Textile workers from around the world can now use cell phones to report on-the-job abuse.
US-based startups Laborlink and LaborVoices are providing a safe, anonymous way for garment workers to report child labor, wage withholdings, trafficking, and other violations directly to the brands that contract with the factories.
The tip-offs offer a more timely, honest, and direct means of communication than standard third party audits, while also allowing the contracting brands to increase transparency and avoid potential PR nightmares.
The service is especially important in countries like Bangladesh where working conditions are notoriously dangerous. In the first half of 2016, LaborVoices logged 5,000 calls from 85 Bangladeshi factories that supply more than 30 global brands, including Walmart, Target, Zara, Adidas, H&M and Levi’s, and rated almost one fifth of the calls as “high risk.”
You can read more about the use of cell phones to report labor abuses at Reuters.
