Factory Investigations
The WRC has conducted hundreds of factory investigations in more than two dozen countries, many in response to complaints from workers and worker organizations. You can browse case summaries, full public reports, and related documents and background information for many of these investigations below. Reports include detailed information on findings, the WRC’s recommendations for remedies (from reinstatement of illegally fired workers, to urgent safety improvements, to back pay) and whether or not brands and factories have implemented these remedies. Click on a factory name in the results to view the case summary and links to the full report and other documents.
Texpia II
Country: Guatemala
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Health & Safety Violations
In June 2024, Anastacio Tzib Caal, a union leader at Texpia II, was assassinated by an unidentified assailant. In the months prior, Tzib Caal and other union leaders were targets of death threats written on the factory walls. The WRC engaged with factory buyers to ensure that Texpia II’s parent company, the Korean multinational SAE-A,…
Wing Star Shoes
Country: Cambodia
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Freedom of Association Violations
The WRC’s investigation uncovered severe retaliatory actions against workers who formed an independent union. After establishing the union to address grievances, factory management took the following unlawful actions: ASICS allowed these actions to proceed unchecked, resulting in a significant violation of workers’ right to freedom of association. Despite the gravity of these offenses, ASICS failed…
Özak/Kübrateks
Country: Türkiye
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Freedom of Association Violations, Violence Against Workers, Wrongful Termination
The WRC investigated reports of severe repression of workers’ freedom of association—including mass firings and arrests, threatened and actual violence, wage theft, and blacklisting against 400 workers at Levi’s supplier factory in Türkiye. The WRC found that Özak Global (in some instances in collaboration with both the local militarized forces and a company-favored union), committed,…
Quantum Apparel (Cambodia)
Country: Cambodia
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Freedom of Association Violations, Wrongful Termination
The WRC’s investigation found that, immediately after workers established an independent union at the factory to address complaints concerning the factory’s misuse of short-term contracts, factory management retaliated against the worker union leaders by taking the following unlawful actions: The collegiate licensee, Lululemon cooperated with the WRC’s investigation and engaged with factory management to ensure…
Sun Shui Shing Industrial (Cambodia)
Country: Cambodia
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Freedom of Association Violations, Gender-based Violence and Discrimination
The WRC’s investigation found that, immediately after workers established an independent union at the factory to address complaints of forced overtime and verbal abuse, the factory management launched an intense campaign of illegal retaliation that included: suspensions and firings of five worker leaders and activists; gender-based threats of violence against these workers; and threats of…
APS El Salvador
Country: El Salvador
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Statutory Benefit Violations, Wage Theft
The WRC found violations of workers’ rights at the Salvadoran garment factory, APS El Salvador, which closed in August 2022 without paying its workers the approximately US$1.9 million they were owed in back wages, severance, and other legally mandated benefits. The WRC’s investigation resulted in $1.35 million secured from buyers to compensate the workers. Two…
Style Avenue S.A.
Country: El Salvador
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Abuse and Harassment, Freedom of Association Violations, Health & Safety Violations, Overtime Violations, Statutory Benefit Violations, Wage Theft, Wrongful Termination
Style Avenue was found to have multiple and repeated labor rights violations, including forced overtime, illegal terminations, verbal abuse by management, failure to respect freedom of association, locking workers in the factory, excessive heat, and unsanitary conditions.
Horizon Manufacturing
Country: Haiti
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Wage Theft
The Horizon Manufacturing garment factory, located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, shut down operations in April 2022. At the time of the closure, the factory owner failed to pay the factory’s 532 employees more than $300,000 they were owed in terminal benefits as required by Haitian law. The violations by factory owners were remedied when factory buyers…
Industrial Hana
Country: Guatemala
Last Updated: 2024
Issues: Wage Theft
Industrial Hana, a garment factory in Guatemala, permanently closed operations in October 2023, failing to pay legally required severance to its 229 employees. The factory produced garments, under subcontracting relationships with other local manufacturers, for Lucky Brand, American Eagle Outfitters, Hanesbrands, and Gillz. Read More: