“It’s unsurprising the factory uses illegal timber,” said William Conklin, Cambodia director for U.S.-based labor rights group Solidarity Center. “We know energy costs are high in Cambodia. And it’s actually the highest cost in [garment] production so factories would seek to minimize that.”
In discussing the anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory complex, Global Envision pulls information from a New York Times op-ed by David Welsh, Solidarity Center country director for Indonesia and former country director for Cambodia: “To counteract the brands’ habit of playing one producing country off another, governments from sourcing countries should act together. Rather than be driven by the fear of losing out to one another, they should form a bloc and insist that the big brands set uniform standards for wages, union rights and workplace safety.”
Story by the Solidarity Center’s Tula Connell about women and their unions fighting for this protection republished.
“It is an obligation of states to not just provide jobs, but to make sure they are good jobs,” said Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the AFL-CIO-allied Solidarity Center. “The global garment industry does not have a good track record, especially in special economic zones. And the Jordanian government has no good track record to ensure that rights at work are protected, that dormitories have decent conditions for workers. I’d say that any temporary job program for migrants, either refugees from war or other migrants, is susceptible to exploitation absent guaranteed rights to freely form a union and collectively bargain and actively practice those rights.”
Solidarity Center’s Neha Misra said, “Before U.S. law said that we would tolerate forced labor if we really wanted a product for domestic consumption. Now, we are saying that we will not tolerate forced labor for any reason. This is a major step forward,” in response to an announcement that federal officials are preparing to enforce an 86-year-old ban on importing goods made by children or slaves under new provisions of a law signed by President Barack Obama.
Solidarity Center and other migrant labor organizations are calling on the South African government to urgently intervene and stop severe labor rights abuses faced by thousands of migrants working in the country’s farms. “The laws are there. The biggest challenge around most of this is just inability to enforce what exist on the books,” said Peter Hardie, SolidarityCenter South Africa program director.