Press Room

Ruse in Toyland: Chinese Workers’ Hidden Woe
BY JOSEPH KAHN, NEW YORK TIMES, DECEMBER 7, 2003
Workers at Kin Ki Industrial, a leading Chinese toy maker, make a decent salary, rarely work nights or weekends and often "hang out along the street, play Ping-Pong and watch TV."

Scouring the Globe to Give Shoppers an $8.63 Polo Shirt
BY NANCY CLEELAND, EVELYN IRITANI AND TYLER MARSHALL, LA TIMES, NOVEMBER 24, 2003
Wal-Mart, once a believer in buying American, extracts ever lower prices from 10,000 suppliers worldwide. Workers struggle to keep pace.

US and Brazil Meet In Effort to Ease Coming Trade Talks
BY ELIZABETH BECKER, NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 10, 2003
Hoping to head off another breakdown in trade talks, the United States and Brazil came to an understanding over the weekend that top officials said could increase the prospects for some success at hemisphere-wide trade talks next week in Miami.

Cambodia Warns Off Minnie Driver
BY JON AGLIONBY, GUARDIAN UK, NOVEMBER 7, 2003
Cambodia has condemned plans by the British actor Minnie Driver to highlight sweatshop labour conditions by working in one of the country's textile factories.

The Sweatshop Generation
BY FELICITY LAWRENCE, NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 4, 2003
At Hisun Pharmaceutical, one of China's leading exporters of pharmaceutical products, migrant workers have died after being exposed to toxic waste wearing no protective clothing. Hisun, in city of Taizhou, has undergone and passed seven inspections by Food and Drug Adm, intended to ensure that company meets American standards for product safety.

Taking the Rap for Fashion Slaves
BY GARY YOUNGE , GUARDIAN UK, OCTOBER 30, 2003
When the rap impresario Sean "P Diddy" Combs created his own clothing line, Sean John, he insisted: "It's not just a label, it's a lifestyle."

Minnie Driver to Sweat It Out In Cambodia
STAFF, GUARDIAN UK, OCTOBER 30, 2003
Minnie Driver is swapping her Hollywood day job for a new career in the dynamic world of Cambodian sweatshops. Fortunately for Minnie, the move will only be temporary.

The Price of Dignity
BY ANITA RODDICK, GUARDIAN UK, SEPTEMBER 22, 2003
In the past two years, 500 export assembly factories have shut down in Mexico, throwing 218,000 workers on to the street. Their crime was the $1.26-an-hour base wage they were paid by companies such as Alcoa Fujikura to produce auto parts for export to the US. Those wages are now "too high" in the global economy.

U.N Adopts Norms on Transnational Business
AUGUST, 2003
On August 13, 2003, a United Nations human rights body in Geneva adopted the first set of comprehensive international human rights norms specifically applying to transnational corporations and other businesses.

Free Speech Case Is Unexpectedly Returned to California
BY LINDA GREENHOUSE, NEW YORK TIMES, JUNE 27, 2003
The Supreme Court unexpectedly dismissed Nike's appeal of the California Supreme Court's decision that Nike had to stand trial for consumer fraud. Is this a victory for plaintiff Marc Kasky?

Free Speech Decision
LEHRER NEWS HOUR, JUNE 26, 2003
The Supreme Court refused to rule in a case against athletic apparel maker Nike, Inc. involving free commercial speech. Jim Lehrer discusses the Nike ruling with Jan Crawford Greenburg of The Chicago Tribune.

Commentary: Sweatshops: Finally, Airing the Dirty Linen
BY AARON BERNSTEIN, BUSINESS WEEK, JUNE 23, 2003
For more than a decade, consumer-product and retail companies have been fending off sweatshop critics by hiring auditors to inspect their overseas factories for labor violations.

Making Trinkets in China, and a Deadly Dust
BY JOSEPH KAHN, NEW YORK TIMES, JUNE 18, 2003
With his handsome smile and full head of black hair, Hu Zhiguo hardly looks 44, much less gravely ill. The giveaway is his wispy voice, faint from clotted lungs.

No Way Out
BY NICHOLAS STERN, FORTUNE MAGAZINE, JANUARY 8, 2003
Forced Labor Trends in Competitive Global Economy. Includes an interview with Verité's Heather White.

Verité Submits Second Assessment of 27 Countries' Labor Practices to CalPERS
BY ERIN KLETT, MONITOR, SPRING/SUMMER 2003
When CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the United States, decided to use Verité's services to help inform their investment decisions, it was a coup for socially responsible investment. Two years into the agreement, Verité has completed its second annual assessment of labor practices in 27 emerging-markets countries. Verité's Erin Klett reports on the findings.

