Factories are refusing to pay garment workers in Karnataka the legal minimum wage, says international labour rights organization The Workers Consortium. These garment workers make clothes for international brands. More than 4,00,000 garment workers in Karnataka have not been paid the state’s legal minimum wage since April 2020.

Karnataka is one of India’s garment-industry heartlands, with thousands of factories and hundreds of thousands of workers producing clothing for international brands including Puma, Nike, Zara, Tesco, C&A, Gap, Marks & Spencer and H&M. Western brands have either refused to intervene or have not acted to ensure that workers making their clothes are paid in line with Indian law. Obviously wages are not enough to meet at least the basic needs of workers and their families. Apparel suppliers make up the only industrial sector across Karnataka refusing to comply with a court order directing that minimum wages be paid. For workers in Karnataka, not receiving their pay rise, in the face of steeply rising living costs, has had a devastating effect on their lives and those of their families, especially children. One woman, who works at a factory making clothing for UK high street brands, was forced to leave her home and live with a relative because she could no longer pay the rent.