Activists from Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and XR Fashion Action disrupted Inditex’s European distribution centre in Lelystad, The Netherlands, protesting the brand’s failure to protect garment workers rights in Bangladesh. The action escalates CCC’s ongoing campaign against brands linked to the crackdown on workers involved in the 2023 minimum wage protests in Bangladesh.
Inditex, the parent company of Zara, is one of the top offenders on CCC’s tracker, which links brands to factories pressing unjust criminal charges against workers. According to CCC’s research, over 5,500 workers in Inditex’s supply chain are at risk of prison sentences due to baseless charges filed by factory owners after the protests. At least eight factories in the supply chain were involved in worker repression.
As one of the world's largest garment manufacturers, Bangladesh is especially vulnerable to climate change. CCC argues that the fashion industry’s massive contribution to global carbon dioxide emissions is enabled by the exploitation of Bangladeshi workers. KalponaAkter, president of the Bangladesh Garment & Industrial Workers Federation, criticized Zara’s empty promises on living wages and labor rights, stating that workers remain trapped in a cycle of repression.
CCC campaigner Bogu Gojdz emphasized that major fashion polluters are often the worst violators of labor rights, urging Inditex to put an end to worker exploitation throughout its supply chain.
The activists demand that Zara urge its suppliers to drop all charges against workers and publicly support the call for Bangladesh’s interim government to dismiss the politically motivated legal actions.
