Worker-driven Social Responsibility Network

The workers who sewed for Lucky Brand at the Industrial Hana factory in Guatemala have been waiting almost a year and a half to be paid the severance they're owed. The remaining $500,000 represents a significant amount of money for the workers and their families – yet it would be just a miniscule fraction of the billions held and traded by the private equity firms that own Lucky Brand. This week marks one year since the Worker Rights Consortium investigation was first published and over a year that Lucky Brand and their ownership have had to conduct the investigation that SPARC Group (now Catalyst Brands LLC) committed to. The workers can’t wait any longer. #PayYourWorkers #BizHumanRights https://lnkd.in/gdu3mkuj

The Jerzees Nuevo Dia factory was supposed to be a new way forward for Fruit of the Loom when the company signed a historic binding agreement in 2009. Now Fruit of the Loom has announced that they're closing that plant and another union plant in Honduras. "Given the significance of its unionized Honduran factories for prospects for better lives and greater dignity for garment workers not only in Honduras, but around the world, Fruit of the Loom’s decision to close these plants threatens to be a devastating reversal for labor rights in the global apparel industry." Read more on the struggle of our member, the union Central General de Trabajadores (CGT) to keep good, dignified work in their communities as garment brands drive a race to the bottom around the globe. https://lnkd.in/gjAKUAW2

Under the Bangladesh Accord, garment factories in Bangladesh have made vast safety improvements since 2013 saving thousands of workers from injury or death. These gains are now under threat.” That’s the conclusion of a new report outlining how the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC) is weakening the critical enforcement and remediation protocols that make the International Accord so effective at protecting garment workers. The report, co-authored by Accord witness signatories Clean Clothes Campaign, Worker Rights Consortium, and Maquila Solidarity Network includes recommendations to address the issues that have arisen since the RSC took over implementation of the Accord in 2020. The report concludes: “It is ultimately the responsibility of every apparel brand to ensure that the workers who make its clothes do so under safe conditions. The Accord has been extremely effective in enabling brands to fulfill that responsibility in Bangladesh, but it cannot continue to do so without reform of the RSC. We urge brands to support the necessary changes to the RSC; to honor their Accord obligations, including paying fair prices to suppliers; and to reward the resulting safety progress in Bangladesh by sustaining and expanding their production in the country.” https://lnkd.in/gdicaP8K

“We cannot cut corners where it comes to worker rights, workers’ dignity & workers’ pay. And that’s why it’s critical that the Building Dignity & Respect program starts here & expands much much wider”  - Will Delaney of Hope Community, Inc. on why his organization has committed to the Building Dignity & Respect program bringing WSR to the Minneapolis construction industry. Inspiring video from the McKnight Foundation on the organizing of our member CTUL to win protections for non-union construction workers. https://lnkd.in/gPEZYszj

A preliminary agreement is poised to expand the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model to the Vermont construction industry - momentum is building to make workers' rights real, binding, & enforceable. https://lnkd.in/gWgAPfaR

How do you make workers' rights real? First, workers have to know their rights & know what steps to take to defend those rights at work. All-employee meetings and a dedicated Safety Committee in every factory is a key way the International Accord ensures workers have the knowledge & support they need to report issues. Any issues they report are addressed by an independent monitoring body, with time-bound requirements for remedy. Binding agreements with brands mean there are real market consequences for factories who fail to comply. At every step, WSR programs are designed to center workers' rights & ensure that every party has the means & motivation to protect them. https://lnkd.in/ejnPnrBM

Part of what makes the WSR model unique is the focus on worker-to-worker empowerment and learning. One of the roles the WSR Network plays is facilitating this kind of learning and leadership among workers. This summer, one of our members Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante welcomed workers organizing with WeCount! in Florida who were eager to learn more about the #MilkwithDignity program. The accounts from participating worker leaders show that when workers speak directly to each other and share their learnings, they can build solutions that are adapted to their workplaces. https://lnkd.in/gu-puvrY #WorkerVoice #BizHumanRights

Big news this week! After years of global campaigning, Levi's signed the International Accord for Pakistan. Levi’s signing onto the Pakistan Accord is part of a broader shift: global consensus is growing that binding, enforceable agreements backed by worker education and organizing with independent enforcement mechanisms are the best way to protect people at work. Read our statement: https://lnkd.in/gWZe53t2

“Organized communities are always more resilient than those where people are left to face these challenges on their own,” said Lucas Benitez, a co-founder of Coalition of Immokalee Workers, “and the farmworker community here in Immokalee has demonstrated its resilience time and time again in the face of disaster.” Once again, we see that worker-driven solutions protect communities in innovative, effective ways - this time as farmworkers in central Florida prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Milton. https://lnkd.in/gKDkjMMD

All eyes on Nike shareholder meeting today where a growing number of investors are calling on Nike to take worker rights seriously. “Our proposal focuses on worker-driven models and binding worker rights agreements because we know that when workers design a system, has independent monitoring and has accountability, it is then equipped to deliver meaningful outcomes and human rights protections. “Nike’s existing voluntary approaches failed to protect workers, for example as shown with cases of wage theft in Cambodia and Vietnam. We encourage all investors to vote in favour of this proposal to demonstrate support for evaluation of the benefits of binding protections, with workers at the centre to protect human rights," said Mary Beth Gallagher of Domini Impact Investments LLC https://lnkd.in/g3RMdi2U