Vietnamese and Bangladeshi women making clothes sold in Australian fashion industry earn US$0.51 an hour
- Nine out of 10 workers interviewed in Bangladesh said they could not afford enough food for themselves and their families
The aid group interviewed 470 garment workers employed at factories supplying brands such as Big W, Kmart, Target and Cotton On, and found 100 per cent of surveyed workers in Bangladesh and 74 per cent in Vietnam could not make ends meet.
“The investigation has uncovered the widespread payment of poverty wages and the impact this is having on the lives of the workers, mainly women, making the clothes Australians love to wear,” Oxfam Australia chief executive Helen Szoke said.
“Women who are unable to get treatment when they fall sick, workers who cannot afford to send their children to school, families that cannot make their pay stretch to put enough food on the table, people sleeping on floors in overcrowded houses, spiralling debts, mothers separated from their children – these are just some of the common realities of the failure of big brands to ensure the payment of living wages.”
Nine out of 10 workers interviewed in Bangladesh said they could not afford enough food for themselves and their families and were forced to skip meals or go into debt.
In the same country, 72 per cent of workers interviewed could not afford medical treatment, compared with 53 per cent in Vietnam.
In Bangladesh, one in three workers interviewed was separated from their children because of inadequate income.
