Oxfam Australia’s 2023

Christmas Wish List

All we want for Christmas is for the women who make our clothes to be paid a living wage. But most are not paid enough to cover basic life expenses like food and healthcare, which keeps them in poverty.  

Our Christmas Wish List includes brands that are lagging behind on their journey to pay a living wage. 

We’re calling on brands to be transparent about where their clothes are made, make real commitments to paying the women who make our clothes a living wage and improve how they do business. And you can stand with us.

1. Transparency and published factory lists

The Just Group, Modibodi and Zara hide where our clothes are made. These brands are lagging behind  industry standards for transparency, which makes it harder to hold them accountable to their workers.  

Many brands who don’t share their factory locations cite concerns about intellectual property. But, with more luxury brands than ever disclosing their factory lists¹ and many sports and high-performance brands sharing the factories where their clothes are made, we feel these concerns don’t hold up.  

2. A credible commitment to pay a living wage

Paying the minimum wage is not enough. Fashion brands need to be paying – or be on a journey to pay – living wages.  

All the brands in the What She Makes campaign have made a creditable commitment, with milestones, to pay a living wage – except Jeans West.  

We demand that Jeans West make a credible commitment to pay a living wage.

3. Improved purchasing practices

How brands do business influences what workers are paid. Ruthless purchasing practices and unrealistic expectations from brands result in low wages for the women who make our clothes.

Many factories struggle to enforce realistic boundaries with brands when they’re negotiating prices. This is due to the risk that brands might take their business elsewhere. 

One thing brands can do to improve wages is separate and protect the cost of wages during price negotiations. This means that negotiations about reductions in price don’t have to come at the expense of wages. This practice, known as separating labour costs or ‘ring fencing’, involves making wages an itemised part and is a crucial form of protection for workers. 

Best & Less, Jeans West and Uniqlo are lagging behind other big brands in committing to separating labour costs in their supply chains.  

Without overtime Sabina’s salary is about AUD$130, with overtime (gruelling eleven-hour days) it is about AUD$210, per month

Even with overtime, her wage isn’t enough to cover her family’s living expenses which has terrible consequences for their education and health care costs. The current living wage for Dhaka, where Sabina lives, is about $350 AUD.

Half of Sabina’s monthly wage goes to support her disabled son who is unable to work

“My elder son’s name is Nawshad. He is disabled and cannot walk. My second son is 17 years old. I am unable to give his exam fees due to financial problems. “

Her sons live back in the village with their grandparents while she must stay in the city for work. After other expenses like rent there is very little left for even the essentials like enough nutritious food or healthcare.

“I go through hardship. I have borrowed from the store. I don’t borrow that much, because I cannot repay, so I don’t borrow in fear.”

Sabina is also fearful of abuse in her workplace

Unreasonable targets lead to a culture of harassment and unsafe work with limited access to drink, food and toilet breaks.

“Due to the target filling pressure, sometimes I can eat and sometimes I cannot. It’s hard to drink water and use the toilet. Yes, they abuse [me], but if I meet the target, then they don’t abuse. It happens to everyone.“

But Sabina has seen improvements in her workplace now they are organised with a union

“Abuse has decreased a little. There are union members that’s why they cannot abuse. They used to sack workers and beat and abuse them, but now they cannot. We have a union in our factory. When they are with us, no one can abuse us.”

Sabina has a very clear message for Australian’s who wear the clothes she makes

(Her factory manufactures for H&M so you may just be wearing something she’s made right now.)

“I want to give them a message that, we want to thank them as they happily wear our clothes.

We are happy in their happiness. They should stand beside us, allow us to work, and if we get a higher wage, we will be happy. I want to tell them.

We feel happy when they buy the clothes we make and wear them. If we get some money, we can live happily.

If they give more work to Bangladesh, we can live peacefully. We want peace for them and us.”