Hides & Hardship. Caste-based discrimination in the leather industry in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan

31 March 2023

Leather work is seen in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan as dirty and undesirable. Many of the people who work in the industry – and in India the overall majority – occupy marginalised places in society and often lack any other livelihood option. They are vulnerable to exploitation and have little if any possibility of moving forward in work or in life to break the cycle of poverty and discrimination for themselves or their children.

A specific connection between caste and the leather industry can be identified, while a religious aspect is present as well, especially in India. Since religious minorities face many challenges in these three countries, the interlinkages between caste, religion, and leather work cannot be ignored when looking at discriminatory practices in the industry in these countries.

This paper shows that caste and related discriminatory practices, at times specifically interlinking with religion, are high risk factors for businesses that source leather or leather products from India, Bangladesh, or Pakistan. It explains how caste-based and religious-based discrimination presents itself in these countries and how this connects to the leather industry.

Download the report here

INKOTA/Südwind Austria

Label Check: Leather and Leather-Shoes

29 March 2023

Labour rights and social criteria are neglected by the most common leather and shoe labels. The shoe and leather industry does not sufficiently implement the requirements of the German Supply Chain Act, but hides behind voluntary standards. This is the result of a joint research by INKOTA and Südwind Austria.

„Consumers get no information about working conditions and social standards when buying leather goods and shoes; a blatant lack of consumer information. Companies advertise with standards that are not mandatory”, explains Berndt Hinzmann, senior policy advisor at INKOTA.

The six quality labels examined include the “Blue Angel eco-label for shoes”, “Oeko-Tex Leather Standard”, “IVN certified natural leather”, the “Austrian eco-label” and the two business-to-business certification systems “Leather Working Group (LWG)” and “Higg Brand and Retail Module (HiggBRM)”. Only two, the Blue Angel and the Austrian Eco-label, are based on legal regulations. The other schemes base their selection of technical, environmental or social criteria primarily on the interests of the companies involved. The majority of the certification systems described focus on the collection of environmental and material-related indicators.

None of the quality labels include information on living wages or the risk-based approach to due diligence. The certifications also have major shortcomings when it comes to social criteria: in the case of the Leather Working Group, the Oeko-Tex Leather Standard and HiggBRM, no social criteria are necessary for the award of the seal. With the Leather Working Group, it is even possible to obtain the “Gold Medal” label without a social audit. The HiggBRM does not make public any information at all that gives insight into the risk analysis and the measures companies take to minimise or avoid risks along the supply chain.

„There is an urgent need for action to address the structural risks leather and footwear workers are facing. We need a strong EU supply chain law and a review of the implementation of the German supply chain law. Accepting home-made, non-transparent industry standards is not the solution”, states Berndt Hinzmann.

The Decent Leather Label Check examines a selection of quality labels that companies referred to in the company survey “Human Rights Due Diligence in Practice”. The companies stated that they fulfill the requirements of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act via so-called business-to-business standards.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has identified leather production as a special risk sector. Massive labour rights violations are not uncommon in the production of leather goods and shoes. Low wages, extremely long working days and hardly regulated working conditions are the rule. In addition, there is intensive use of hazardous chemicals, inadequate protective equipment and far-reaching environmental risks.

Download the report here.

OECD side session on “Working better in leather”

29 March 2023

From 13 – 17 February 2023, The OECD organised a Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector. Arisa, on behalf of the consortium Together for Decent Leather, organised a (virtual) side session entitled “Working better in leather: stakeholder engagement and worker empowerment as key aspects of due diligence”. The session explored stakeholder engagement and empowerment of workers in the leather and leather products manufacturing industry in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Empower workers

While human rights due diligence laws are developing, research finds evidence of poor labour situations, including challenges for unionisation, regularly accompanied by a shrinking civic space. Challenges to worker’s rights in the leather sector in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan persist. Ashraf Uddin Mukit, executive director at Bangladesh Labour Foundation (BLF), and Farhat Parveen, executive director at NOW Communities (Pakistan), stressed during the side session that national and international stakeholders in the leather supply chain must collaborate with organisations on the ground such as BLF and NOW Communities. Organisations like theirs are in direct contact with the workers and have first-hand knowledge on the situations of workers. They empower and support workers by engaging in regular contact, trust-building, and training.

