where workers were killed due to unsafe working conditions. The deal has only been renewed for two years, and many major US brands, such as Walmart, the Gap, JC Penney, have refused to sign it. It has received scant attention in US mainstream media.
H&M and Zara are among the major brands that have signed on to renew; however, campaigners are calling upon everyone to do more, to also protect workers wages.
Meanwhile, within the US, you cannot rely on the “Made in the USA” label for sweatshop-free consumption. During the pandemic, US garment workers continued to work in unsafe conditions, to meet the demand for fabric masks. A bill in California is aiming to change that. SB 62 would push to eliminate piecework, in which garment workers are paid per piece of work completed, instead of being paid by the hour, and significantly, also create brand liability – that is, it would hold brands accountable for wage theft within their supply chains. Esprit’s co-founder argues that this is also a sustainability issue.