OECD Side Session - Tying Threads Together - Confronting the Fashion Industry's Accountability Problem

Last year, Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) and its partner unions launched a groundbreaking attempt to hold global fashion brands accountable for labor rights violations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through litigation, they argued that fashion brands should be considered as “joint employers”, along with their suppliers, under national laws in Asia, for the massive wage theft and the resulting poverty and destitution of millions of Asian garment workers.

Even in this growing struggle for legal accountability for workers’ rights in Asian garment production countries, the OECD guidelines remain a powerful tool.

In this panel, garment labor leaders and movement lawyers discuss how the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the crisis in the fashion industry: from increased wage theft, caste and gender-based violence to rising levels of informality.

They will examine how the OECD Due Diligence Guidelines can drive accountability in national laws and in fashion supply chains - especially from brands and investors to marginalized workers. The panel will also explore investors and fashion companies’ responsibilities towards garment workers moving forward from COVID-19.