The 2020 global recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the vulnerability of workers in global supply chains and the plight of leather workers in India, one of the most important shoe and leather producing countries in the world, is no better.
Following an earlier study focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent nationwide lockdowns on workers employed in three leather production and footwear manufacturing clusters in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, this policy brief brings together recommendations on remedial action that needs to be taken by international shoe and leather brands and retailers and European policy-makers. Some of the notable findings from the survey were that 37% of workers interviewed had to cope with total wage loss, whilst only three workers received advances from their employers. More than half of the sample took on debt during that time. In June, when production sites were allowed to open again, nearly 40% of the sample could not take up work.
This policy brief based on the study’s findings have been put together by Cividep India in collaboration with its partners INKOTA, Sudwind Institute and the Society for Labour & Development, and with the support of BMZ.
Read the full paper here.