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"Migrant workers have been left aside by governments who have relied on them to do dangerous jobs that have become even more dangerous during this crisis," reports David Welsh, Solidarity Center's Southeast Asia country director.
David Welsh, Southeast Asia country director of the Solidarity Center, said: "With the enormous profit margins [brands] have enjoyed on the backs of workers in Southeast Asia, they are easily placed to sustain workers and factories over this period."
Even so, David Welsh, country director of Southeast Asia of the Solidarity Center, a nonprofit aligned with the U.S.-based labor federation AFL-CIO, said the reforms, in the garment sector at least, risk amounting to a “race to the bottom”–slashing benefits to appease big international brands that can afford to pay. During the three months ended August–the most recent data available–Sweden’s H&M, which has manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, reported a gross profit margin of 50 percent before tax.
The vast majority of Brazilian textile and shoe factory workers who took part in a recent study say they have experienced some form of violence at work, often gender-based violence and harassment—to the extent that “for many women, work is synonymous with suffering,” writes the Solidarity Center’s Tula Connell.
Haitians who do the physically demanding and repetitive work of sewing and assembling clothing in the new industrial park earn the Haitian minimum wage of just 500 gourdes (about $5.25) a day—three times less than the estimated cost of living in Haiti, according to the Solidarity Center.
Dave Welsh, country director for labor rights group Solidarity Center, said that historically, migrant workers in Malaysia were initially operating outside “the purview of what were very bad labor laws” which were harshly enforced. Malaysia’s laws, he added, were “very transparent and completely, deliberately almost proudly out of whack with any international labor law norms, and applied vigorously.”
In the works is a radical overhaul of labor laws, which will redefine the lives of more than six million impoverished migrant workers. “The conditions [in Malaysia] are appalling,” said the Solidarity Center’s Dave Welsh. “If even a modicum of what trade unions put forward is enacted into law, this is a huge game changer.”
“Companies also need to do more to ensure workers never pay [recruitment] fees in the first place,” said Neha Misra from the Solidarity Center regarding a rare award reimbursing at least 10,000 Burmese migrants for the excessive and illegal fees they were charged to secure jobs at an electronics manufacturer in Thailand.
“The assumption is that once you’re granted refugee status, you’re going to be in the country for some time. As a result, you should not be denied from earning a living,” said David Welsh, Solidarity Center director for Southeast Asia programs.
The United States has blocked the import of goods suspected to have been made with forced labor from five countries. Neha Misra, senior specialist in migration and human trafficking for advocacy group Solidarity Center, welcomed the “significant step” and said economic pressure could boost the drive for full labor rights for workers in global supply chains. Blocked imports include: clothing from China, diamonds from Zimbabwe, rubber gloves made in Malaysia, gold mined in the DRC and bone black–charred animal bones–manufactured in Brazil.