Dear friends,

Over five years since the global pandemic was declared, workers around the world are once again facing economic upheaval and the potential erosion of their rights, with the Trump administration’s imposition and threats of tariffs and the cancellation of U.S. government funding for a wide range of vital labour rights programs. 

MSN, national unions, and labour rights organizations in the Clean Clothes Campaign will continue to demand respect for garment workers’ rights to living wages, legally owed severance, freedom of association and safe workplaces. Efforts to ensure respect for these rights are even more crucial in this time of uncertainty, when brands and factory owners prioritize protecting profits at the expense of workers.

Even before the recent tariff announcements, the garment industry in Central America had been facing factory closures and massive layoffs. At the beginning of the year, for instance, Fruit of the Loom announced its decision to close its last two unionized garment factories in Honduras, shredding a groundbreaking agreement in a major setback for workers’ rights. As part of a coalition of labour rights organizations, MSN is calling on the company to reverse their decision to close the factories and honour their commitment to respect workers’ union rights.

On April 24, MSN joined Bangladeshi unions and their international allies in honouring the workers who were killed and injured in the Rana Plaza collapse twelve years ago and in calling for more effective health and safety programs, brand and factory accountability, and respect for workers’ right to organize in Bangladesh.

Lynda Yanz, for the MSN team

On April 24, twelve years ago, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh that housed five garment factories collapsed, killing at least 1,138 workers in a preventable disaster. MSN joins with others in the Clean Clothes Campaign global network and Bangladeshi unions in honouring the survivors and family members of the workers killed in this tragedy and reiterating our commitment to fighting the root causes of the collapse, including unsafe factories, poverty wages, corporate negligence, and union busting.

On this year’s anniversary, Bangladeshi unions and their international allies expressed a wide range of demands to address injustices in the country’s garment industry. Among other demands, they are urging Wrangler, Amazon, IKEA and other companies to sign the International Accord, calling for advances in the legal cases related to the Rana Plaza collapse, and asking brands to urge their suppliers to drop trumped up legal charges filed against workers following the 2023 living wage protests.

Learn more about safety improvements still needed in Bangladesh.

MSN is joining with garment unions and labour rights organizations in the Clean Clothes Campaign global network to call on brands to ensure that workers in their supply chains do not bear the brunt of the costs of tariffs and economic uncertainty as the Trump administration overhauls the global trade system. 

Even with the temporary suspension of so-called “reciprocal tariffs,” the still high 10% tariff rate and economic uncertainty are already harming garment workers and could cause massive job losses if production is shifted to other countries. During past economic disruptions, brands have offloaded costs onto suppliers, who then push the costs on to workers.

Workers in major garment producing countries already subsist on poverty wages and should not be forced to pay for the cost of these tariffs. Instead, workers and their representatives should have a seat at the table in order to build trade systems that support economic prosperity and respect for worker rights globally.

MSN is actively involved in a coalition of international labour rights organizations, in collaboration with Honduran unions, that is calling on Fruit of the Loom to reverse its decision to close two unionized factories in Honduras. Significant layoffs have already begun, and if the factories are closed, over 3,000 workers could stand to lose their jobs.

In a March 20 letter to the company, MSN and 26 other organizations called on the company to live up to its historic commitment to workers’ rights by “maintaining operations in unionized factories and ensuring workers' right to organize without fear of retaliation.”

In 2009, Fruit of the Loom signed an historic agreement to respect its workers’ union rights, laying the groundwork for the achievement of collective bargaining agreements with concrete improvements for garment workers in Honduras.

Fruit of the Loom’s recent decision to close these two unionized garment factories represents a major step backward on worker rights, after years of benefitting from a company reputation for respecting those rights.

On April 22, over 100 civil society and industry organizations, including MSN, published a joint statement calling on the US Secretary of Labor and the US Congress to restore funding and staffing levels to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) of the US Department of Labor. ILAB has been hit by massive funding cuts by the Trump administration for programs fighting child labour, forced labour and other systemic violations of workers’ rights around the world.

News from labour rights organizations on imporant issues impacting garment workers:

• NGOs challenge European Commission’s undemocratic ‘Omnibus’ process (CCC) / CCC Position Paper
• Abject failure: Canada’s would-be human rights watchdog leaves Bangladeshi garment workers languishing in poverty (USW)
• From Fear to Power: How Indonesian Women Workers Won Binding Commitments for Change (WRC)
• Forever 21’s Bankruptcy: How Private Equity Harms Workers Around the World (Partners for Dignity & Rights)
• Thailand's auditing industry fails to protect migrant workers (BHRRC)

Photo Credits (in order of appearance):
Commemoration of the 12th anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy (NGWF). Worker urges companies to sign the International Accord (CCC). Worker urges companies to sign the International Accord (CCC). Workers in Bangladesh call for higher wages during May 1 events in 2023 (BIGUF). Factory in Bangladesh (CCC). Union members call on Fruit of the Loom to respect its commitment to union rights (CGT). April 28 screenshot of ILAB's website (US Department of Labor).

The Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) is a labour and women's rights organization that supports the efforts of workers in global supply chains to win improved wages and working conditions. Please consider supporting MSN's important work by making an online contribution or by sending a cheque to the address below.