ILO's Call to Action

As retailers have closed shops around the world, garment factories have shut down at an alarming rate with devastating impacts for millions of garment workers. Urgent action is needed to protect their livelihoods during the shutdown and beyond. Now, brands and retailers are being called on to endorse priorities for action to support the garment industry and protect workers from the impacts of the global crisis.

COVID-19: Action in the Global Garment Industry aims to catalyse action from across the global garment industry to support manufacturers to survive the economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and to protect garment workers’ income, health and employment. This global action also calls for work on sustainable systems of social protection for a more just and resilient garment industry.

The Call to Action, organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), will require all actors – governments, bank and finance institutions, international organisations, brands and retailers/e-tailers, manufacturers, employers’organisations and trade unions, other stakeholders and development partners - to work together urgently to develop concrete and specific measures and to make the contributions needed, consistent with organizational roles, to deliver on these priorities.

The statement calls on governments and financial institutions to accelerate access to credit, unemployment benefits and income-support; enhance social protection schemes and support action.

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches says:

“These principles are the essential first step towards mobilizing the funds needed to maintain the livelihoods of garment workers through this crisis and beyond. Concrete action is now needed by the industry to protect supply chains and the workers they depend on.

“We will continue to demand that brand and retailers contribute to securing their own supply chains and ensuring better social protection for garment workers.”

The statement has so far been endorsed by leading brands including Adidas, Bestseller, C&A, H&M, Inditex, Primark, PVH, Tchibo, VF Corporation, and Zalando, as well as IndustriALL and ITUC. Endorsement means the brands commit to a range of actions to limit the deleterious effects of COVID-19 including paying manufacturers for finished goods and goods in production, maintaining open lines of communication with supply chain partners and, should financial circumstances permit, offering direct support to factories.

In the longer term, to mitigate the impact of possible future crises, there is the aim to establish and strenghten sustainable social protection systems and public infrastructure for social services.