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.
Mazava Hispaniola
Country: Haiti
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Gender-based Violence and Discrimination
An investigation by the WRC found violations of sexual harassment against at least two women workers, and subsequent retaliation against these workers for resisting the abuse at Mazava Hispaniola, a Haitian garment factory owned by the Hong Kong-based Winds Group. The WRC’s investigation found that a factory manager committed gender-based violence and harassment by sexually…
Hong Seng Knitting
Country: Thailand
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Wage Theft, Wrongful Termination
2023 WRC affiliate universities have continued to engage with Nike on this case. However, Nike’s position remains unchanged. It continues to ignore overwhelming evidence of worker coercion reported by the WRC, asserting that thousands of workers at Hong Seng voluntarily chose to forgo wages that they were legally owed. In support of its position, Nike…
Thai Garment Export 1/3
Country: Thailand
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Freedom of Association Violations, Gender-based Violence and Discrimination, Wage Theft
2006–2007: Freedom of Association and Women’s Rights Buyers: Ashworth, Cutter & Buck, and Nike The WRC undertook this assessment in response to complaints received in December 2006 from employees of the facility alleging violations of Thai law and applicable codes of conduct, primarily in the areas of freedom of association and women’s rights. The WRC…
Palm Apparel
Country: Haiti
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Statutory Benefit Violations
In 2020–2021, the WRC investigated the chronic failure of Haitian garment factories to make legally required contributions to the country’s public healthcare and pension systems. This failure contributed to the avoidable deaths of two workers that occurred after each of them was unable to access lifesaving medical treatment. The WRC’s investigation found that the factories…
Centri Group
Country: Haiti
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Freedom of Association Violations, Wage Theft
In 2022, the WRC conducted an investigation and found that the Haitian factory, Centri Group, committed violations of freedom of association by firing 64 of its employees. The factory retaliated against this group of workers, which it held responsible for an employee-wide work stoppage to protest unpaid overtime. The WRC found that Centri Group’s dismissal…
Niagara Textiles
Country: Bangladesh
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Health & Safety Violations, Wage Theft, Wrongful Termination
The WRC investigated and, with the assistance of New Wave Group and university licensee Cutter & Buck, secured corrective actions to address two vehicular accidents involving factory workers in 2021 (a crash of a company-provided bus while transporting workers to the factory) and 2022 (a truck accident on the factory premises), which resulted in the death…
Violet Apparel Co. Ltd.
Country: Cambodia
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Covid-19, Wage Theft
The July 1, 2020, closure of Violet Apparel Co. Ltd. in Phnom Penh, Cambodia—a supplier of non-collegiate apparel to Nike and UK brand, Matalan—left 1,284 workers unemployed with less than one week’s notice. Violet Apparel was owned by textile and apparel conglomerate, Ramatex, which operates more than 20 production facilities around the world, including three…
Hulu Garment Co. Ltd.
Country: Cambodia
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Covid-19, Wage Theft
The apparel industry’s chronically low wages left most garment workers with no savings on the eve of the Covid-19 crisis. Since most governments in apparel exporting countries provide little or no unemployment benefits, the only thing standing between an out-of-work garment worker and immediate poverty for her family in early 2020 were the legally mandated…
Southern Apparel Contractors (Tegra Global)
Country: Honduras
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Freedom of Association Violations
In 2022, the WRC found violations of freedom of association at Southern Apparel Contractors, a factory in Honduras owned by the US company, Tegra Global. In April 2022, a national transportation shutdown resulted in the factory requiring its employees to “repay” a day of lost wages, which was in violation of the collective bargaining agreement…
JNB Global / Sams and Rudia
Country: Guatemala
Last Updated: 2023
Issues: Wage Theft, Wrongful Termination
The WRC documented violations of worker rights at the Guatemalan garment factory, JNB Global, also known as Sams and Rudia. Violations at this factory occurred when it required all factory employees to sign new employment contracts that illegally falsified their dates of hire. Further violations occurred when JNB Global fired workers who refused to sign….