The Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) was founded in 2007 as an Asian labor-led global labour and social alliance across garment-producing countries (such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) and consumer regions (USA and Europe) for addressing poverty-level wages, gender discrimination, and freedom of association in global garment production networks.

Garment workers in Asia, who are mostly women, produce most of the clothing in the global fast fashion industry. Global fashion brands are the primary drivers of this global market and supply chain; their primary interest is to maximise profits through manufacturing fashion clothing in production countries with cheap labour and selling that clothing in high-price consumer regions like Europe and USA. Brands’ continual focus on lowering production costs leads to a race to the bottom for workers’ wages and a decent and dignified life.

Garment unions in Asia realize the limitations of country-based struggles for improving workers’ lives in a global supply chain economy driven by global brands in Europe and United States. AFWA builds regional unity in Asia’s production countries and strong collaboration with solidarity networks in Europe and USA, to hold brands globally accountable.

Our Ten-Year History

The Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) is an international campaign and alliance for collective industrial bargaining in the global garment industry. AFWA’s inception, in 2007, rests on the shoulders of resilient, innovative and inspiring social movements, particularly spanning the last decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.

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The members of the International Steering Committee of the Asia Floor Wage Alliance are as follows:

  • Abul Hossain, Textile Garments Workers Federation (TGWF), Bangladesh
  • K.M Ruhul Amin, Bangladesh Garments & Sweaters Workers Trade Union Center (GWTUC), Bangladesh
  • Kazi Rahima Akter Shathi, Garments Workers’ Unity League (GSUL), Bangladesh
  • Shahnaz Sumi, Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS), Bangladesh
  • Kong Athit, Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU), Cambodia
  • Sar Mora, Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), Cambodia
  • Yang Sophorn, Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), Cambodia
  • Amarnath Sharma, Garment and Allied Workers Union (GAWU), India
  • Thivya Rakini, Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU), India
  • Deepika Rao, Cividep, India
  • Nagarathna, Karnataka Garment Workers Union (KOOGU), India
  • Ary Joko Sulistyo, Federasi Serikat Buruh Garmen, Kerajinan, Tekstil, Kulit dan Sentra Industri (FSB Garteks), Indonesia
  • Iwan Kusmawan, Serikat Pekerja Nasional (SPN), Indonesia
  • Sumiyati, Serikat Pekerja Nasional (SPN), Indonesia
  • Syarif Arifin, Lembaga Informasi Perburuhan Sedane (LIPS), Indonesia
  • Niaz Khan, Textile Power Loom and Garment Workers’ Federation, Pakistan
  • Abbas Haider, Pakistan Institute for Labour Education & Research (PILER), Pakistan
  • Chamila, Dabindu Collective, Sri Lanka
  • Dedduwa Kumara Lalitha Ranjanie, Textile, Garment and Clothing Workers Union (TGCWU), Sri Lanka
  • Suranjaya Amerasinghe, Commercial and Industrial Workers’ Union (CIWU), Sri Lanka
  • Erica Smiley, Jobs with Justice (JwJ), USA
  • Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum, Global Labor Justice, USA