Stitched Up: Denial of Freedom of Association for Garment Workers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

This report focuses on violations of workers’ right to freedom of association in the four target countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

It examines the different ways in which workers are adversely affected by the restrictions on the right to freedom of association by states and by their employers. It addresses the legal and administrative burdens states have placed on workers trying to organize to defend their rights, and the harassment and intimidation they face from factory owners. It also highlights the failure of states to promote the rights of garment workers, and the failure of states to protect these workers from anti-union abuse, harassment and violence by employers. It touches on the role of fashion brands and retailers in failing to support garment workers’ rights to freedom of association, and the impact on workers of the longstanding, daily denial of their rights.

This report, alongside the accompanying briefing Abandoned by Fashion: The Urgent Need for Fashion Brands to Champion Workers’ Rights; Brand Responses to Amnesty International Survey investigates and uncovers the impact of these failures and the covert alliance between the state governments of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, brands and retailers, and suppliers.

All of these parties have failed to protect freedom of association and significantly improve working conditions in the garment industry, and they continue to enable exploitation and other abuses of labor rights directly and indirectly. The report underscores how the garment industry and its current business model have thrived on the exploitation of a mainly female workforce. These individuals – mostly women – remain grossly underpaid and overworked, with a lack of access to basic rights, and are systematically disenfranchised through informal and insecure contracts, despite their crucial contribution to the economies of South Asia.

Indeed, despite clear evidence of endemic human rights abuses and the denial of the basic rights to freedom of association and just and favorable conditions of work in major sourcing countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the garment industry has not properly addressed the denial of these core rights and has not properly addressed the impact of poverty wages, systematic discrimination and precarious work.