"Europe's working poor", April 2017

[S]tories of labour rights abuses in the garment industry are not confined to Asian countries. An innovative 2014 study by the Clean Clothes Campaign assessed the situation of garment workers right next-door, in 13 post-socialist European countries and Turkey. The report showed that making clothes in Europe – indeed, even inside the European Union – does not necessarily translate into better working conditions. Workers are paid poverty wages, which usually means the minimum legal wage, or even less. Overtime work is the norm, including work on Saturdays and on public holidays, and trade unions are weak and too often fail to demand or negotiate better conditions for workers.

EU member Romania has a monthly minimum legal wage of 1,250 Ron or 276 EUR pre-tax... After taxes and social contributions, workers take home a monthly pay cheque of 800 RON or about 178 EUR... An estimated living wage for Romanian workers [according to Clean Clothes Campaign] would be around 700 EUR. What they are earning now is only 19% of that. [refers to H&M]