Using supply chain data to secure remedy for workers

Labor rights abuses remain unidentified and unresolved when workers are not heard and we do not have reliable data about the supply chains they are operating within. 

The Worker Rights Consortium is an independent, nonprofit factory monitoring organization which conducts labor rights investigations in garment facilities around the world on behalf of universities, government entities, and other partners and in response to worker complaints. Through factory investigations, they have secured remedies for over 700,000 workers.

Since 2022, Worker Rights Consortium has been using the Wikirate database of supply chain relationships to link global brands to factories where abuses have been uncovered. 

Worker Rights Consortium uses this data to: 

• Link global brands to factories where violations have been uncovered. By identifying which buyers are supplied by a factory, WRC can work with those buyers, factory management, and other stakeholders to ensure that corrective action is fully achieved.  
• Highlight abuses by compiling and publishing factory investigations. So far, Worker Rights Consortium have used Wikirate data in nearly all of its over 70 investigations since 2022.
• Better understand worker populations and concentrations in certain geographies through demographic data

Further reading

• Factory Investigations | Worker Rights Consortium
• Research Reports | Worker Rights Consortium
• Apparel Supply Chain Relations Data | Wikirate 
• Facility Checker | Wikirate & Clean Clothes Campaign

In the news

• Garment workers have lost out on $4bn of severance pay, says rights group | The Guardian
• Workers for fast fashion brands fear starvation as they fight for higher wages | The Guardian
• Investors pressure Nike on wages allegedly owed to factory workers | Financial Times