Commentary Archive
By Rola Abimourched, Libakiso Matlho, Thusoana Ntlama & Robin Runge – Gender-based violence and harassment, including sexual harassment in the world of work, are among the most pervasive human rights violations and most effective tools at preventing gender equality. Female garment workers—who are the majority of the global garment workforce—are systematically targeted and experience the…
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Last Thursday marked the announcement of a set of landmark agreements among leading apparel brands, a coalition of labor unions and women’s rights advocates, and a major apparel supplier to combat gender-based violence and harassment in Lesotho’s garment sector. These enforceable agreements—with Levi Strauss & Co., The Children’s Place, and Kontoor Brands—link the each of…
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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…
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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…
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When ‘business as usual’ costs lives: workers in Pakistan call for a binding safety agreement
By Christie Miedema and Liana Foxvog – In Karachi, Pakistan, 11 September 2012 is ingrained into people’s minds as the day on which over 250 people did not return home to their families after a long day of work. A fire in the Ali Enterprises garment factory had spread rapidly, fed by the bales of finished product…
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