Delhi, India— On October 7th, the ITUC-declared World Day of Decent Work, Asian workers’ organizations and representatives along with allies in the US, UK and throughout Europe are coming together to demand a Minimum Living Wage called the Asia Floor Wage.
As the protestors at G-20 recently urged the global platform of governments to realize the fallacy of the neoliberal “free trade” model of development, labor activists in Asia, US, UK and Europe have joined hands to pro-actively propose a new model for growth.
The Asia Floor Wage (AFW) Campaign is based on the premise that we need a new framework for the growth of the global economy; one that is based on labor rights and prioritizes the demand for a living wage.
Garment worker Mirza takes a nap, while her eldest son gives lessons to his younger siblings. He is a school-drop out himself and an unemployed leather worker. Delhi, India, September 2009. cc Ankur Ahuja/CleanClothesCampaign
A Newsweek article in January 2009 called for a wage increase in Asia claiming that the only way out of the economic recession is to ensure that Asians consume more. The article makes the case that without raising the living standard of Asian workers, there will be no one left to buy all the goods being manufactured.
Many corporations have argued that raising wages during an economic crisis stalls job creation. But in the US, minimum wage concepts were introduced during the Great Depression. We have seen that when workers and their families have higher wages and greater purchasing power, the economy is more stable and prosperity is shared.
Jobs with Justice has been centrally involved in helping to develop this global campaign for a Minimum Living Wage, taking the clothing industry as an example. Over the past several decades, corporations have learned to avoid local worker bargaining power by organizing themselves globally and exerting a downward pressure on wages along the supply chain that brings good from manufacturing to consumers. The AFW campaign challenges this race-to-the-bottom model by raising the wage floor in all major garment producing countries.
Since 2006, meetings and dialogues across three continents have brought together a powerful alliance to demand a minimum Living Wage for the Asian garment workers who produce 60% of the world’s clothing. The AFW Alliance demands that the Big Brands and Big Boxes bear the cost of this wage increase, which will have a negligible impact on their enormous profits.
Portrait of two young garment workers, Jhumur, 16, and Rupa, 14. August 2009, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Taslima Akhter / Clean Clothes Campaign
In the face of corporate claims that Asian workers cannot unite to come up with a common figure, the AFW Alliance has done just that. The wage level is different in each country’s currency, but represents the same level of purchasing power. To learn how this is calculated, check out this comic book.
On October 7, the central international launch will take place in New Delhi, India accompanied by parallel launch activities across the globe including rallies, workshops, approaches to governments and industries, public lectures by prominent human rights supporters, and press conferences.
Here in the United States, Jobs with Justice is teaming up with the International Labor Rights Forum, United Students Against Sweatshops, Workers’ Rights Consortium, the Asia Pacific American Labor Alliance, and the AFL-CIO to launch an educational campaign with our members and allies.
The AFW Alliance has informed most Big Brands and Big Boxes in the US, UK, and Europe about the Asia Floor Wage Campaign. At several launch activities, some of the big companies will send representatives. We hope that these companies will see their interest in raising the living standard for Asian garment workers. If not, we will have to show them it’s in their interests.
Stay tuned to this blog to find out how you can help with the Asia Floor Wage!
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