One manager repeatedly raped female Sri Lankan workers, prompting a strike late last year …
By Janell Ross
HUFFINGTON POST
A month after a prominent human rights group accused major American brands of purchasing clothing from a factory in Jordan that systematically abuses workers, the companies have yet to declare any public action.
In June, the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights released a report alleging that workers producing clothing for Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Kohl’s and Hanes at a factory in Jordan have been routinely beaten, underpaid and forced to work hours in excess of what the local law allows. The report added that workers have been forced to live in bed bug-infested dormitories that lack heat and hot water, despite the snow and ice that are a feature of local winters.
The report also alleged a pattern of widespread sexual abuse of female employees at the Classic Brands factory complex. The factory employs some 4,800 people, mostly guest workers from South Asia. One manager repeatedly raped female Sri Lankan workers, prompting a strike late last year, according to the report. Workers wanted the manager fired. Instead, the factory’s owner sent the manager on a recruiting mission to South Asia as a means of temporarily removing him from the complex. The owner did not publicly discipline the manager or remove the man from his employment, said Charles Kernaghan, the institute’s director, and the lead author of the study.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Kernaghan criticized the American brands for a lack of action following the release of the institute’s report.
“When we first started with this I thought Walmart and Hanes, they are not into human rights,” he said. “But we thought they would draw the line in the sand at these rapes. Instead, they’ve been virtually silent.”
Hanes did not respond to requests for comment. Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s and Walmart issued brief statements this week acknowledging the allegations and expressing concern, while declining to answer questions. All of the companies refused to say whether they are continuing to do business with the Jordan factory, or whether their worksite monitoring efforts need to be bolstered. None of the companies indicated they would request changes in management.
Kernaghan and the institute — once known as the National Labor Committee — rose to national prominence in the 1990s when his nonprofit organization revealed that a Walmart clothing line branded by the talk-show host Kathy Lee Gifford was made at factories in Central America that employed child labor. The clothing bore tags that declared a portion of all sales went to children’s charities.
In the late 1990s, the institute helped to expose the fact that Burlington Coat Factory was using cat and dog fur to line the edge of a popular coat manufactured in China and sold at its stores in the United States. Members of Congress were so outraged that by 2000, a bill banning the import or sale of products that include dog and cat fur had become law.
In a 2005 Institute report, the organization found evidence that many garment manufacturers operating in Jordan routinely confiscated their worker’s passports. The group’s 2005 report prompted Senate hearings. The American government began financing third-party worksite monitors and gave funding to the Jordanian labor ministry.
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