I remember one particularly bad factory in China. It produced outdoor tables, parasols, and gazebos, and the place was a mess. Work floors were so crowded with production materials that I could barely make my way from one end to the other. In one area, where metals were being chemically treated, workers squatted at the edge of steaming pools as if contemplating a sudden, final swim. The dormitories were filthy: the hallways were strewn with garbage—orange peels, tea leaves—and the only way for anyone to bathe was to fill a bucket with cold water. In a country where workers normally suppress their complaints for fear of getting fired, employees at this factory couldn’t resist telling us the truth. “We work so hard for so little pay,” said one middle-aged woman with undisguised anger. We could only guess how hard—the place kept no time cards. Painted in large characters on the factory walls was a slogan: “If you don’t work hard today, look hard for work tomorrow.” Inspirational, in a way.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) and the Global Business Coalition Against Human Trafficking (GBCAT), two of the founding organisations of the Interactive Map for Business of Anti-human Trafficking Initiatives and...Read More
The Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT) in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) within U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) has invested in programs over the last 25 years to eliminate child labor and forced lab...Read More
Gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) has been well documented in fashion supply chains for decades. Despite this, the realities for women garment workers – who toil to make the clothes in our closets – has remained largely unchanged. T...Read More
Author: Thi Hoang, GI-TOC Decades of wars and internal conflicts have driven generations and millions of Afghan families into impoverishment, illiteracy, unemployment, and displacement, rendering them unable to provide for their household members...Read More
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