IndustriALL – the voice for textile workers
IndustriALL – representing garment workers globally – and H&M group are committed to work together to improve working conditions within the textile industry. We share the vision that all textile workers across the industry should earn living wages.
With our different expertise and shared view on what is necessary to create lasting and industry-wide change; we want to find joint ways of working. And to find solutions that will benefit all garment workers, no matter at which factory they work.
Industry-wide collective agreements – a profound way to change the industry
IndustriALL and H&M group agree industry-wide collective agreements are one important element to be able to bring about systemic change in the industry. With this in place, workers in the garment and textile industry within a country can negotiate their wages under the same conditions – regardless of the factory they work in, and the brands they produce for.
“We really see the benefits of industry-wide collective agreements which would be a real profound way of changing the industry. We work to harness the collective leverage of brands to make such systemic change happen”, says Christina Clausen, Director IndustriALL Global Union.
IndustriALL and H&M group working together
The partnership between H&M group and IndustriALL includes several areas.
- Firstly, H&M group has a Global Framework Agreement with IndustriALL where we work directly with suppliers to strengthen labour standards, including freedom of association and the factory employees’ ability to negotiate about rights and obligations collectively through trade unions. We are also working together within National Monitoring Committees – which consist of trade union representatives as well as H&M group staff present in the production countries – to help resolve conflicts between the workers and their employer that can arise at factories. The goal is to ensure that conflicts are resolved peacefully and in good faith through established processes.
- Secondly, H&M group works together with IndustriALL to build industry-wide collective bargaining mechanisms in the supply chain. This is one aspect that our collaboration within ACT with IndustriALL and several other brands aims at.
- Thirdly, we have a collaboration with IndustriALL within the Bangladesh Accord where we address the fire and building safety issue in the Bangladeshi textile industry.
We are confident that our collaborative way of working aiming for lasting and systemic change, is the right way to go. Our work with IndustriALL helps us to drive the development forward and turn this industry into a more sustainable one.
Jenny Fagerlin, Global Production Social Sustainability Manager, H&M group