Workers must not be forced to bear the costs of the green transition. That was the resounding message from the third workshop on decent jobs and social protection for a Just Transition in the textile and garment supply chain, held on 7 July by the ITUC’s Just Transition and Climate department, IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union.
The workshop, part of a three-year project supported by the Laudes Foundation, aims to strengthen trade union strategies for a fair and inclusive transition in the garment and textile industries. In a sector that is facing very unique challenges, due to unfair purchasing practices by brands, precarious and informal work and very different levels of social dialogue in different countries it is highly problematic that the transition of workers is not thought along transition strategies. This coincides with the needs for urgent action on adaptation strategies addressing the accelerating impacts of climate change on workers, including heat stress and floods. In that context, unions are demanding that workers’ voices be central in shaping a just, sustainable future.
This session focused on shaping the Just Transition manifesto for the textile and garment sector, which will set out clear, collective demands from unions and serve as a framework for workers’ participation in the green transition. Scheduled for launch in October, the manifesto is being developed through a broad consultation process with union affiliates.
Rhaki Sehgal, from ITUC, presented the key demands of the manifesto. She emphasized that a Just Transition must be democratic, transparent and worker-led, with social dialogue at every level.
Key demands include:
• Decent work for all, including informal and home-based workers
• Fair, environmentally sound regulation of textile waste trade
• Zero tolerance for gender-based violence
• Gender equity and safer, more resilient workplaces
• Strong brand accountability across supply chains
ITUC project officer, Amalia Hammarlund, said:
“A sustainable future for the sector requires improving working conditions, creating new jobs in recycling and circular economies and ensuring that workers — particularly women — are protected, empowered and included in decision-making.”
Union affiliates echoed these concerns, warning that the climate transition is already worsening existing challenges in the sector. They stressed that the transition must not sacrifice workers’ rights or livelihoods. Affiliates called for:
• An end to shifting the burden of sustainability onto workers
• Involvement of workers in transitions strategies through effective and meaningful social dialogue at all levels
• Mandatory living wages and safer workplaces
• Gender inclusion across all climate and labor frameworks
• Specific protections for informal, migrant and vulnerable workers
They also emphasized the need for the manifesto to recognize the varying realities across regions, such as differing energy sources, carbon intensities and stages of industrial development.
Participants firmly agreed that workers must have a central role in driving the Just Transition. As one affiliate declared, “Nothing about us without us.” They called for stronger regional engagement, political focus and solidarity to ensure that the green transition works for all — not just for corporations and governments.
IndustriALL energy and Just Transition director Diana Junquera-Curiel said:
“Workers must not pay for the green transition. Too often, brands and employers shift the costs of climate action onto workers—through job losses, lower wages, or unsafe conditions. This is unacceptable. The responsibility for a greener economy must be shared fairly by governments, employers, and brands, not placed on those already most vulnerable. We need a democratic industrial transformation—one that puts workers at the center, with strong social dialogue, collective bargaining and protections for all, including informal and migrant workers.”
IndustriAll Europe general secretary, Judith Kirton-Darling, said:
“Transition policies are often designed without taking into consideration the impacts of workers. Sustainability and circularity strategies aimed at making textiles more durable, reusable, repairable and recyclable, are often designed without taking the impact on workers and working conditions into consideration. More dramatically, critical legislation on corporate sustainability due diligence and corporate sustainable reporting that unions fought for have been the target of the EU’s simplification drive. Workers are extremely concerned by these developments and call on governments and brands to prevent a race to the bottom and offer unions a seat at the table for a just and sustainable transition in the textile supply chain.”
The Just Transition Manifesto will be a crucial tool to push for fair, worker-centered climate and environmental action in the textile and garment industry, ensuring that workers are protected, empowered and heard in every step of the green transition.