Global campaign calls on apparel brands to pay their workers, reform broken industry



Today, MSN joins with more than 200 trade union and civil society organizations in over 40 countries in launching the #PayYourWorkers #RespectLabourRights campaign.

Other Canadian endorsers of the campaign include Above Ground, Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA), Centre International de Solidarité Ouvrière (CISO), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), Oxfam Canada, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), SHARE, Steelworkers Humanity Fund and USW, and Workers United Canada Council.

As the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic continue to be felt by vulnerable workers in Canada, the pandemic is pushing millions of already low-paid garment workers around the world deeper into poverty and hunger. A year into the crisis, many apparel brands have returned to profitability and some have even raked in record level earnings, while workers in their supply chains struggle to survive.

PayYourWorkers #RespectLabourRights is calling on apparel retailers and brands to contribute funds to sustain the incomes of the workers who make their products throughout the pandemic, ensure respect for their right to organise and bargain collectively, and sign onto a severance guarantee fund so that workers are never left penniless if their factories go bankrupt in the future. In this week of action, the brand targets are Amazon, Nike and Next, a UK fast fashion retailer. As the campaign progresses, other brands will also be targeted.

The campaign launch follows the release last week of a major report from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), which found that 16 brands, including Mark’s (Canadian Tire), linked to unpaid wages and benefits in supplier factories in various countries, had made a combined $10 billion in profits in the second half of 2020.

PayYourWorkers.org, the campaign website, was launched today and is available in eight languages. We invite you to join the campaign, sign the petition and add your organization’s name to the list of endorsers. Read MSN’s media release on the campaign here.

Read the BHRRC Report: Wage theft and pandemic profits: The right to a living wage for garment workers, available here.

We’ll keep you updated as the campaign progresses.

Lynda Yanz


The Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) is a labour and women's rights organization that supports the efforts of workers in global supply chains to win improved wages and working conditions. Please consider supporting MSN's important work by making an online contribution or by sending a cheque to the address below.

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Toronto, ON M6G 3L6
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