The Facts
The garment sector is at high risk of forced labour
Forced labour has become embedded in the global supply chains of the ready-made garment (RMG) sector. Billions of dollars’ worth of garment imports each year have forced labour in their supply chains.
Bangladesh - a global leader
in garment production
Bangladesh is the world's second-largest exporter of ready-made garments. The sector accounts for more than 80% of Bangladesh’s total export earnings, employing 4 million workers directly and supporting up to 40 million indirectly.
Indicators of forced labour
More than 30% of adult RMG workers in Bangladesh earn below minimum wage, 90% report insufficient wages for a decent living, and many experience exhausting hours with underpayment of overtime. Discrimination, abuse and exploitation are systemic.
Subcontracted factories
With brand demands on volume and speed greater than factory capacity, suppliers will subcontract to lower tier factories. These factories are not subject to the same regulations and therefore exhibit especially severe forms of labour exploitation, due to a lack of regulatory oversight and scrutiny from global supply chains.
The existing corporate social responsibility (CSR) audit system has reached its limits.
CSR has not transformed the realities of workers’ lives or addressed the deeper dynamics that keep the system stuck.
Threadneedle Collaboration was formed out of the belief that this is a moment not only to fix what is broken, but to ask a larger question: what kind of industry do we want to help build?