How we work
The WRC is a leading labor rights organization with over two decades of experience exposing and remedying workplace violations in global supply chains. Our model unites investigation, accountability, and advocacy.
The WRC’s modeL
We leverage our expert global team and longstanding role as an independent monitor to conduct rigorous, objective, worker-centered investigations of labor rights abuses in garment producing countries. We meticulously document violations and vigorously pursue concrete remedies, using a robust framework of local and international laws and private regulatory mechanisms. By engaging directly with brands and consistently holding companies at the top of supply chains to account, the WRC has helped workers at thousands of factories win measurable gains and has played a pivotal role in launching some of the most innovative labor rights initiatives in recent decades.
OUR APPROACH
INVESTIGATION
We conduct worker-centered independent investigations of labor rights abuses in garment producing countries across the world.
ACCOUNTABILITY
We center our approach in identifying the pathways in which to hold brands and employers to account for correcting abuses in their supply chains.
ADVOCACY
Building on our expertise in holding companies accountable for labor abuses, we advocate for structural solutions that address the root causes of exploitation.
Where we work
The WRC maintains a local field presence of investigators and labor experts in twelve countries. We work with hundreds of civil society organizations across Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa.
OUR PROCESS
We conduct independent, objective, worker-centered investigations of labor rights abuses in garment producing countries around the world. The WRC not only identifies and documents labor rights violations but also works to address and remediate these abuses. We center our approach on rigorous factfinding and analysis and on identifying mechanisms by which brands can be held accountable for remedying worker rights abuses in their supply chains.
Violation occurs
Violations are breaches of a national law of the country of production, of a collective bargaining agreement, of an International Labour Organization (ILO) standard, and/or of enforceable licensee codes of conduct of universities and colleges or procurement codes of institutional purchasers.
Labor rights abuses occurring in the supply chain of a transnational company are frequently also violations of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, not to mention the company’s own supplier code of conduct.
WRC receives a complaint from workers, a union, or another civil society organization
Within the countries where we operate, we maintain local field staff who are rooted in their communities. They hold longstanding and trusted relationships with garment workers , as well as with local unions and other civil society organizations, like women’s rights groups and migrant worker associations.
Complaints the WRC receives from workers frequently include reports of: wage theft, gender-based violence and harassment, unsafe working conditions, and threats and retaliation against union leaders and other workers who are seeking to improve conditions.
As workers may face risk retaliation from their employers for reporting violations, they may also submit complaints to us anonymously.
WRC investigates complaints of violations from workers by:
Gathering facts: our investigations are grounded in direct worker interviews, held off-site from the workplace so that workers may speak in confidence with our local team members. We interview workers using methods that protect them against their bosses identifying them, singling them out, and threatening them or retaliating against them for sharing their testimony with us. While maintaining the confidentiality of the workers we have interviewed, we also interview factory management about the violations that workers have reported and request that managers provide relevant employment records and documents.
We independently reach objective findings of fact based on the evidence we have gathered from both workers and factory management, and our assessment of the credibility and probative value of this evidence. We then reach findings of violations by assessing the fact against applicable objective standards, including national and international laws, and both binding and voluntary codes of conduct.
Remediation
We seek remediation of violations of workers’ rights by working up the supply chain—we engage first with factory owners, then (if no remedy) with buyers (typically brands), then with those buyers’ business partners (retailers, licensors (like universities, sports leagues), investors, government or institutional purchasers), that have a legitimate interest in those buyers’ supply chain labor practices.
- Reinstatement of workers with backpay, following a retaliatory firing or other unlawful dismissal.
- Direct monetary compensation for workers for past wage and benefits violations or particularly abusive treatment.
- Concrete improvement in factory safety conditions, and reforms of labor practices and employment policies.
- Measures to affirm factory management will respect workers’ rights going forward – announcements and written postings in factories.
- Measures to restore a secure environment for workers to exercise rights – including discipline or removal of managers or employees who have engaged in misconduct.
- Measures to establish freedom of association and collective bargaining – access to factories for workers’ union representatives, good faith negotiations between factory management and workers’ unions.
- Enforceable binding agreements between buyers and worker representatives
The remedies we seek are driven by:
- Workers themselves: our agreements and remedies are designed, negotiated, and implemented with worker organizations playing a central role.
- National law and international standards
- Our expertise and longstanding experience in knowing what works
Advocacy
We amplify the need for remediation by bringing violations to the attention of other civil society actors—such as media, NGOs, unions, universities, investors, and consumers—and informing them of the remedies necessary to restore compliance with relevant labor standards.
After engaging with factory owners and buyers, we report publicly on the extent to which they have committed to and implemented the necessary remedies. We continue to call for further remediation where this is still lacking.. Our reports are trusted and utilized, for advocacy and educational purposes, by an array of stakeholders concerned with advancing workers’ rights in global supply chains and achieving corporate accountability.
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