Fair Trade for the Global Garment Industry

Profits and fast-changing styles in the global garment industry depend on low wages, long hours and dangerous workplaces in countries like Cambodia. Writing for the New York Times, David Welsh, country director of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center in Cambodia writes: “the big brands reap billions of dollars chasing the lowest production costs they can find, moving from one country to another when those costs rise too much. This creates a perpetual race to the bottom, in which workers’ rights are squeezed by the factories that employ them and by the governments that supposedly oversee those factories.” He contends that brand-name firms and their managers could select countries that enforce regulations on safe and fair workplace conditions. Horrific stories emerging from dangerous workplaces damage brand names and reduce profits. Trade unions are committed to describing the conditions, and western governments and consumers increasingly exact leverage. Welsh calls for a global approach: imposing costs on brands that tolerate inhumane work conditions. – YaleGlobal