New WRC Report: Unaddressed Violations at Delta Apparel (Honduras)

Please find here the WRC’s report on Delta Apparel Honduras, an apparel manufacturing facility located in Villanueva, Honduras. This factory produces collegiate licensed apparel for J America (part of Vetta Brands), The Game and American Threads (labels of MV Sport), New Agenda, Image Source, and MJ Soffe, which is owned by the factory’s parent company, Delta Apparel.

The WRC’s investigation identified numerous violations of university standards at this factory, in the areas of wages and hours of work, legally mandated benefits, health care, harassment and abuse, gender discrimination, freedom of association, and occupational health and safety. Examples include unpaid off-the-clock work, failure to provide proper accommodations for pregnant workers, verbal harassment of workers by supervisors, unhygienic restroom facilities, and denial of legally mandated family leave, among others. In response to the WRC’s findings, Delta Apparel agreed to remedy a limited number of violations; however, its commitments are inadequate with respect to many of the violations identified, as discussed in detail in the WRC’s report. Indeed, the company has not even been willing to comply with long-standing directives from Honduran labor authorities.

The WRC first contacted Delta Apparel with findings and recommendations in early 2017. Despite the fact that it had many months to fix the problems, Delta and MJ Soffe failed to make adequate remedial commitments. Later in 2017, the WRC asked the other licensees supplying from the Delta factory to work with the supplier to develop a corrective action plan. However, none of the licensees have taken meaningful action to compel Delta Apparel Honduras to remedy the violations. One justification the licensees have offered for their inaction is that the Fair Labor Association commenced an investigation of the factory, well after the WRC investigation was complete. The FLA process has not, to date, resulted in further remediation of university code violations at Delta Apparel Honduras and the existence of that process does not justify licensees’ failure to address violations that have long been in evidence.

Given the failure to achieve adequate remediation, all of the licensees sourcing from the factory are in breach of their obligations to their university licensors. The WRC continues to urge the factory, its parent company, and all licensees sourcing from the plant to take all necessary steps to correct the violations of university standards that are outlined in the WRC report.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments.

Scott Nova
Executive Director
Worker Rights Consortium
[email protected]