Enforceable Agreements Combat Gender-Based Workplace Violence
Gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) at work, including sexual harassment and of women workers, is among the most pervasive human rights violations globally and a primary obstacle to gender equality.
The majority of garment workers are women. They often face sexual harassment and coercion from supervisors and managers, as well as coworkers, with little recourse to stop such behaviors. Even though factory regulations, national laws, and brand codes of conduct prohibit sexual harassment and other types of violence, it is rare for factories to take any serious action to discipline harassers and curtail abuse. The International Labour Organization recognizes that to effectively address GBVH employers must work with trade unions and other worker representatives to identify the risks and put in place practices to mitigate these risks.
In addition to responding to worker complaints, documenting abuses, and driving corrective action, the WRC supports efforts by worker organizations to pursue systemic change. In recent years, workers have begun to alter the power dynamics that enable abuse by negotiating groundbreaking supply chain agreements to eliminate gender-based violence and harassment at work. There are agreements with three major garment suppliers: Nien Hsing in Lesotho, Natchi Apparel in India, and Ontide in Indonesia. All are enforced via binding commitments made by brands that hold economic leverage over the suppliers, and all include comprehensive programs to combat workplace GBVH.
Among the vital components shared by all of these agreements are a broad definition of GBVH, drawing upon the ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work; protections for freedom of association as an essential tool in combating workplace GBVH and a leading role for unions in implementation and enforcement; independent complaint mechanisms with the power to impose discipline against harassers, up to and including dismissal; and comprehensive education programs, conducted on company time, with no loss of pay for workers. These agreements are transforming workplace realities for tens of thousands of workers and developing a model that can be used on a far broader scale.
Binding Agreements to Combat Gender-Based Violence and Harassment
Nien Hsing (Lesotho)
On August 15, 2019, a set of landmark agreements were signed among leading apparel brands—Levi Strauss & Co., The Children’s Place, and Kontoor Brands—a coalition of labor unions and women’s rights advocates— Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL), United Textile Employees (UNITE), the National Clothing Textile and Allied Workers Union, the Federation of Women Lawyers in Lesotho (FIDA) and Women and Law in Southern African Research and Education Trust-Lesotho (WLSA)—and Nien Hsing, a major global producer of denim, to prevent and eliminate gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), covering more than 6,000 workers at Nien Hsing’s textile mill and factories in Lesotho. The Worker Rights Consortium, the Solidarity Center, and Workers United are non-party signatories to the agreements.
The agreements founded Workers’ Rights Watch, an organization tasked with investigating allegations of gender-based violence and harassment and enforcing specific remedies for violations of the code of conduct at Nien Hsing’s factories in Lesotho. The agreements also established a toll-free information line, where workers can learn more about the program and report incidents of GBVH. Additionally, the agreements introduced a comprehensive education and awareness program implemented by the Lesotho unions and NGOs. Recognizing the crucial role of workers’ ability to act collectively to protect their rights and challenge gender-based power inequality, the agreements also protect associational rights by prohibiting any form of anti-union retaliation.
Natchi Apparel (India)
In April 2022, Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU), a women-led independent and majority-Dalit trade union; the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA); Global Labor Justice (GLJ); Eastman Exports, owner of Natchi Apparel in Tamil Nadu, India; and H&M announced the Dindigul Agreement to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH), covering 5,000 mostly women workers in spinning mill and garment factories owned by Eastman. The set of agreements, forged after the WRC conclusively documented abuses at the factory, commit signatories to work together to eliminate discrimination based on gender, caste, or migration status, increase transparency, and develop a culture of mutual respect at the factories.
The agreement establishes a comprehensive program with training for all workers, selection of shop floor monitors to detect GBVH, effective and impartial investigation, including strengthening of the Internal Complaints Committee and establishing an independent grievance mechanism overseen by third-party experts, and remediation of workers’ complaints concerning GBVH. The factory owner's commitments are mandatory for H&M to continue business with Eastman Exports and, along with program funding, are binding obligations under H&M's multi-year, arbitrable agreement.
PT Semarang and PT Batang (Indonesia)
In July 2024, courageous women workers and their unions signed a groundbreaking binding agreement with a major international apparel manufacturer to implement a union-led gender justice program. The Central Java Gender Justice Agreement is signed by four Indonesian unions, affiliated with three federations—Union of Textile, Clothing, and Leather Workers, Confederation of All-Indonesia Workers’ Union (SPSI), National Workers’ Union (SPN), and People’s Democratic union, Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance, (SBDK KASBI)—and Korean multinational, Ontide (formerly Kukdong International Corporation) and covers Ontide’s two factories in Central Java, Indonesia. The Worker Rights Consortium, Asia Floor Wage Alliance, and Global Labor Justice are signatories to the agreement. The factories employ 6,250 workers that produce US university logo apparel and other branded sportswear for Fanatics, including, under license, Nike-branded apparel.
The agreement establishes a comprehensive Anti-GBVH program and includes appointing GBVH Elimination Committees at the two factories with equal representation from workers and managers (with the majority of the members being women) to identify risks and develop policies and practices to address GBVH and investigate worker complaints, a robust education and awareness program, and a multichannel grievance mechanism providing workers with several options to report GBVH and seek remediation. The agreement is enforced through the binding commitments Fanatics and Nike have made to WRC-affiliated universities through university licensing agreements with both companies that require them to respect workers’ rights in their supply chains, as stipulated in the universities’ codes of conduct. Fanatics has provided written affirmation to WRC that it will support the program and will hold Ontide accountable for compliance with the agreement.