The wage assurance.
[Company X] hereby publicly assures that all apparel, textile, and footwear workers in our supply chain, who were paid
to produce or handle goods at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, regardless of employment status, will be paid their
legally mandated or regular wages and bene ts, whichever is higher. This includes wage arrears (back pay) and,
where applicable, negotiated severance pay.
We will contribute funds of a su cient amount to ensure that, when combined with other support provided to workers
by employers, local governments, and international institutions, workers have income, equal or greater than, the
amount they received prior to the crisis. In doing so, we provide immediate much-needed relief for workers, and we
act upon our responsibility to prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts in our supply chains, and to provide
for or cooperate in the remediation of harm.
Going forward, we will support stronger social protections for workers by committing to paying a price premium on
future orders into a guarantee fund reserved for severance and outstanding wages in cases where employers in our
supply chain have gone insolvent, or otherwise have terminated workers, through signing an enforceable agreement
with garment worker unions, in line with ILO Recommendation 202, Convention 95 and Convention 76.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should employers (factories) not just pay the wages and
bene ts?
Yes, they should and they are even legally obliged to do so. However, with orders being cancelled and payments
delayed, many employers do no have the funds to pay their workers. In the buyers’ market that the global garment
industry represents, brands often function as de facto employers, dictating prices and circumstances. Many
factories (several very rich factory groups excluded) have operated for years on minimal margins and have not
built up buffers to now fall back on, while they have fronted the costs for orders now cancelled.
Brands and retailers have been the primary pro t-makers in these supply chains. Many of the well known garment
companies in the world have billionaire owners, including Inditex, Bestseller, C&A and Uniqlo. Brands also have a
responsibility under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the OECD Due Diligence
guidelines, to prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts in their supply chains, and to provide for or
cooperation in the remediation of harm that they have caused or contributed to.