Commentary Archive
The Rana Plaza apparel factory collapse killed more workers than any other manufacturing disaster in human history. The 1,134 known deaths in that building on April 24, 2013, a culmination of more than a decade of mass fatality incidents in Bangladesh’s sprawling garment industry—all in factories producing for leading global brands. The most important thing…
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by: Carolyn Butler, Solidarity Center A worker-centered, precedent-setting program that targets gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in four Lesotho garment factories is now in effect for as many as 10,000 workers producing jeans for the global market. The program inauguration on Friday was marked by a social media campaign, including SMS text blasts to garment…
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The Worker Rights Consortium strongly condemns the violent anti-democratic invasion of the US Capitol building by racist and other far-right groups that took place in Washington, DC last week. As an American organization headquartered in DC with a global presence, we have seen the impact of these despicable actions reverberate throughout our community, the United…
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Covid-19 has meant a huge drop in demand for apparel, resulting in many closures of garment-producing facilities, with many more expected. Factory closures have sweeping social impacts, both short and long term, with a single closure often affecting the livelihoods and life prospects of thousands of workers and their dependents. When closures are carried out…
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Despite the tremendous challenges facing colleges and universities during this back-to-school season, dozens of schools have chosen to leverage their mask procurement and licensing choices to support living-wage jobs by sourcing from Alta Gracia Apparel.
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Representatives from the Coalition to End Uyghur Forced Labour testified before the House Ways & Means Committee on Thursday, September 17, 2020. The Campaign for Uyghurs, the Worker Rights Consortium, and the AFL-CIO provided testimony to members of Congress on why apparel brands must divest from the Xinjiang Region of China. Supply chains of most…
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Following the closure and illegal nonpayment of severance at CSA Guatemala, the factory’s primary buyers—Gap, Hanesbrands, and American Eagle Outfitters—agreed to make contributions totaling a little more than $1.3 million to the factory’s approximately 650 former employees. CSA Guatemala, located in Guatemala City, fully closed operations on January 19, 2019. At the time of the…
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The WRC has been working for the last two months to address the most urgent challenge facing garment workers: the decision of many leading apparel brands and retailers, at the outset of the Covid-19 crisis, to retroactively cancel apparel orders that suppliers and workers had already produced. This sudden withdrawal of billions of dollars in contractually…
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The WRC is tracking which brands and retailers are paying for goods that are finished or in-production and which are breaking their commitments, with devastating consequences for workers in their supply chains. Our tracker now also features a section for Updates and Analysis. Photo credit: REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
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Buyers Pulled Orders When Migrant Burmese Garment Workers Spoke Out in Defense of Their Rights, Now They Are Making Workers Whole
Despite the inclusion of nondiscrimination protections based on nationality in Thai labor law, Mae Sot is known as a black hole of labor abuse for the many Burmese migrant workers who produce apparel there. Burmese workers in Mae Sot face a range of workplace violations that often go unreported and uncorrected due to their status…
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