fashionista.com
There’s a lot of excitement right now about H&M’s forthcoming collaboration with Maison Martin Margiela, but the company is coming under some scrutiny in its native Sweden this week.
Swedish TV documentary program Kalla Fakta accused the fast fashion retailer of not paying Cambodian garment workers a decent living wage, according to WWD. The miminum wage for these workers is currently $61 per month, which is less than 25% of what is considered a living wage.
H&M fired back at the program, saying in a statement that they are actually at the “forefront” of fighting for better minimum wages for workers in countries that manufacture its clothes. “We want a permanent change, negotiated between workers and employers,” H&M said. “This should be done by collective agreement that all workers in a country could benefit from.”
The Clean Clothes Campaign, a Netherlands-based labor union alliance, thinks H&M could do more. Trade unions in Cambodia have recently asked for the minimum wage to be raised to $131 per month, and they’re looking for H&M’s public support for the initiative. No word yet on what H&M’s next steps will be. We’ve reached out to them for comment and will update when we hear back.
Even $131 a month seems absurdly low, but it’s definitely a positive step that companies are being forced to have these dialogues.
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