Foreign fashion brands should avoid putting pressure on its garment suppliers in Vietnam as it then leads to nominal margins, which eventually forces the factories to make the workers do overtime. This was reportedly stated by Sharon Waxman, President, Fair Labor Association (FLA).
Substantiating further, Sharon said that the Government of Vietnam should increase the minimum wage of garment workers and at the same time the fashion brands too should review their costing policies to ensure that the workers are duly compensated.
According to a study conducted by FLA, several garment workers work overtime with some of them even putting more than 50 hours in a month without rest and still struggling to make their ends meet. Of the 13,000 Vietnamese garment workers surveyed by FLA, majority of them were earning twice of Vietnam’s minimum wage and yet struggling to meet their basic needs. The minimum wage in the country ranges from US $ 125 to US $ 180 per month.
Earlier this year, Oxfam Australia had released a report, which clearly showed how much less attention renowned Australian brands like Cotton On and Target were paying on the working conditions of garment workers in Vietnam. (Read full story here: https://vn.apparelresources.com/business-news/sustainability/vietnam-workers-australian-brands-struggling-no-pay-hike-food-water/)
Many brands have been using tactics like pressurising garment factory owners during price negotiations or using short-term contracts.
