Washington, Dec 10 (PTI) The United States has awarded Gap, a prominent American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer, with the award for corporate excellence for its responsible operations in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez presented the award to Gap One at an awards ceremony held at the State Department on Friday.

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Gap One was presented the award since it joined labour representatives in India to help an estimated 400,000 garment workers to get more than USD 60 million in back salaries for their uncompensated work as the factories had temporarily shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“Throughout Gap's supply chain and across the country's apparel industry, Gap has implemented policies for their vendors to help prevent and address gender-based violence in the workplace, and they have also created training programme that have benefitted more than half a million women and girls in India since 2007,” Fernandez said.

He mentioned the appreciable work done by Gap One. “During the COVID-19 pandemic in the last couple of years, factories in one Indian state failed to pay employees their full wages and benefits. So what did Gap do?” he asked.

“Together with other companies, Gap joined labor representatives to help an estimated 400,000 garment workers get more than USD 60 million in back salaries for their uncompensated work,” Fernandez said during the awards ceremony.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)