FOREWORD This report is being released at an unprecedented time of crisis for garment workers.! The COVID-"#$ pandemic has exposed that precarious contract labour, poverty-level minimum wages, and hollowed-out social safety nets have left workers in the garment sector, primarily women, to face the brunt of the impact when global economic shocks like COVID-"# occur. Millions of garment workers have been laid off since the onset of COVID-"#$in March, leaving working families throughout Asia without resources to cover basic subsistence needs through this crisis. Government relief packages are only covering a portion of garment workers’ pre-COVID incomes, as AFWA has documented in its report series, The Emperor Has No Clothes.%$ This crisis was the product of decades of inequitable labour practices in garment-exporting countries, driven by fashion companies and garment-exporting governments. Fashion companies have demanded production at a certain price and schedule that are often incompatible with compliance with labour and employment laws. Nevertheless, governments have prioritised garment exports as a means of economic growth, especially as part of broader agendas to attract manufacturing. Doing so has required governments to allow lax enforcement of labour and employment laws that guarantee certain wages, conditions of work and rights to associate in unions and organise. This is “de facto” deregulation – deregulation in fact, if not in law. During COVID-"#, these weak systems of labour protection have exposed workers to unfair practices by employers, such as wage theft and layoffs of contract workers, who are not eligible for severance payments. As the global community works towards a “just transition” towards fair and decent work, it is apparent that states should consider abandoning plans, in full swing in the months prior to COVID, to change their labour laws to transform “de facto” deregulation into law. As this report, Garment workers under threat from labour deregulation in Asia: A review of recent labour and employment law changes in Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, shows, governments throughout Asia have announced plans to change their labour laws to make it even easier for employers to undermine workers’ rights to employment, their social protections and their ability to organise in unions and bargain for fair wages. It is inconceivable that a new social contract that protects workers will involve legislative changes that undermine workers’ rights. Already, unions have been making tremendous efforts to oppose these reforms, including protesting during a global pandemic. It is vital that states cancel reforms as proposed and commit to strengthening worker protections, not undermining them. Addressing these labour law reforms should be part of ongoing international advocacy to strengthen workers’ access to decent work now and after COVID-"#& -The AFWA Team 1. 2. Note this report refers to the textile, garment and footwear sectors collectively as the “garment industry.” The Emperor Has No Clothes: Garment Supply Chains in the Time of Pandemic, Issue II (May 2020) https://asia.floorwage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Emperor-Has-No-Clothes-Issue-II-May.pdf. 5