Pakistan textile unions call for living wage standards

The National Trade Union Federation Pakistan (NTUF) organized a Textile and Garments Workers Conference at a hotel in Karachi on Friday, with participants demanding meeting living wage standards.

Textile and garments workers and their union representatives, along with workers from export-dominant factories producing merchandise for big international fashion brands from across the country, attended the conference.

The conference discussed frameworks like Pakistan Accord (PA), Global Framework Agreements (GFAs) between IndustriALL Global Union and clothing brands, German Supply Chain Due Diligence Legislation (SCDDL), and the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), their implementation mechanisms, their problems, and their impact on millions of workers engaged in the textile and garment sector.

The conference was presided over by Syed Sajjad Hussain Gardezi, Pakistan Textile Workers Federation (PTWF) General Secretary.

Addressing the participants online, IndustriALL Global Union’s Textile Garments Shoes and Leather (LGSL) sector co-chair Victor Garrido Sotomayor said that GFAs between IndustriALL and international clothing brands had established fundamental standards for worker protection. These agreements addressed freedom of association, collective bargaining rights, workplace safety, anti-discrimination measures, living wages, working hours, and environmental protection measures. The GFAs provide a crucial mechanism for ensuring worker rights and sustainable practices across global supply chains.

Nasir Mansoor, NTUF General Secretary, said that the Pakistan Accord, established in 2023 in Pakistan, was built on the Bangladesh Accord created after the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse that killed over 1,100 workers. The PA is a legally binding agreement between global brands and trade unions that mandates workplace safety inspections, worker safety training, and a transparent complaint mechanism in Pakistan’s textile industry. He added that the accord covers fire, building, and electrical safety standards, creating legally enforceable obligations for signatory brands.

He viewed the implementation of these legally binding instruments as crucial in impacting the working conditions and rights of workers in Pakistan’s textile and garments industry. Despite contributing significantly—up to 60 percent—to the country’s total exports and being the major source of foreign reserves, the conditions of workers were deplorable as most of them were denied their rights to unionize, decent working conditions, and minimum wages, let alone living wages. They remained vulnerable to occupational safety and health risks while bearing the brunt of climate change on their wellbeing, livelihood, and security.

Comrade Zehra Khan, General Secretary of Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) and also one of the co-chairs of IndustriALL’s TGSL sector, shed light on key regulatory frameworks governing supply chains.