ILAB Director Says Forced Labor in Apparel and Footwear Is Ubiquitous
Thea Lee, the long-time AFL-CIO trade policy director who is now leading the Labor Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), acknowledged that apparel companies have challenges in avoiding child labor and forced labor because "it's so ubiquitous" in the sector. She said one way to try to avoid "reputational, legal and operational damage" is to identify the good players. She recommended Better Work, a program to improve working conditions funded by the International Labor Organization and the World Bank. It covers 1,700 factories in nine countries. Lee said the U.S. government helps fund the program in Haiti, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Jordan and Vietnam.
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Lee was speaking at the U.S. Fashion Industry Association virtual conference Nov. 9, and was interviewed by Anna Walker, vice president of public affairs at Levi Strauss. "How do companies find the information they need to stay out of trouble?" Lee said that her bureau will ask for more staff so they can expand their annual Forced Labor/Worst Forms of Child Labor report to cover inputs, such as sugar, palm oil, cotton, polysilicon and cobalt.
She also said ILAB is working on tracing cotton to downstream products in India and Pakistan, and studying forced labor in Mauritius and Argentina. "We're hoping to have results we can share in 2022," she said.
Walker asked if apparel companies that need cotton should look at Uzbekistan, now that it has reformed the forced labor in its cotton harvest. Lee was cautious. "I think this is a qualified success story," she said. While the ILO certified that there are no instances of forced labor in the cotton harvest now, Lee said Uzbekistan continues to suppress independent unions. There is only one, which just formed in March, she said. "This is not the time to declare victory but to double down," she said. "This is a good time to keep the pressure on."
But, Lee said, the end of forced labor in the cotton harvest could potentially open the door for companies to source either cotton or finished clothing from Uzbekistan. Walker replied, "As we re-enter after a tricky situation, having a robust civil society is really important. What I’m hearing from you is there are green shoots in that space."