According to current figures from the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), garment workers have become poorer on average when they earn the applicable minimum wage. The share of the minimum wage amount in the EU poverty line fell from 65 percent to 61 percent between 2018 and 2021, even though minimum wages were nominally increased in many countries. In Eastern Europe and Turkey, they often earn less than their colleagues in the Far East.
Even more dramatic is the gap between the minimum wage and the European basic living wage, i.e. a wage with which families can cover their basic needs – expenditure on food, clothing, housing, mobility, hygiene, culture and recreation. Money should also remain for small reserves with which they can survive, for example, wage losses during the pandemic and inflation.
Eastern Europe and the Far East: Quarters vs. Thirds of the Living Wage
According to calculations by CCC, garment workers in Eastern Europe and Turkey receive on average only a quarter of an income that would be enough to live on. Depending on the country, the basic living wage for Eastern Europe is between 734 euros and 1,558 euros per month.
In real terms, however, the legal minimum wage in Serbia in 2021 was only 275 euros per month, which corresponds to a quarter of the basic living wage of 976 euros per month for the country, or in Bulgaria it was a fifth, in Ukraine a quarter and in even only Moldova one seventh.
“Even countries that are no longer low-wage countries, such as Slovakia, Poland or Hungary, have a minimum wage that only covers a third of a living wage – a ratio that is also normal in Asia,” says the Clean Clothes Campaign in a message.
CCC joins Good Clothes, Fair Pay
She has therefore joined the European citizens’ initiative Good Clothes, Fair Pay, which is campaigning for EU legislation that prevents starvation wages and calls on the EU Commission to propose legislation that would oblige companies in the clothing and footwear industry to pay in pay attention to living wages in their supply chains.
“European companies should be pioneers when it comes to human rights and climate protection, and this requires clear legal requirements – a strong supply chain law that leaves no room for loopholes,” says Gertrude Klaffenböck, coordinator of the Clean Clothes Campaign in Austria.
“Especially for the fashion brands that are still ordering in Ukraine, the basic living wage is an orientation on how they can currently fulfill their duty of care. With our latest calculations for Europe, trade unions, civil society and the EU Parliament now have a basis on which they can call for legally binding consideration of living wages in supply chains – also in Europe,” adds Bettina Musiolek from the CCC.