Employment Injury Insurance for Garment Workers in Bangladesh - Social Protection in Action

 

Next week I am moderating this virtual webinar for investors on "Social protection for garment workers". If you are involved in pensions please ask your trustees/pension committee/board members, fund managers and financial advisors to attend.

"Employment injury insurance for garment workers in Bangladesh:

Social protection in action

 Join us for an investor webinar on 18 October at 3pm UK / 10am ET

Registration here

IndustriALL Global Union and the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum will co-host a one-hour discussion of the recently launched Employment Injury Scheme (EIS) for ready-made garment workers in Bangladesh. In addition to presenting the pilot itself, the webinar will explore why garment and textile brands are participating, their role in funding it and the need for their continued involvement in the development of sustainable employment injury insurance.

Speakers include Primark and H&M, which are participating in the EIS pilot; the ILO, which supported the pilot’s design; and IndustriALL, which represents workers on the pilot’s tripartite committee. The webinar is aimed primarily at institutional investors interested in working towards a more sustainable garment industry built on respect for workers’ fundamental rights.

This event is part of a larger initiative spearheaded by IndustriALL on social protection for garment workers. Social protection, which can cover needs such as unemployment support, disability benefits and maternity protection, is an internationally recognized human right. During the Covid-19 pandemic, non-payment of wages due to brands’ cancellation of orders led to deepening poverty for millions of global supply chain workers because of the fundamental lack of social protection in producing countries. In several cases, this triggered large-scale protests and brought operational, legal and financial risks for sourcing brands. 

Employment injury insurance is one of the most basic forms of social protection. The Bangladesh pilot, which involves the government, workers, employers and the ILO, is an example of what is possible in the realm of social protection and of how brands are already participating in the effort. The webinar follows on our earlier event in June (recording here), in which workers from Thailand provided testimony about the impact of wage theft on their lives. This next webinar will bring in brands’ views on the importance of social protection and what their role can be.

Please join us on 18 October. Register here

Speakers:

Anne Marie La Rosa, Senior Policy, Legal & Labour Rights Specialist, ILO

Christina Hajagos-Claussen, Director Textile & Garment Industry, IndustriALL Global Union

Leyla Ertur, Head of H&M Group Sustainability, H&M Group

Katharine Stewart, Group Corporate Responsibility Director, Primark

Liz Umlas, Senior Advisor, IndustriALL Global Union

Cllr John Gray, Vice Chair, LAPFF (moderator)