To improve their due diligence processes, companies should amongst others look into- and understand the full scope of the labour force at all stages of their supply chain, must speak and work with a range of CSO, be proactive in stakeholder engagement and companies should not wait until problems manifest to engage in dialogue to improve their due diligence, be transparent on their sourcing, source from unionised suppliers and factories, and apply fair pricing- and purchasing practices which enable suppliers to pay fair wages.

Improving due diligence

Elmie van Hoof, Sustainability Manager at Goosecraft (the Netherlands), acknowledged that due diligence topics are often complex for companies. According to her, companies are still learning they can benefit from discussions with various stakeholders. These discussions help to gain a better understanding of the realities of sourcing countries, which is essential for improving due diligence processes. According to Goosecraft, stakeholder engagement also helps to build stronger, sustainable relations with stakeholders.

There are multiple ways in which Goosecraft engages with stakeholders in relation to its due diligence practices. The company engages in meetings with stakeholders to gain information on on-the-ground situations. A good example of this is the meeting and continuous collaboration with NOW Communities, SOMO and Arisa. Based on these organisations’ research findings and long-term knowledge and experience of the situation on the ground, all stakeholders involved discuss labour conditions and the possibilities of change.

Meaningful dialogue

Jules Beelen, a representative of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER), emphasised that the preparation phase of stakeholder dialogue is important to set it up more thoughtfully and be more effective. Their concept guidelines for companies to conduct and achieve meaningful dialogue with their stakeholders helps stakeholders collaboratively bring to light information, challenges, roles, ideas and necessary actions relevant for improving due diligence processes. The SER identified three preconditions to make collaboration work, namely that parties are able to provide a relevant contribution and are willing to cooperate, willing to invest time and resources to build up a collaborative relationship based on equality, and that the roles, tasks and expectations among the various parties are clearly agreed upon. The SER developed a concept of meaningful dialogue that provides information on how companies can engage with their stakeholders in a meaningful way. Download the document here.

SOMO

Unsafe and Underpaid: Working conditions in South Asia’s leather, leatherwear, and footwear factories

14 February 2023

Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India play a major role globally in the export of leather for further processing as well as for products, such as shoes, clothing, bags, suitcases, and belts. It is an industry that contributes significantly to these countries’ economies. There are approx. 200 mainly small and medium-sized tanneries in Bangladesh. Around 80% is produced for direct export and 20% for domestic processing. The main site is an industrial park in Savar, near Dhaka. There are also a smaller number of workshops and factories in the former tannery hub of Hazaribagh in Dhaka’s old town. Leather products, mainly footwear and accessories, are manufactured in the country’s many other production zones. Leather garments are produced in relatively low numbers. It is estimated that the entire sector employs more than 850,000 people.

Four recent regional studies on the leather industry and working conditions in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India conducted in 2022 by the Together for Decent Leather consortium provide comprehensive information on the sector. The studies examine tanneries in Savar near Dhaka, tanneries and leather-processing facilities in Karachi in the Pakistani province of Sindh, and in the cities of Vellore and Ambur in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

All of the selected regions are key leather production hubs. The analysis is based on surveys of a total of 345 leather workers, interviews with local experts from civil society, business, and government, analysis of publicly available commercial data (e.g. concerning leather shoes produced in Bangladesh), as well as a survey of brand[1]name companies and leather importers. This factsheet summarizes the studies’ most important findings. Further details can be found in the respective publications.

Download the factheet here.

