The lack of a living wage and other rights violations in the garment and shoe industry in Ukraine

This strongly-worded report, based on original research into the experiences of workers in four workplaces in the garment production industry in Ukraine, explores the problems which are caused to workers in the industry by the low wages and poor terms and conditions of employment which characterise the industry, despite the workforce being high-skilled and the existence of a developed infrastructure. The relevant factors here are numerous and include the recent relocation of the industry within global supply chains; state subsidy of in-work poverty, via state support for high utilities costs; a lack of effective collective organisation; poor and non-existent monitoring of the labour law; a government desperate for foreign direct investment; and oligarchic structures based on corruption. The report concludes with posing the questions that need to be asked on how the industry has got into this situation, as well as identifying the basic remedial actions that need to be taken both by the international brands which have come to dominate the industry in Ukraine and by the Ukraine government itself. It is, however, a long way back from here.