In response to Adidas’ announcement to begin selling off Yeezy products, unions united in the Pay Your Workers - Respect Labor Rights (PYW-RLR) trade union committee have written an open letter to Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden. In the letter, they support the company’s pledge to donate proceeds from the sale to fight discrimination and hate, but also call on Adidas to use another portion of the profits to compensate workers for lost wages and severance pay. SGI Europe first learned of the letter dated May 30 on cleanclothes.org.
According to the Pay Your Workers - Respect Labor Rights’ website, the union committee is supported by a total of 285 organizations worldwide, including garment worker unions, union federations, labor rights and human rights organizations, consumer groups, women’s rights organizations, and many other stakeholders, including the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation in Bangladesh, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union in Cambodia, the Free Trade Zones & General Service Employees Union in Sri Lanka and Workers United in the USA.
PYW-RLR states that the Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected workers in various industries, including Adidas product manufacturing. The unions point to problems such as unpaid wages during lockdowns and lack of severance pay for workers who lost their jobs. They stress that efforts to negotiate with employers over outstanding wages and severance pay have been met with increasing suppression of basic union rights. To address these concerns, the unions propose that Adidas use a portion of the profits from the sale of Yeezy products (estimated sales value according to PYW-RLR around $1.2 billion) for a ten-year commitment under the PYW-RLR agreement. The agreement aims to combat wage and severance theft resulting from the pandemic and establish a global guarantee fund for future severance payments. Adidas would help alleviate the longstanding problem of severance theft in the apparel, footwear and textile industries and ensure that workers are not left destitute when factories close or make mass layoffs without paying adequate compensation. The unions anticipate that the annual fee for Adidas’ participation in the PYW-RLR agreement would be less than 3 percent of the stated sales value of the merchandise. They emphasize that this commitment would have a significant positive impact on the lives of workers who contribute to the production of Adidas’ products.
While Adidas has not released a public statement on the motion, the full open letter from PYW-RLR to Adidas is available here.
