Press Conference: Fight the Heist Campaign Launch

We are happy to invite our friends in the media to the joint press conference between  Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) and Global Labor Justice – International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF). 

Time & Date: Tuesday, February 28 at 9:00 AM ET / 7:00 PM PST / 7:30 PM IST & SLST / 8:00 PM BDT / 9:00 PM ICT 

View the recording here.

AFWA and GLJ-ILRF  in cooperation with 18 garment worker unions in six Asian countries are releasing a new report, Big Fashion & Wall Street Cash in on Wage Theft detailing how the wage theft of Asian garment workers, directly led to high corporate profits for global fashion brands like Nike, VF Corp and Levi’s. 

With the new evidence, garment trade unions from Asia will be launching a new global campaign, #FighttheHeist calling for an end to billionaire payouts from dividends and stock buybacks until garment workers are repaid their lost wages. 

Garment supply chain workers, a majority of them women, faced massive wage theft and income loss during the COVID-19 pandemic when Big Fashion brands’ like Nike canceled or drastically reduced orders en masse (as detailed in the Money Heist report).

Meanwhile, Wall Street investors and owners made record profits and paid themselves millions of dollars through stock buybacks. The Nike-owning Knight family, for example, paid themselves $74 million in dividends while garment workers struggled to survive on slashed incomes.

Now three years into the pandemic, garment workers who have still not recovered are demanding change from Wall Street executives, shareholders, and investors.

AFWA, GLJ-ILRF and 20 Asian garment sector unions have joined forces to stop Big Fashion companies from enriching investors at workers’ expense.

On February 27^th 2023, we launched the Fight the Heist campaign to demand that Big Fashion companies:

• Sit down with garment workers and their unions for a systematic investigation of COVID wage claims, including specific impacts on women workers.
• Stop billionaire payouts from dividends and stock buybacks until all garment workers are repaid their lost wages.
• Transform their global supply chains including providing living wages for all workers.

Get more info on the campaign on our press call on Tuesday, February 28 at 9:00 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST / 9:00 PM ICT.

Click here to read our press release.