Commentary Archive
The Covid 19 pandemic has posed new health and safety risks for garment workers in factories around the world. In addition to the dangers workers already faced from excessive temperatures, unsafe machinery, and factory fires, workers now must also now contend with the spread of a potentially deadly respiratory virus in factories where, too often,…
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One year after the factory closed, workers are still owed an estimated $1.3 million The Industrias Florenzi factory in San Salvador, El Salvador, dismissed its 210 workers in the first half of 2020, finally ceasing operations in July. One year later, however, workers still have not been paid the $1.3 million in terminal compensation which…
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Within the past two weeks, several apparel brands that put a pause on sourcing from Myanmar in response to February’s military coup in the country resumed their sourcing, drawn by cheap prices for apparel and a labor movement constrained by arbitrary arrests and violent suppression from the police and military. Despite the military’s unwillingness to…
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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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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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Daw Myo Myo Aye, leader of the STUM Union, is released from prison, but the threat to trade unionists and workers in Myanmar remains high
After six months of detainment in Myanmar’s notorious, Covid-ridden Insein prison,[1] Daw Myo Myo Aye, leader of the Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar, was released and reunited with her family along with 5,000 other political prisoners on October 21, 2021. Among those released alongside Myo Myo were three workers from Xing Jia Footwear, whose only…
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