The global fashion supply chain is one of the most opaque and environmentally harmful industries on earth. Yet when brands and policymakers talk about sustainability, the voices of the workers – mostly women – are systematically sidelined. To solve these problems, the fight for sustainable fashion must include workers’ power. It must be a just transition.
The environmental toll of the textile and garment sector is staggering: mountains of fabric waste, and carbon-heavy transport crisscrossing the globe. These impacts aren’t abstract—they are experienced firsthand by workers and their communities.
Cambodia’s garment, footwear, and travel goods sector employs a million people, mostly women, who provide vital support to their families, indirectly benefiting around 3 million people (UN). The pandemic and US tariffs hit jobs hard, and as the industry now talks about circularity and decarbonisation, workers are being left out of the conversation.
Local union leaders, organisers, and federation officers from 15 unions in Cambodia’s textile, garment, shoe, and leather (TGSL) sector came together for a two-day just transition workshop, organised by IndustriALL Global Union and supported by Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA. The goal was to give workers the tools to demand a seat at the table.
Participants identified the issues: limited awareness among both workers and employers, impact of heat stress in factories, looming risks to jobs, and shifting factory practices driven by climate and energy pressures. Through group discussions, they explored how these forces are already playing out on the shop floor.
To address this, the workshop included a factory mapping exercise. Unionists documented how climate and energy transition issues, such as heat stress, manifest in workplaces and what this means for workers. The mapping provides a practical tool for building cases and engaging in dialogue with employers, brands, and government.
The workshop ended with concrete commitments. Unions pledged to continue educating their members, to use mapping and reporting tools, and to bring just transition issues into organising, collective bargaining, and social dialogue.
Through solidarity among Australian, global, and Cambodian unions, we are pushing for higher standards for safer, more sustainable jobs as the impacts of climate change affect everyone across the region. When workers in Cambodia are exposed to unsafe working conditions, it creates a competition, a race to the bottom for all workers across borders. Through worker-to-worker solidarity, we raise standards for everyone.
Join Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA and support people’s power for climate action: apheda.org.au/join
Union Building and Organising Development (UBOD) project. The project is funded by the Australian Government through Partnerships for Decent Work in the Indo-Pacific (PDWPI) program managed by Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA.
