Media Highlights
[Reuters] Thailand orders lingerie maker to compensate workers in rare case
“As the primary drivers of factory conditions, it’s a legal fiction to say brands bear no responsibility to contributing to workers’ legal entitlements when conditions they impose result in factory shutdowns,” said [Solidarity Center] country director Dave...
[The Guardian] Courts Close in on Gig Economy Firms Globally as Workers Seek Rights
"Jeff Vogt, at the Washington, D.C.-based Solidarity Center worker rights group, said there was a clear trend toward recognizing improved rights and employment status for those working for gig economy companies dealing with food delivery and taxi hire. "These...
[Drapers] Workers Killed in Morocco Garment Factory
"The accident took place earlier this month, in a factory that employs 130 workers, mostly women. The illegal factory is said to have been operating for 20 years. Labor groups including U.S.-based Solidarity Center, are campaigning for an investigation into the...
[Forbes] Bangladesh Garment Makers Settle With Sears Over $40 Million In Canceled Orders
Jeffrey Vogt, the rule of law director of the Solidarity Center and co-author on the “Farce Majeure” report says that the contracts are one-sided by design. “None of this is accidental. The system was built exactly to push most of the risk on manufacturers and...
[Thomson Reuters] Anti-trafficking Groups Urge Biden to Focus on Labor Exploitation
"We're really hopeful that there'll be more attention that's brought to the issue of forced labor again," said Neha Misra, senior specialist on migration and human trafficking at the Solidarity Center, a workers rights' advocacy group.
[Washington Post] Trump’s Carrier deal fades as economic reality intervenes
"The new accord [USMCA] also includes provisions to permit collective bargaining and to close loopholes allowing Mexican employers to profit by mistreating their workers ... On paper, the Mexican reforms would allow workers to organize unions outside of the...
[Forbes] Fashion’s $16 Billion Debt To Garment Workers Should Spark Reform, Not Sympathy
"Fashion’s unpaid bills have been catastrophic for garment workers. A September report co-written by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, the WRC and the Solidarity Center's ILAW network showed that these debts have led to mass layoffs (at least 1...
[CNBC] Bangladesh Faces Twin Crises as Coronavirus Deals New Blow to Flood-battered Nation
“We see desperate workers willing to accept very low wages in extremely dangerous conditions, with no serious health and safety protections, let alone social distancing measures or personal protective equipment,” said Jon Hartough, Solidarity Center Bangladesh program...
[US-Asia Institute] Tim Ryan and Atley Chock: Worker Rights in Thailand (Podcast)
"The COVID crisis highlights in a much sharper way the issues that these workers have been advocating on, and struggling for, for years and years and years... [and] this is why we really need a more equitable development model than the current supply chain model,"...
[Podcast: Working Life with Jonathan Tasini] How To Steal An Election 101; Haitian Garment Workers Rise Up
"[Garment workers producing clothing for global brands in Haiti] are at risk of COVID; [they] often won't have access to health care because of the tricks that employers are playing: essentially stealing from their contributions" says Solidarity Center regional...
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Media Mentions is a daily digest of major media coverage of issues that affect workers, workers’ rights, and workers’ organizations overseas, discusses the impact of globalization, or mentions the work of the Solidarity Center.