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.
The International Steering Committee of Asia Floor Wage Alliance consists of trade unions and labour rights organisations across garment production countries in Asia and in brands’ & consumer regions.
