Workers Rights Consortium

Investigations by the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC) in October 2015 and October 2016, as well as Fair Labor Association (FLA) investigations in July and October 2016, have revealed that a major Korean factory operator in Vietnam producing garments for a dozen international clothing brands runs a sweatshop operation.  Nike and other brands which have contracts with the firm have conducted audits over many years, but working conditions in the factory have failed to improve. In fact, in 2015 alone there were 26 separate corporate social responsibility (CSR) audits of the 12 factories in the…

I have just returned from a whirlwind trip in Vietnam inspecting a Korean-owned garment factory complex of 10,000 workers that produces university logo apparel for Nike and clothes for a dozen brand-name companies like Pink and Ralph Lauren’s Polo.  Lots of problems with the working conditions and a non-existent occupational health and safety program – more to come later on all that.  We conducted our inspection on behalf of the Washington-based Workers Rights Consortium. But with wages in China becoming “too expensive,” Vietnam has become the new destination for many brands in apparel,…