A dialogue organized by the Council of Global Unions Working Group on Migration (CGU-WGM) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) was convened during the third round of negotiations on the United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in New York this week, moderated by Neha Misra, Solidarity Center senior specialist for migration and human trafficking.
According to a report by Ledriz and the Solidarity Center, the failure to pay what workers are legally entitled to is wage theft. It is also a violation of international labor standards, as well as national legislation on the employment of workers said the report, Working Without Pay: Wage Theft in Zimbabwe.
Conditions in the processing plants have also improved somewhat in recent years following pressure from labor organizations such as Social Activities for Environment (SAFE) and the Solidarity Center, but there is still more to do.
Roughly 2,000 garment workers protested yesterday outside three factories after the owner abruptly shut down operations and fled, leaving them without severance or pay for the month of January. The Solidarity Center’s William Conklin suggested that factories be required to put down a deposit that can be used to pay severance for workers.
The impetus for the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact was the Rana Plaza industrial disaster, which took the lives of roughly 1,200 garment workers. The compact required the fulfillment of several time-bound commitments by the Bangladesh government—labor law reform, protection of the right to freedom of association and ensuring fire and building safety. Jeffrey Vogt argues the compact has not been effective for much of its four years. [READ MORE]