A team from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has advised The Circle in its new report which proposes EU legislation mandating a living wage and collective bargaining rights for workers in the global fast fashion and garment producing industries.

The Circle is an organization of women working together to achieve equality for women and girls in a fairer world, including in the global garment industry where they are disproportionately affected. Its latest report, “Fashion Focus: A Proposal for New EU Legislation on a Living Wage”, provides a concrete legal solution to poverty wages and labour rights injustice.

In particular, the report includes a ready-to-debate EU Regulation which proposes a legal mechanism the EU could introduce to ensure companies are legally obliged to only work with producers that pay their garment workers a living wage and ensure they are granted the right to collective bargaining. This proposal has the potential to change the lives and livelihoods of millions of garment workers around the world.

The report is particularly timely, coming as it does on the back of the EU announcement of mandatory human rights due diligence legislation for 2021.

The report can be accessed here, and a webinar accompanying it’s launch can be viewed here.

The Debevoise team advising The Circle on this pro bono project was led by partner Samantha Rowe, and included associate Ramsay McCulloch, and pro bono manager and solicitor Marika Somero.