Exporting Clothes, Importing Safety
““The learning curve is steep,” says Alonzo Suson, program director of Solidarity Center in Dhaka… that is helping train BIGUF union leaders [in workplace safety].”
Lisa McGowan and Sarah Iqbal on Meaningful Progress in Gender Equality
“One of the most exciting things is that women workers are organizing … to fight for their labor rights and improve their wages and to make sure their working conditions are improved.”–Solidarity Center Gender Specialist Lisa McGowan on CCTV.
U.S. to Help BGMEA Reach $50b Export by 2021: Bernicat
Through grants to the Solidarity Center, USAID provided training to approximately 11,000 [Ready Made Garment] union leaders and members – more than half of whom were women – on collective bargaining, union leadership, industrial dispute resolution, media and organisational democracy, according to a news agency.
White House Accused of ‘Selling Out’ Fight against Human Trafficking over Malaysia
“The administration has lost a huge opportunity to advance human rights in its trade relationships,” said Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau.
Thousands of Garment Factory Workers across Cambodia Are Fainting on the Job
At the end of June, nearly 350 workers fainted in garment factories across Cambodia, with more than 100 collapsing on one day alone, raising concerns about the health of workers in Cambodia’s textile industry. William Conklin, country program director at the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center in Cambodia, said clothing brands should take responsibility for their workers by providing food nutrition programs, food allowances and regular labor inspections. “Wages increases, with sufficient funding for meals during work time, are critically linked to how well workers can look after themselves,” he said
Is the U.S. Ignoring Human Trafficking Abuses to Score Its TPP Trade Deal?
Lured by the promise of $316 a month to work on road construction, Arjunan traveled last year from India to Malaysia, where his employer confiscated his passport and decided to pay him just $36. When Arjunan protested, his boss phoned India and told Arjunan’s wife that he would cut off her husband’s leg and hand. So she pawned jewelry to buy back the confiscated passport. But even after she paid out nearly $1,400, Arjunan’s boss still won’t give it back. Arjunan’s ordeal, documented by the Solidarity Center, is typical in Malaysia, which may be upgraded by the State Department for its efforts to fight human trafficking.