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Paper short abstract:

This article seeks to reflect and analyze the precarious working conditions to which workers in the Portuguese garment industry are subject, what actions and means they use to grievance more dignified and fair conditions and the outcomes of such demands.

Paper long abstract:

Although countries in the global South are known due to political, economic, environmental, and legal factors to be more susceptible to labor exploitation and violation of the rights of workers in the garment industry (Nathan, Bhattacharjee, Rahul,et al., 2022). Also in global North, more preciously in Portugal, the precarious conditions that workers in this industry are subject have been noted (Pereira, 2023).

From unpaid wages, being prevented from going to the bathroom, threats, and dismissals for being on maternity leave or being part of the union, verbal humiliation, among others. These are the conditions of women who work in the “paradise” of sustainable production (Pereira, 2023; Mandeiro, 2023). To obtain fairer and more dignified working conditions, these women turn to their union leaders inside the factories and outside of them to the Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) (Guerreiro, 2023).

This article is based on interviews carried out with unionized workers in the Portuguese garment industry and seeks to reflect and analyze the precarious working conditions they are subject, what actions and means they use to demand more dignified and fair conditions and the outcomes of such demands.

It is concluded that, despite the constant grievances made to ACT and to the union, significant changes rarely occur. Such grievances end up contributing to intensifying the pressure and humiliation to which they are subjected to leave the unions, and often lead to them being fired, thus further accentuating their vulnerability.