Verité Research Leadership

Verité was the first to put in place an effective mechanism by which institutional investors can incorporate labor protections into their asset allocation. Verité assumed this leadership role first for CalPERS and NYCERS, the retirement funding systems for the state of California and New York City.

We leverage our grassroots access to provide a unique bottom-up, independent view of labor conditions around the globe. Verité examines the systems that cause vulnerability for workers and risk for corporations and investors, and identify solutions to resolve those vulnerabilities.

Current Research Work

• Helping investors interpret labor rights risks they face through invested companies so they can support good practices and benefit in the long run.
• Understanding the mechanisms that lead migrant workers into modern-day slavery and debt-bondage so that we can help solve them.
• Looking beyond multi-national supply chains to understand the ways in which domestic markets can be brought to leverage working conditions.

Emerging Markets Research Service This program offers a ranking of 26 emerging market countries using a quantitative assessment that employs 42 indicators of labor standards compliance - the first such framework of its kind to be used for investment purposes. Country Labor Law Reports We conduct specialized research for manufacturers, investors, NGOs, and trade unions on topics related to labor conditions and worker rights. Verité Works This publication profiles our initiatives to improve workplace conditions around the world. It offers an in-depth look at a particular effort on the ground, including successes, challenges and reflections for future work. Labor in ICTE Sector in India This newsletter is a periodic platform created for highlighting labor, social, and environmental developments in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. It provides information about the developments taking place in the ICT sector in India, and also offers insight into recent social responsibility initiatives undertaken by a variety of stakeholders on a global scale.

Labor Brokers & Foreign Contract Workers This project focuses on how exploitative labor broker practices contribute to the forced labor of children in the garment sector of Tirupur, India; Filipino workers in the electronics sector in Malaysia and Taiwan; and Asian workers in the U.S. agricultural sector. Forced Labor In this program we are collecting reliable data on and addressing the root causes of exploitative and forced labor in eight countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. This program leverages Verité's ten-plus years of experience in researching and solving workplace human rights violations in multinational supply chains. Social Auditor Standards Project Verité and CREA are facilitating a dialogue among stakeholders to develop standards for the knowledge, skills, and competencies of social auditors. This project, supported by the US Department of State’s Office of International Labor Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility, will result in a comprehensive set of standards and a training and accreditation pathway by which auditors can receive recognition for achieving the necessary knowledge and skills. Trafficking of Men This program is expanding the body of knowledge surrounding male trafficking for governments, nongovernmental organizations, corporations, unions and other stakeholders to increase their ability to reduce and prevent the devastating incidence and impact of male trafficking. Policy Research & Advocacy In the information age, there is a vast quantity of research that sits on government shelves, lingers in libraries, or floats in cyberspace, but is never put to use. Verité engages in policy advocacy to achieve tangible improvements from our on-the-ground projects.

For more information on these or any of our other services, email the Research Department or call +413-253-9227.