"Garment workers face destitution as Covid-19 closes factories", 19 March 2020

The fashion industry is facing calls to step in and protect the wages of the 40 million garment workers in their supply chains around the world who face destitution as factories close and orders dry up in the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic…

Campaigners are demanding that brands take responsibility for the millions of workers in their supply chains who are likely to fall into crippling poverty as they lose their jobs and struggle to provide for their families…

Scott Nova, executive director at the Worker Rights Consortium, part of the Clean Clothes Campaign, said that poverty wages, unsafe and unsanitary workplaces and poor health already makes the garment workforce highly vulnerable to the worst effects of the Covid-19 virus

“The fashion industry has evolved in a way that makes it hard in normal times for the people who actually make the clothes we all wear every day to survive on the poverty wages they are paid,” he said…

The situation for garment workers in Cambodia and Myanmar is already dire as local media reports suggest up to 10% of factories in the Yangon region of Myanmar are already closed, with workers not being paid their salaries.

In Cambodia tens of thousands of garment workers could also lose their jobs in the coming weeks if the flow of raw materials into the country does not pick up…

Tola Moeun, executive director of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights said: “Apparel brands have been profiting from the labour of Cambodian workers. These brands now need to step up in this time of crisis.”.