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In the Drivers’ Seat: Why the ILO Should Care about the Commute

June 10, 2019

Hold your keys in your hand. Stick to that street, not this one, it has more lights. Don’t go down that block, whatever you do – there’s a group of gamblers on the corner ready to scream drunkenly at you as you pass by.

It’s a dance every woman around the world is familiar with: minimizing your risk and exposure, keeping yourself safe, while trying to get from point A to point B. For garment workers in Cambodia, that dance takes place nearly every night. So much so that the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL), keeps a crowdsourced map up on the wall. Workers who come through the center for trainings and meetings add to the map. They draw arrows down the safest paths, and mark hazards with orange dots.

CSR helps hide workers’ rights abuse until brands can quietly exit

March 27, 2019

Corporations have been selling ‘ethical’ products and services to consumers for over three decades. Many of these efforts have been organised under the banner of corporate social responsibility (CSR), with proponents advocating this as a means to secure workers’ rights. Despite their well-documented limitations and brands acknowledging the need for improvements, most CSR initiatives continue to resist the structural changes needed. They instead prefer to tinker around the edges of a failed model.

The Definition of Violence

March 13, 2019

On International Women’s Day, how much has the Trump administration back-tracked on what counts for those of us who say #metoo?

There is power in a definition. A definition is a shared understanding among people, a social knowledge. Yet in April of last year, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women quietly changed their definitions of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Peer Review Calls for Strengthening of U.S. NCP; Fails to Account for Key Stakeholder Input

March 6, 2019

As the global business landscape continues to expand and shift, there is a pressing need for corporate accountability in the world. Effective avenues where people can seek remedy for harm caused by businesses are crucial. In the United States, the U.S. National Contact Point (U.S. NCP) is meant to serve as a forum in which people harmed by American companies’ activities and operations can raise grievances.

Are Amazon, Walmart, and eBay’s online 'marketplaces' providing a refuge for goods made with forced labor?

January 31, 2019

Last month, while browsing online, we were surprised to find that we could buy cotton hand towels advertised as “made in Turkmenistan” on the websites of Amazon, Walmart, and eBay.  In May 2018, U.S.

International Buyers Must Prevent Thailand Backtracking on Convention

October 11, 2018

Many people around the world have been horrified by reports of human rights abuses in the seafood industry. A 2014 article in the Guardian sounded alarm bells that all seafood purchasers large and small should answer. But the issue of slavery in the seafood supply chain is larger and more complex than consumers or even companies can tackle alone. Large multinational companies have had to band together to form the Seafood Taskforce, and yet government action is still needed.

Modern-Day Servitude in U.S. Port Trucking: A Call to Retail Brands

October 1, 2018

Today, southern California’s port truck drivers and warehouse workers - many of whom are Black and Latinx workers and TPS recipients – begin a three-day strike to send a clear message to their port trucking employers (XPO Logistics and NFI Industries) and the country’s most powerful brands and retailers: put an end to rampant wage theft and the misclassification of port truckers.

Families and Labor Leaders Observe 6th Anniversary of Ali Enterprises Fire

September 11, 2018

Six years ago, on September 11, 2012, the Ali Enterprises factory in Baldia Town, went up in flames. The factory employed hundreds of workers, but only had one exit. At least 260 workers died while trapped inside. This was the deadliest fire ever in a garment factory. After the fire, a major campaign ensued that ultimately secured compensation for the affected families.

This morning the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan, the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research, and the Home-Based Women Workers Federation held a press conference in front of the Karachi Press Club, noting that garment and textile factories in Pakistan are no safer than they were six years ago and calling for workplace safety.

In the afternoon, they were joined by many more union leaders and members of the Ali Enterprises Factory Fire Affectees Association for a memorial gathering and rally in front of the factory building in Baldia town.

Najma and Abdul Jabar mourned the loss of their son Abdul Hafiz. "Our son died and we couldn't find his body. If we had his body, we could have had a grave for him."

"First there should be preventive measures. There should be the possibility of evacuation in the case of fire. There was none of that at Ali Enterprises. So we have to provide for that," said Husna, who lost her husband Mohhammad Wasim in the fire. 

H&M’s Hypocrisy: When it comes to brand activism, look at actions, not words

July 20, 2018

H&M is busy expanding production around the globe, searching for the cheapest possible labor - despite their promises to the contrary. A piece this month exposed labor abuses at the Hawassa Industrial Park in Ethiopia, H&M’s latest sourcing location.

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