More than 400 million garment workers are negatively experiencing the impacts of climate change, faced with extreme heat, floods, factory shutdowns, and wage losses as daily realities.

IndustriALL Global Union said that as decarbonisation, automation, and digitalisation accelerate, workers, who are facing low wages, unsafe conditions, heat stress, job insecurity, and weak social protection, risk being pushed further to the margins.

At a garment forum, IndustriALL Global Union, IndustriALL Europe, and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) launched a Just Transition Manifesto for the textile and garment supply chain, with a clear message that climate and digital transformation must not come at workers’ expense.

The manifesto calls for binding obligations, responsible purchasing, and real corporate accountability, noting that workers’ rights, living wages, health and safety, and gender equity must be central.

Launched during a virtual side session to the Garment Forum, the manifesto sets out why a Just transition is urgent, and why unions must shape it.

The unions warned that climate action without workers’ protection deepens injustice.

They argued that even as green policies and new production models are transforming supply chains, without regulation and planning, they are driving job losses, intensifying work, and widening inequality.

Stating that most decisions are made without workers, they further argued that climate and sustainability strategies are largely shaped by governments and brands, while workers bear the consequences of restructuring and automation.

The manifesto, they said, demands worker-led decision-making through unions and social dialogue.

They said governments must actively promote social dialogue, while employers and brands must engage responsibly.
According to them, unions must assess climate risks and negotiate solutions that work for workers.

The manifesto is a tool for negotiation and organising. It calls for binding responsibility from brands and governments and systemic change that centres workers in climate and digital policies.

“Jobs are being displaced, work is intensifying, surveillance is expanding, skills gaps are widening, and informal labour is growing. Without action, we will see rising job losses, deepening poverty, and an escalation of gender-based violence.

“A Just Transition must ensure that climate solutions create decent work, not new forms of exploitation. That’s why the manifesto sets out a clear path for worker-led change, binding responsibility for brands and governments and protections that guarantee rights, dignity, and collective bargaining for the people who make our clothes,” IndustriALL textile and garment director Christina Hajagos-Clausen said.