Union Group Calls on Brands to Support Garment Workers After Turkey Quake

The Pay Your Workers coalition said international brands should commit to pay suppliers on time, take steps to address wage theft and make sure factories don’t reopen until they are safe.

The call to action comes nearly two months after devastating earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people in northern Syria and southeast Turkey, a region with a sizeable apparel and textile manufacturing sector.

Brands including Zara-owner Inditex, Boohoo and Primark all source from the affected region, according to Pay Your Workers, a coalition made up of more than 280 unions and labour rights organisations around the world.

The organisation said many factories have reopened “recklessly soon” and raised concerns that workers could face layoffs or reduced wages if businesses aren’t able to keep to production schedules because of the disaster.

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Turkish Fashion Manufacturers in Earthquake-Affected Areas Resume Production

Garment factories in the cities of Malatya, Elazıg and Sanliurfa are running again and the impact on textile mills in Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman is now ‘minor’, according to the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association.