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India: Worker Rights Consortium confirms approx. $23.1 million in minimum wage arrears paid by 21 garment producers in Karnataka, calls on five suppliers to complete their payments
"Reversing the Mass Wage Theft in Karnataka: Progress on Back Wages", 20 July 2022
Update July 20, 2022: The WRC is tracking the 21 largest garment producers in Karnataka, India, that owed arrears to workers due to nonpayment of the minimum wage...As of January 2022, these manufacturers owed workers $30.7 million in back wages, by the WRC’s estimate.
As of March 2022, all 21 had committed to pay back wages in full to workers at all their factories, including both current and former employees. All 21 also committed to pay the minimum wage properly going forward. The WRC has worked to track and confirm whether these companies have fulfilled their commitments:
- We have confirmed that all these manufacturers have been paying the proper minimum wage to employees since February.
- As of July 2022, we have confirmed an estimated $23.1 million in payments by these manufacturers to nearly 200,000 current employees, with 16 of the manufacturers having paid in full. Several manufacturers—Raymond, Silver Spark, Shell Apparels, and Go Go International—have not yet finished paying arrears to current employees. At one manufacturer, Creative Group, the WRC has not been able to confirm the status of payments. The WRC is urging these five suppliers, and their brand customers (see chart below), to move swiftly to complete all payments to current workers.
- In the case of eight suppliers, we have been able to confirm that payments to former employees have also commenced (see chart below). We do not yet have sufficient data to report specific payment amounts. We are working to confirm the status of payments to former employees by the other 13 suppliers.
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