Our colleagues at the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) have released an excellent report on the poverty wages and poor working conditions faced by garment workers in Eastern Europe and Turkey. Based on interviews with over 300 garment workers in 10 countries, Stitched Up: Poverty Wages for Garment Workers in Eastern Europe and Turkey reveals that most garment workers who produce for large brands such as H&M, adidas, and Zara earn just between 14% and 36% of the basic living wage in their country and nearly all are paid below the poverty line.

The study confirms that poverty wages and poor working conditions are not just limited to Asia but instead are “endemic” to the garment industry in general – including Europe.

The Clean Clothes Campaign is calling on European fashion brands to alter their buying prices to ensure that workers who make their clothes in this region receive a basic net wage of at least 60% of the corresponding national average wage.

To access the full report (in English), the executive summary and country factsheets on each of the 10 countries covered by the study, click here

To read the full report (in French), click here

With the World Cup underway, an estimated 3.5 billion soccer fans across the globe will spend a good deal of the next month glued to their screens watching matches.

Sportswear giant adidas has spent $CDN113 million  on flashy World Cup publicity urging sports fans to  “go #allin or nothing,”  In response, UK’s Labour Behind the Label (LBL) is circulating a petition to draw attention to the working conditions and poor salaries of  garment workers around the world.

LBL is asking adidas to “go#allin for a #livingwage.”  Brand image and profile during the World Cup is clearly a high priority for adidas and other sportswear brands. This is a perfect time to push the company to make a serious commitment to ensure that the women and men who make its  products are paid a living wage.

To sign the petition click here