We promote labor rights.
Globalization has contributed to numerous labor rights abuses, including the denial of the freedom of association and right to bargain collectively, low wages, forced overtime, and harassment in global supply chains. Additionally, increased automation threatens to impact labor rights in unforeseen ways.
Key factors that contribute to these labor rights abuses include opaque supply chains, unequal distribution of risk and profit throughout the supply chain, brand / retailer purchasing practices, lack of the capacity of the government abroad or willingness to enforce labor laws, and the failure by home government to require or incentivize brands / retailers to address labor issues in their supply chains, among others.
Our work seeks to promote stronger protections for labor rights in global supply chains and address the impacts of automation on the labor force.
Updates and Analysis:
Surge in Garment Industry Transparency: Laws Needed to Ensure Companies Adopt Human Rights Practices
(New York, December 18, 2019) – Clothing and footwear brands and retailers have dramatically increased their disclosure of information about their supply chains in the past three years, a coalition of unions, human rights groups, and labor rights advocates said in a joint report released today. In 2016, the coalition created the Transparency Pledge, a minimum standard of supply chain transparency that enables advocates, workers, and consumers to find out where a brand’s products are made.