Tackling the systems which prevent homeworkers from speaking out

You might remember our Christmas Appeal last year, which focused on a group of homeworkers from Tirupur, India, who shared their stories and experiences of working in fashion’s hidden supply chains through photography.   

In a partnership with SOAS, University of London, we have recently been listening to home-based workers in north India, a group of workers that Transform Trade has a history of supporting, but which are often ignored by fashion brands. These are among fashion’s worst paid workers, often earning wages well below even minimum wage levels. Women homeworkers are particularly poorly paid, very frequently earning less than £2 for a day’s work. As informal workers, they are also typically excluded from social security systems such as pensions.

Seeking to find ways in which their concerns can be better heard and acted upon, the project has confirmed our understanding that these workers, many of whom are part of global textile and clothing supply chains of UK brands, lack access to formal grievance mechanisms, so are unable to raise concerns or make complaints to their employers. Our effort has enabled home-based workers to explain how they would like grievance channels to work, whilst also shining light on some of the existing strategies they have evolved to try to negotiate better terms, particularly fairer piece-rates.

We’ll be sharing these findings with fashion brands in the UK and in Europe, in order to encourage them to build more effective worker voice and grievance systems into their supply chain due diligence on homeworkers and other hidden workers. We’re holding them to account by letting them know there are changes to be made, and they can’t get away with token gestures on matters of worker rights.

Just last month, a multi-stakeholder meeting was held in Delhi, bringing together leading UK high street brands, suppliers and worker support organisations, to share experiences and raise awareness of some of the challenges faced by this ‘invisible’ group of workers and their demands for a fairer deal.