Check out our blog, co-written with Traidcraft Exchange, setting out the simple steps that companies can take to improve the situation of homeworkers within their supply chains.
Homeworkers Headaches: Reducing Hidden Risks in Fashion Supply Chains
The devestating Impact of Covid 19 on Leather Footwear Workers
For many years HWW has highlighted the challenges faced by both factory workers and homeworkers in the sector. It is therefore not surprising that the COVID-19 crisis and the nationwide lockdown have had a devastating impact on many workers in the leather production and footwear manufacturing industry.
Disruptions in domestic supply chains coupled with the knee-jerk reactions of many international brands and retailers, who cancelled new orders and deferred payments for shipments made, caused huge losses to the leather and leather footwear manufacturers in India. The workers employed in these sectors bore the brunt of the pandemic, with many unpaid during the lockdown period, and thousands laid off or terminated.
Cividep have produced this indepth report detailing the true impact of the pandemic on leather sector workers - including the many women homeworkers who handstitch leather shoe uppers - in Tamil Nadu.
Home-based work in the time of Covid-19: news from Ambur
Here’s an update from Cividep India on the situation of homeworkers handstitching leather uppers in Tamil Nadu .. as informal workers, homeworkers were particularly hard hit by the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns .. supply chain disruption and the failure of many brands to pay for completed orders has meant that many homeworkers have also not been paid for work that was done in good faith. It’s great to hear that Cividep has been able to bring some of these workers together, to share their experiences and look for ways to take action.
International Home-based Workers Day
Today, 20th October, is International Home-based workers Day.
We’re remembering all the women around the world who work within their homes making clothes and other products for large retailers.
Check out this great video challenging the big brands to do more to improve their working conditions, and this blog, written by Annie Delany, highlighting the devastating impact of the covid-19 pandemic on their livelihoods.
How the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted homeworkers lives
Covid-19 has had a huge affect on us all. Homeworkers have been particularly affected and the consequences are devastating. With no work they have no income. And with no income they cannot pay their rent, or afford to send their children to school, or buy food to eat. Some are forced into taking out loans just in order to eat. Rohan Preece from Traidcraft Exchange, our partners on the Hidden Homeworkers Project, has written a blog telling the stories of 3 women homeworkers – Kavita, Rupa, and Jenny