KARACHI — The National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) Pakistan organized a Textile and Garments Workers Conference at a local hotel in Karachi. Textile and garments workers and their union representatives, along with workers from export-dominant factories producing merchandise for big international fashion brands from across the country, attended the conference.

The conference discussed frameworks like Pakistan Accord (PA), Global Framework Agreements (GFAs) between IndustriALL Global Union and clothing brands, German Supply Chain Due Diligence Legislation (SCDDL), and the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), their implementation mechanisms, their problems, and their impact on millions of workers engaged in the textile and garment sector.

The conference was presided over by Pakistan Textile Workers Federation (PTWF) General Secretary Syed Sajjad Hussain Gardezi.

Addressing the participants online, IndustriALL Global Union’s Textile Garments Shoes and Leather (LGSL) Sector Co-Chair, Victor Garrido Sotomayor, said that GFAs between IndustriALL and international clothing brands had established fundamental standards for worker protection. These agreements addressed freedom of association, collective bargaining rights, workplace safety, anti-discrimination measures, living wages, working hours, and environmental protection measures. The GFAs provide a crucial mechanism for ensuring worker rights and sustainable practices across global supply chains.

NTUF General Secretary, Nasir Mansoor, said that the Pakistan Accord, established in 2023 in Pakistan, was built on the Bangladesh Accord created after the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse that killed over 1,100 workers. The PA is a legally binding agreement between global brands and trade unions that mandates workplace safety inspections, worker safety training, and a transparent complaint mechanism in Pakistan’s textile industry. He added that the accord covers fire, building, and electrical safety standards, creating legally enforceable obligations for signatory brands.

He viewed the implementation of these legally binding instruments as crucial in impacting the working conditions and rights of workers in Pakistan’s textile and garments industry. Despite contributing significantly—up to 60 percent—to the country’s total exports and being the major source of foreign reserves, the conditions of workers were deplorable as most of them were denied their rights to unionize, decent working conditions, and minimum wages, let alone living wages. They remained vulnerable to occupational safety and health risks while bearing the brunt of climate change on their wellbeing, livelihood, and security.

Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) General Secretary and IndustriALL’s TGSL Sector Co-Chair, Zehra Khan, shed light on key regulatory frameworks governing supply chains. She said that the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Law, effective since January 2023, represented a significant step toward brand accountability. Companies with over 1,000 employees must now monitor their supply chains for human rights violations and environmental risks, facing substantial penalties of their annual global turnover for non-compliance.

She said unfortunately, workers associated with the textile and garment industry have yet to reap benefits from it. “We attempted to use this law against the lawlessness of brands, but it has yet to yield significant results,” she commented.

The conference highlighted severe ongoing issues in the textile and garments industry. Workers consistently received below-minimum wages, lacking basic employment protections such as contracts, social security, health insurance, and pension benefits. Women workers face particularly challenging conditions, experiencing wage discrimination compared to male counterparts and confronting harassment, often facing intimidation when they attempt to resist or report maltreatment.

The speakers emphasized the criminal negligence of international brands and their suppliers in adhering to the accord, GFAs, and various transnational, federal, and local laws. Implementation challenges persist, particularly in union representation. Many factories supplying to signatory brands, German companies, and EU entities actively prevent worker unionization, often manipulating the process through the creation of ‘yellow unions.’ The accord’s complaint mechanism remains largely inaccessible to workers, who lack proper training in utilizing these protective instruments.

The conference acknowledged the PA as a collaborative milestone between international brands, trade unions, and local stakeholders in improving and implementing workplace safety practices. Conference participants expressed hope for the extension of the accord’s tenure and emphasized the need for worker training in accessing complaint mechanisms and protecting unionization rights to realize its full benefits.

In a video message, IndustriALL Global Union’s South Asia Regional Secretary, Ashutosh Bhattacharya, shed light on the union’s work in textile, garments, shoes, and leather industries, citing the PA and the Act campaign through which they are striving to regularize industrial-level collective bargaining as important mechanisms toward achieving better working conditions, corporate accountability, and a sustainable future. He said that IndustriALL stood in solidarity with workers across the globe.

Pakistan Accord Country Manager, Zulfiqar Shah, said that the accord covers 500 factories in Pakistan, and so far 170 of them have been inspected. He said that the accord does not just conduct inspections but also ensures measures are taken. He added that workers’ roles in the accord are very important, and it engages workers in training on occupational safety and health. He said that mechanisms like the accord, laws, directives, and agreements should be used for the welfare of workers.

The US United Workers’ Theresa Hass gave an online presentation on the topic of EU CSDDD, saying that it is commendable law; however, it is unclear whether it will benefit workers. She said that currently, recommendations were being submitted to the EU authorities for making the legislation stronger, as the current document appears weak in supporting workers in exercising their basic human and workers’ rights.

At the conference, five major trade unions and federations of Pakistan, including Pakistan United Federation of Trade Unions, Ittehad Labor Carpet Union Pakistan, Pakistan Textile Workers Federation, Home Based Women Workers Federation, and NTUF announced the formation of Pakistan Textile Garments Trade Union Coordination Council.

Conference Demands and Resolution

The conference concluded with the following demands and resolutions:

• Recognize the living wage as a legislative and regulatory standard for a worker’s salary, and this should be in accordance with formulas that keep in check all living costs of the workers.
• The international brands and their supplying factories must respect the GFA and implement its measures in true letter and spirit.
• H&M had pledged in 2018 to implement the living wage as a standard throughout its supply chain; however, the pledge has yet to materialize as workers in its supplying factories receive even below the minimum wage.
• The Pakistani government must play the role of implementation partner, make policies in accordance with decent work and living wage standards, and protect the rights of workers.
• The participants rejected the Sindh Labor Code and termed it an agenda to weaken the agency and rights of the workers that were achieved through years of struggle.