Tonight we chatted on IG Live with the brilliant Mayisha from @OhSoEthical about the #PayUp campaign. Thanks everyone who joined us! Below is a summary of the latest info about the campaign and about how you can get involved.
#PayUp has seen great success in making brands pay garment suppliers for clothing orders they cancelled during lockdown.
These order cancellations have put huge pressure on factory owners, who already operate with incredibly thin margins, and left garment workers extremely vulnerable – many of whom were already in a precarious situation without savings or access to healthcare.
And it’s not like these brands can’t afford to pay. Many fashion CEOs are billionaires – find out just how much some of them are in this ‘fun’ quiz by Traidcraft.
So far 19 brands have committed to paying for the clothes they ordered from suppliers worldwide.
But there are another 15 brands on the Worker Rights Consortium list that still haven’t paid up.
>> WRC publish the most regularly updated list of brand committments HERE. <<
And there are more UK brands on Traidcraft’s list of brands which have unpaid orders.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1 // Take action with us
We have decided to focus on four UK brands for the time being:
Peacocks // Facebook // Instagram
Primark // Facebook // Instagram
Topshop // Facebook // Instagram
We’re aiming to take one action per day, either tagging the brand on social media, liking other people’s #PayUp posts on their timeline, and emailing the brands.
On the @OhSoEthical blog here you can Tweet each brand directly with a template Tweet at just the click of a button, as well as use template emails to make it super easy to contact the brands.
Every Sunday we’ll be getting together on Instagram Stories to check in about the responses we’ve all had from brands, sarig screenshots of any responses (or blocks!), to share any good news onthe #PayUp campaign and to make a plan for the following week.
If you have more time, then all of the brands listed here have yet to #PayUp for canacelled orders and you could contact them too.
2 // Sign the #PayUp petitions
You can find all four of them here
3 // Write to your MP
As a follow up to their report on Boohoo’s apalling treatment of workers in Leicester, Labour Behind the Label are calling for the government to investigate purchasing practices of big brands, and support for workers who have been exploited. The more MPs talking about this, the better, so write to your MP to make your voice heard. LBL have made a template letter here which you can personalise before sending.
