More than one million people work for fashion in Mexico without access to labor rights, denounced Tuesday the NGO Acción Ciudadana Frente a la Pobreza, according to which «labor precariousness is in fashion».
«In the industry dedicated to the production, distribution and sale of clothing, footwear and accessories, labor precariousness is in vogue. 1.18 million workers, more than half of whom are women, do not have their labor rights respected,» the organization said in a statement.
Acción Ciudadana Frente a la Pobreza elaborated a study of the fashion industry based on official data to show the precariousness that prevails in the country’s labor structures in the fashion sector, «which proposes to society paradigms of prestige and social status, but contradicts it in the precarious conditions of its workers».
Wages in the industry are insufficient to support a family for two thirds of the personnel and half of them do not have social security, according to the document.
Of the people dedicated to this industry, 629,000 people work under «abusive» subcontracting conditions (known as «outsourcing»), «with substitute employers to evade compliance with labor rights».
This abounds, according to data provided by Acción Ciudadana Frente a la Pobreza, especially in supermarkets (85% of subcontracted personnel). In addition, almost six out of 10 subcontractors are women.
Likewise, 389,000 people work without wages (65 % women).
«The industry operates under a fictitious demand that imposes ephemeral fashions, which implies a more intensive use of natural resources, greater pollution from waste and the abuse of cheap labor, violating basic human rights,» the NGO said.
The organization’s study concludes with a call to the companies to dialogue with the objective of paying a salary sufficient to buy at least two basic food baskets (8100 pesos or about 408 dollars).
It also asked the government to verify that abusive subcontracting has been eliminated and the general population to exercise the power of consumption in a «responsible way in favor of clean products and fair working conditions».
Finally, they insisted on the need to include more women in the industry.
