01.08.2022

UEM supports petition for fair living wages

[Translate to Englisch:] Eine Million Unterschriften braucht die Online-Petition von „Good Clothes, Fair Pay“, damit sich die EU-Kommission mit den Forderungen beschäftigen muss. © Foto: Good Clothes, Fair Pay / Viktoria Cichon

The UEM supports the Good Clothes Fair Pay initiative with an online petition that aims to achieve binding legislation for living wages in the global clothing, textile and footwear industry. The online petition was initiated by the Clean Clothes Campaign, among others. The UEM is a member of the campaign.
The petition is addressed to the citizens of the European Union (EU). It is intended to recommend to the European Commission that companies in the textile industry be obliged to audit their supply chains and to comply with living wages. Good Clothes Fair Pay is calling for brands and retailers to be legally obliged to assess wages in their supply chains, draw up plans to close the gap between actual and living wages, and publicly report their progress.

"It is shameful that German textile companies also profit from starvation wages, despite all claims of sustainable and socially responsible production. Respect for human and labour rights is falling by the wayside," said Dietrich Weinbrenner, UEM's Sustainable Textiles Officer. Within the international church community, especially female workers from Indonesia and Sri Lanka have repeatedly reported on poor working conditions in the textile industry. Against this background, the UEM has been campaigning for fair wages and working conditions in the international textile industry for over 25 years.

The "Clean Clothes Campaign" is a network that works to improve the working and living conditions of workers in the global textile, sports, shoe & leather industries.