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Sustainability

Garment Workers Have Lost Out on £4 Billion of Severance Pay, Says Rights Group

The Worker Rights Consortium says that garment workers have been denied billions of pounds of legally mandated severance pay after being sacked or losing their jobs due to brands cancelling orders or factory closures.
More than half of the garment workers surveyed said they were paid less than the minimum wage, and received no holiday pay.
Garment workers making clothes for western clothing brands are owed over 15 years of severance pay, according to the WRC. (Shutterstock)
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BoF PROFESSIONAL

More than £4 billion ($5 billion) in wages has been withheld from millions of garment workers making clothes for western clothing brands over the past 15 years, according to new estimates on severance “wage theft” in the global fashion industry.

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Fashion Firms Agree to Compensate Garment Workers in Mauritius

Leading fashion brands including Barbour and PVH, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, have said they will pay £400,000 to garment workers in Mauritius after an investigation found that migrant workers were forced to pay thousands of pounds for their jobs.

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