Holding corporations accountable. Protecting worker rights.
Memo: Historic Severance Agreement at PT Kahoindah Citragarment (Indonesia)
An intervention by the WRC and key brands assisted former workers of the PT Kahoindah Citragarment factory as they recovered $4.5 million USD in unpaid severance—the largest amount workers have won in a single case of illegally denied severance. Brands and the factory owner took action after a WRC investigation uncovered management efforts to coerce workers to resign and accept a significantly-reduced severance payment.
Commentary: Landmark Agreements to Combat Gender-based Violence and Harassment in Lesotho
After a WRC investigation uncovering extensive sexual harassment and coercion at Nien Hsing Textile in Lesotho, unions and women's rights advocates have achieved unprecedented enforceable agreements with Levi Strauss, The Children's Place, Kontoor, and Nien Hsing to eliminate these abuses and protect 10,000 workers.
Factory Investigation: Forced labor at Hetian Taida (China)
After Hetian Taida, a Chinese supplier to Badger Sport, was exposed by AP as operating inside an internment and forced labor camp in China’s Xinjiang province, the WRC launched an inquiry. This report provides an in-depth assessment of forced labor in the production of Badger Sport’s collegiate goods, the company’s due diligence failures, and the remedies it has agreed to implement.
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“Organized theft on a massive scale”: the reality of severance theft in Indonesia
Abruptly and without warning, the Indonesian garment company Jaba Garmindo shut down operations at its two factories in April of 2015, leaving over 4,000 workers without their legally mandated severance. The sudden departure reflects a consistent trend within garment factories around the globe; in response to intense market pressure to cut production costs, many factories…
The False Promise of Corporate Living Wage Commitments
In the face of mounting pressure from workers, unions, and civil society organizations who have documented widespread labor exploitation in global supply chains, apparel brands have adopted ambitious public commitments to provide living wages to the workers sewing their clothes. But according to a new study by researchers at the University of Sheffield, the world’s…
Amidst Wave of Deadly Fires, Bangladesh Government Threatens to Expel the Only Credible Building Safety Programme in the Country and Further Suppress Workers’ Rights
On the sixth anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse, labour rights groups are calling on the government of Bangladesh to cease attempts to expel the Accord on Fire and Building Safety from Bangladesh and to urgently increase safety efforts for the buildings currently under the government’s oversight, which include tens of thousands of factories…
Lesotho garment workers struck landmark deals to tackle gender-based violence. Here’s how it happened.
Rola Abimourched, Libakiso Matlho, Thusoana Ntlama & Robin Runge Experts detail the road to these agreements, how they will work, and what it means for future efforts to protect and empower women workers. Gender-based violence and harassment, including sexual harassment in the world of work, are among the most pervasive human rights violations and most…