May Day 2026 Statement: From Global Crises to Rising Costs of Living, to Gender- Based Violence and Harassment - Garment Workers and Unions Demand Accountability
Solidarity Greetings on May Day!
International Workers’ Day stands as a testament to the enduring struggles and collective power of working people across the world. On this day, the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) stands in solidarity with workers and trade unions across Asia. Our struggles are interconnected, and our strength lies in building power across borders.
The garment industry, driven by global fashion brands’ extreme greed, is emblematic of working people’s hardships and resistance. Garment supply chains are sustained by systemic exploitation of women workers whose labor drives the industry. Women workers in garment production countries in Asia face entrenched injustice: poverty wages, wage theft, gender-based violence and harassment, and the routine denial of fundamental rights. This is not incidental – subjugation of women workers fuels this highly profitable industry whose revenues are primarily captured by fashion brands from the Global North.
Read the statement here: English
Asia Floor Wage Alliance Statement on the Thirteenth Anniversary of the Rana Plaza Collapse
Thirteen years have passed since the Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed in Savar, Bangladesh, crushing the lives of 1,134 workers and injuring thousands more. Today, Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) does not merely commemorate this tragedy; we confront the reality that the conditions which led to one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the history of Bangladesh and the region remain largely intact.
Read the rest of the statement here: English
Open Letter to Victoria’s Secret from the Asia Floor Wage Alliance - Women’s Leadership Committee (AFWA-WLC)
Pushpalatha was a 45-year-old garment worker, a mother, and a woman whose labor sustained global fashion brands like yours. On October 10, 2025, she became ill at work and pleaded to leave the factory for medical care. Instead of receiving compassion and protection, she was forced to continue working until the end of her shift. Only then was she taken to the hospital, where she died a few hours later. This was not an accident. This was a consequence of a workplace system that treats women’s bodies as expendable and prioritizes production targets over human life.
As women trade union leaders representing garment workers across Asia, we recognize this tragedy as part of a broader pattern of gendered exploitation in garment supply chains. Women workers are routinely denied rest, medical care, and dignity. They are silenced through fear, intimidation, and retaliation when they speak out. Pushpalatha’s death exposes the violent cost of this model of production.
Read the full open letter here: English
AFWA-WLC Statement on International Women’s Day
On this International Women’s Day, the Asia Floor Wage Alliance-Women’s Leadership Committee stands in solidarity to demand justice and dignity for women garment workers across Asia. We are women trade union leaders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – representing millions of garment workers whose labor sustains one of the world’s most profitable industries.
Women workers are the backbone of the global garment industry. We cut, stitch, finish, and pack the clothes that brands sell for billions. Yet in our workplaces, too many women face gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), poverty wages, inhumane working hours, repression of Freedom of Association, and sudden factory closures that strip us of our livelihoods overnight.
Today, we do not speak only of injustice, but with hope, and with defiance – because women garment workers across Asia are organizing, demanding change, and building solutions that work.
Read in: English
Oversight Committee Statement on the Achievements of The Dindigul Agreement
A statement by the Oversight Committee on the conclusion of the Dindigul Agreement, outlining its achievements and lessons in preventing and combating gender-based violence and harassment.
Read in English
