Lankan Apparel Workers Lost Over 40% Of Their Usual Wages During March-May

Amsterdam-based Clean Clothes Campaign sheds light on apparel workers’ plight during lockdowns. Says they lost 33%, 81% and 9% of their usual wages in March, April, and May, receptively. Partially blames garment brands and retailers for rushing into reviewing and canceling orders. Says global supply chains owe apparel workers between the US $ 3.2-5.8bn in unpaid wages, legally owed bonuses, and compensation. Clean Clothes Campaign urges global apparel brands and retailers to commit to a wage assurance

- Nishel Fernando

Sri Lanka’s apparel workers have lost estimated 40.8 percent of their usual wages or a total of Rs.4.64 billion during the March-May period, when the country went into a national lockdown to contain the threat of COVID-19, according to a recent report.

“Overall, we estimate that in the month's March, April and May, workers have lost a total of roughly 40 percent of their normal wages, a total of Rs.4.64 billion (the US $ 24.05 million), despite the government program,” Amsterdam-based Clean Clothes Campaign said in a recent report titled ‘Un(der) paid in the pandemic – An estimate of what the garment industry owes its workers’.

Sri Lanka imposed a countrywide curfew on March 20, to contain the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, which initially required the closure of all factories and offices in the country, except those providing essential services.

“The curfew severely impacted the Sri Lankan garment industry, which directly employs 275,000 workers in free trade zones, the majority of whom are migrant women from rural areas. Although the government committed a monthly relief payment of Rs.5,000 to those impacted by the curfew, many garment workers did not receive the allowance, as they were prevented by their employers from returning to their home communities before the curfew went into effect,” the authors of the report said.