WELCOME TO THE ARCHIVE (1994-2014) OF THE MAQUILA SOLIDARITY NETWORK. For current information on our ongoing work on the living wage, women's labour rights, freedom of association, corporate accountability and Bangladesh fire and safety, please visit our new website, launched in October, 2015: www.maquilasolidarity.org
December 31, 2014
MSN participated in international campaigns for a living wage and in support of garment workers’ struggles in particular countries for a national minimum wage that would meet the basic needs of themselves and their families. Between 2012 and 2014, MSN collaborated with Central American partner organizations on studies of the growing gap between existing wages and the cost of living for garment workers in the four garment-producing countries in the region. MSN also produced a Global Survey of living wage campaigns and initiatives in other countries and regions and at the international level, which was used in workshops with Central American trade union and women’s organizations. The project was part of a global initiative involving the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Asia Floor Wage Alliance.
Some examples of this work:
“A living wage is a human right,” says Ineke Zeldenrust, Coordinator of the Clean Clothes Campaign’s International Secretariat, “and the right of workers to a living wage needs to be respected. Full stop.” MSN spoke with Zeldenrust about why cross-border organizing is necessary to win respect for that right.
The Maquila Solidarity Network congratulates the Workers’ Action Centre (WAC), based in Toronto, Canada, on an important victory in its campaign against wage theft. WAC’s campaign has stopped the Ontario provincial government from making severe cuts in inspections and enforcement of employment standards regulations in the province.
The Peoples Tribunal on a Living Wage, which was held in Phnom Penh on February 5 and 6, found that the combination of inadequate nutrition, excessive working hours, and exposure to hot, dusty working environments and harmful chemicals amounts to "a systematic violation of [workers'] fundamental right to a decent human life."
This 2004 paper surveys various Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives on how they determine a living wage for apparel workers, and recommends clauses on wages to include in codes of conduct.
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