Insiya Syed

Exploitative working conditions mark Pakistan’s leather industry

10 January 2023

Work in Pakistan’s leather industry is precarious and exploitative, with little accountability on the part of the government, tanneries and factories, even though Pakistan is a significant exporter of leather goods to European and North American markets. This is the main conclusion of research by the Karachi-based NGO NOW Communities. Over 150 workers were interviewed in the little-researched Pakistan leather sector. Many leather workers, mainly illiterate or poorly educated men, are afraid to speak about their work and living conditions. NOW Communities focused on building trusting relations with workers, and on offering worker rights training.

No running water, low wages

The workforce in the Pakistan leather sector comprises mainly men from low-income extended family households that lack running water and other basic services. Most interviewed men had spent all or most of their working lives in the leather industry, yet few had permanent employment, and many had no documentation regarding their employment. The basic wages are low. Overtime was standard, but very badly paid. Very few employers provided non-monetary benefits such as transport, food rations, an on-workplace dispensary, first aid, medical check-ups, or health insurance.

Only a quarter of the interviewed men were registered with social security schemes. Few knew about their leave entitlements or had experienced paid or unpaid leave. There were adolescent workers in the research sample, and some interviewees mentioned the presence of child labour in the tanneries where hides are cleaned and processed for the production of leather goods, and at other leather manufacturing workplaces. The workplaces in the report are part of the global supply chain of international brands and retailers sourcing leather and leather-based products in Pakistan.

Corruption

Pakistan’s domestic legal framework for the protection of labour rights could help low-paid workers if properly enforced, but it is hampered by institutional corruption and lack of political will. Pakistan’s international trading partners, governments and companies, show little accountability for the industry’s poor working conditions.

“If international brands and buyers would apply fair purchasing practices, this would enable suppliers to create better labour conditions for workers, in line with the highest international business and human rights standards. Also, we urge buying companies to support unionisation at supplier level and the development of the labour movement”, stated Farhat Parveen from NOW Communities.

The report offers a series of recommendations to various actors. As a priority, NOWC and Together for Decent Leather are calling upon international buyers and retailers sourcing leather and leather goods in Pakistan to provide full supply chain transparency, including suppliers of raw materials, tanneries and all types of manufacturers, enabling labour rights organisations in Pakistan and internationally to monitor buyer–supplier relations. Buyers should also apply fair purchasing practices to enable suppliers to create better labour conditions for leather workers in line with the highest international business and human rights standards.

Read the full report here.

Take action for decent leather — Iqra Gulzar, Pakistan

29 July 2022

Battle over minimum wages in Pakistan

3 March 2022

Over the past eight months, the government of Sindh province in Pakistan, employers, and labour rights organisations have been entangled in a fierce battle over minimum wage levels. Sindh province is an important hub for the production of garments for international brands, including leather-based apparel. Garment and leather workers risk coming out on the losing end of this highly politicised battle.

On 9 July 2021, the Sindh provincial government announced a new monthly legal minimum wage for unskilled workers of 25,000 Pakistani Rupees (approx. € 127 as per the exchange rate of 1 March 2021). This constituted a wage increase of no less than 43 per cent compared to the previous legal minimum wage of Rs 17,500, set in 2018. Workers’ organisations had campaigned for an increase of up to Rs 30,0000 per month, to compensate for prevailing poverty wages, high inflation, and the financial distress caused by the Covid19 crisis which caused many workers to lose out on months of wages. Still, the increase announced in July 2021 was welcomed.

Employers putting up a fight

Employers in the garment industry, however, said they cannot meet the costs involved with the new minimum wage. They filed a case against this decision with the Sindh High Court claiming that proper procedures had not been followed. Employers argued that the Sindh Wage Board had recommended Rs 19,000 as minimum monthly wage and that Rs 25,000 is too much. A majority of factory owners are effectively refusing to pay the increased wage. They even threaten to relocate production from Sindh to Punjab province, where the minimum wage would be lower. Workers interviewed by NOW Communities, a Pakistani worker rights organisation that is part of Together for Decent Leather, confirm this picture.

