Regarding compensation to victims of workplace accidents, says Solidarity Center Country Dave Welsh, “In every situation I’ve been involved in, and I’ve been involved in a lot, it’s like pulling teeth making the government fulfill its obligation.”
Across Asia, millions of children toil for long hours, earning barely enough to live on, while sewing garments for fashion brands in the West. “Brands chase jurisdictions where there is extreme poverty, the rule of law is weak and it is easy for them to skirt labor laws,” says David Welsh of the Solidarity Center.
As the FIFA corruption scandal widens and pressure builds to move the World Cup from countries tainted by the investigation, a deeper human tragedy may be unfolding: The economically fragile situation of migrant workers who build infrastructure for global sporting events will only worsen if they lose their jobs abroad and have no employment to return to at home, writes the Solidarity Center’s Sonia Mistry.
Solidarity Center Cambodia Country Director David Welsh writes: “Given the global nature of the garment industry, and of its shortcomings, improving workers’ lot calls for a global solution. The most efficient approach is to increase the costs to the big brands themselves of tolerating poor working conditions… [t]he big brands are ultimately responsible for the basic welfare of all the workers who toil for their bottom line.”
Garment factory conditions have not improved. Manufacturers continue to invest where there is “no rule of law but extreme poverty and an investor-friendly government,” explains labor lawyer David Welsh, who works for the U.S. NGO Solidarity Center in Phnom Penh.