Ongoing legal battle

The Sindh High Court upheld the provincial government’s July 2021 minimum wage decision, declaring that the Rs 25,000 wage was to be implemented retroactively from 1 July 2021. The High Court said that the provincial government was indeed competent to fix, announce and declare the minimum wage. At the same time, the High Court advised the Sindh government to improve current minimum wage procedures.

Employers did not give in. Under the flag of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce, an appeal was lodged at the Supreme Court, which in an interim verdict overturned the decision by the High Court. The Supreme Court maintained that the Sindh government had not followed procedures correctly.

In January 2022, the Supreme Court issued its final verdict, directing the Sindh government and the Wage Board to reach an agreement on the minimum wage in the province by consensus within two months. In the meantime, as per the Supreme Court rule, employers in Sindh are obliged to pay Rs19,000 as monthly minimum wage for unskilled workers, based on an 8-hour working day, with at least one week of holidays per year, with effect from July 2021. For the Sindh government to implement this part of the Supreme Court’s decision, however, a written verdict needs to be issued, which the Supreme Court so far has failed to do.

What garment brands sourcing from Pakistan should do

At the international level, Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) is calling on garment brands that source from Sindh – including H&M, C&A, ALDI Fruit of the Loom, Bestseller, Levi’s, Gap, and Mango – to facilitate the payment of a Rs 25,000 minimum wage by means of responsible purchasing practises and paying a fair price. All workers, regardless of their contract status, should be able to enjoy this wage level. CCC argues this pricing should extend to all orders being produced since 9 July 2021, the date when the minimum wage increase was first announced by the Sindh Provincial government. CCC furthermore asks brands to publicly commit to this good practice. As labour costs only constitute 3-5 per cent of the total production costs, brands should be able to cover such wage increase, while brands’ lack of action will undermine this vital step and increase workers’ vulnerability to poverty and debt.

Asim Rafiqui | NOOR Images

The impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on leather workers in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India

11 October 2021

The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on the garment and footwear industry, particularly on workers. The Corona chronicles bring to light the dramatic consequences of the crisis on leather workers in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India by portraying six of them. They speak about their experiences during the first lockdowns in 2020 and how the pandemic has affected them in terms of employment, livelihoods, rights, and how they fear for the future.

Millions of people worldwide work to produce leather garments, leather footwear and leather accessories. This global production network includes various phases, from animal husbandry to slaughter; from the tanning of raw hides to the finishing of leather; from the cutting of leather components to the production of a wide variety of leather end-goods, such as jackets, trousers, shoes, gloves, bags, trunks, and accessories.

With the coronavirus outbreak, production came to an abrupt halt. The international transport system, including container shipping, was completely upset. Supply chains were disrupted due to a lack of inputs and later on by the cancellation of orders by brands and retailers.

The six stories in this paper – composed by SOMO – were selected from a substantial number of interviews conducted by BLF in June 2020 in Bangladesh, by Cividep in July 2020 in India, and by NOW Communities in September 2020 in Pakistan. Both Cividep and BLF have published reports and analyses about the impacts of coronavirus on garment and leather workers in India and Bangladesh.

Added to these worker testimonies, the paper presents a set of recommendations to governments and businesses, to ensure better protection of workers’ rights.

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NOW Communities

The story of Saeeda – Pakistan

30 June 2021

Saeeda is a 28-year-old former glove factory worker. She lives in Orangi Town, a large slum in the north-western part of Karachi, with her husband, two children, her parents-in-law and three sisters-in-law. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Saeeda earned a small income from working at the factory, checking and packing finished gloves. Saeeda and her family found themselves in a desperate situation when she lost her job due to the crisis. They received very little support, had to borrow money and were left with considerable debts.

Saeeda’s factory

When the pandemic hit, Saeeda’s factory did not close at first, despite the officially proclaimed lockdown in Pakistan. The owner of the glove factory tried to keep production going. Only when the Punjabi state government announced that factory owners would be strictly persecuted for not respecting lockdown rules did the factory shut down. Saeeda and her co-workers were instructed to go home and told that they would be called back to work when the factory opened again. Despite the management’s promises, Saeeda never heard from her employer again.

No contract, no rights

As is often the case in the garment industry, Saeeda did not have an employment contract. When she started working at the glove factory, she was simply given a card to gain entrance to the factory’s compound and a piece of paper indicating her hours of work and payment. No signed contract. No payslips. No formal documentation that she could use to claim her rights and retain her job.

No back pay

When garment factories closed in March 2020, many workers had not yet received their pay for that month. Saeedea was lucky to the extent that she at least got paid for the work she did up until the moment her factory shut down. However, Saeeda and her co-workers were not paid anything in the period that the factory was closed, nor did her employer consider the lockdown as paid leave. Saeeda has given up hope that she will ever receive her due back pay.

Women workers suffered most

After two months of lockdown, the glove factory reopened. Saeeda’s employer did not inform her directly, she only found out by chance. Former colleagues mentioned that the glove factory was short on orders, production had slowed down and less workers were needed. Saeeda was not the only one to abruptly lose her job, many of her co-workers were also dismissed. Saeeda noticed that women in their thirties and forties and elderly male workers were overrepresented among those dismissed. For Saeeda this came as no surprise; she describes how women workers are facing discrimination on the work floor. Compared to their male co-workers, women receive less pay and have less opportunities for training and promotion. Women workers also experience degrading treatment and sexual harassment.

No support

The Pakistan government promised to financially support deprived workers, but although they tried to access the promised funds, Saeeda and her family did not receive any money. Political parties, as part of their campaigning, distributed ration kits with non-perishable, dry foodstuffs. Saeeda and her family did receive this aid, but the package did not last long and was not enough by far to feed the whole household for the period of deprivation.

No future?

The pandemic left Saeeda and her family in a very bad situation. When Saeeda’s husband also lost his job as a driver, the extended family had to make do with a decimated income. With the low wage she had been earning, around 14,000 INR (74 EUR) per month, Saeeda did not have any financial savings. Food became scarce in the household, particularly affecting the children’s health and strength. Saeeda was forced to borrow money from family and friends. What she needs most is to get her job back.

Corona in Pakistan

The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating effect on the Pakistan textile and footwear sector. In 2020, the imports of raw materials, including processed hides and chemicals needed for tanning, were interrupted affecting production. Exports subsequently fell. Spain, France and Italy are important export destinations for Pakistan’s leather-based garment industry. When the pandemic hit Europe at the beginning of 2020, borders closed, international transport came to a standstill and retail shops shut. Orders from international brands were suspended. At the end of March 2020, Pakistan was put under a first nation-wide lockdown, causing a wave of factory closures, initially until the end of May and then again later in the year.

In April 2021, coronavirus infection rates surged for a third time in Pakistan. To curb the spread, lockdowns were again enforced, with some regional and sectoral modifications. In Sindh province, for example, offices and businesses had to close. In other regions factories were kept open. In early May 2021, the Employers’ Association of Pakistan (EFP) announced that they expected a loss of 15-20% of jobs in the industrial sector. This translates into millions of workers losing their income. EPF’s former president added that around 99% of textile processing industries in the industrial area of Karachi halved their production time from 24 hours per day to 12 hours per day.

Trends in production and trade: Leather products from Pakistan

20 April 2021

The leather and leather goods industry is of considerable importance to the Pakistan economy. It is one of the five key export-oriented sectors for the country. This overview of trends in the production of leather and leather goods in Pakistan bundles together information on key products produced in Pakistan, as well as key export markets for its leather and leather goods. The report maps key leather manufacturers and buying companies.

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