Bangladesh Braces for Trade Law Changes
BY SAYEEDA KAHN, MONITOR, SPRING/SUMMER 2003
Thanks to favorable international trade laws, Bangladesh's garment industry is the country's top employer and its primary source of foreign capital. All that is going to change in January 2004, when those laws are phased out and the industry will have to compete with powerhouses like China and India. Sayeeda Kahn examines the potentially devastating impacts the changes will have on Bangladeshi women.

China Life Skills Program Expanded
BY JULIA LLOYD, MONITOR, SPRING/SUMMER 2003
Due to an overwhelming demand, Verité's Life Skills Training program is entering a new phase in China. In conjunction with the Timberland Company, Verité has developed a Peer Education program that will train workers to become educators. Workers themselves will help spread information on nutrition, labor laws and mathematics, among other subjects, to their co-workers.

U.S. Department of Labor Awards Research Grant to Verité
MONITOR, SPRING/SUMMER 2003
Verité has received a $1.3 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to develop tools to track foreign countries' progress toward compliance with international labor standards. With over 1000 factory audits worldwide under its belt, Verité is uniquely qualified for the job.

The Impact of U.S. Trade Legislation on Sub-Saharan Africa
BY STEVE DONNELL, MONITOR, SPRING/SUMMER 2003
The African Growth and Opportunity Act was intended to stimulate economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world's poorest regions. The AGOA lowered trade barriers to the U.S. in 2000. Since then, the region's exports to the U.S. have jumped by 60 percent. But have the new jobs come at a high price? Verité reports.

Upward Mobility: 11,000 Workers Trained in China
BY QING ZHANG, MONITOR, SPRING/SUMMER 2003
In the year and a half since its inception, Verité's Mobile Training Program has grown to include 11,000 workers in 23 factories in southern China. This year, the Mobile Training van will regularly visit 38 factories, educating workers about occupational health and safety, worker's rights, labor law, nutrition and women's health issues.

Behind the Labels: Garment Workers on U.S. SAIPAN
MONITOR, FALL 2002
The workers endure 14-hours shifts, payless paydays and factory lock-downs – does it sound like China? It's not. Read a review of Behind the Labels, a film exposing labor abuses on the U.S. territory of Saipan, where conditions are Third World but the labels say "Made in the USA."

CalPERS Makes Available Verité's First Quantitative Assessment of Labor Practices in Emerging Markets
MONITOR, FALL 2002
After making a ground-breaking commitment to factor labor practices into its investment decisions, the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) commissioned Verité to assess 27 emerging markets. For the first time, CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the United States, is making Verité's assessment available to the public.

Common Verité Findings in Vietnamese Apparel and Footwear Factories
MONITOR, FALL 2002
Have you ever wondered what it's like to work in a Vietnamese clothes factory? Are you curious about why Asian-made shoes are so cheap? Verité publishes an eye-opening list of common practices – and abuses – at Vietnamese factories.

Kasky v. Nike Case
MONITOR, FALL 2002
San Francisco activist Mark Kasky filed a lawsuit against Nike, Inc. in 2002. Kasky alleges that the corporation violated a California law prohibiting false advertising when it claimed that its products were manufactured under legal conditions. Read excerpts from the California Supreme Court's preliminary judgment on the case.

Saipan Workers Gain Class Status and Provisional Approval of The Settlement
MONITOR, FALL 2002
In an historic judgment, a federal judge granted class-action status to a three-year old lawsuit involving 30,000 workers on the U.S. territory of Saipan. The ruling will also allow Verité, hired as a part of the preliminary settlement, to begin independent monitoring of labor practices and factory conditions on the island.

Verité's China Labor Center: Providing Women Workers with the Skills they Need
MONITOR, FALL 2002
Migrant workers are rarely aware of their rights under Chinese law and are often ignorant of the health and safety issues they'll encounter in the workplace. In May 2002, Verité established a workers' resource center that will provide factory workers in Guangdong Province with training on labor rights and vocational and life skills training.

Verité Snapshot: Vietnam
MONITOR, FALL 2002
With a 93.7 percent literacy rate and 37 percent of the population living below the poverty line, Vietnam is a study in contradictions. Learn more about this fascinating country; read Verité's Vietnam Snapshot.

Workers Win Independent Union in Mexico!
MONITOR, FALL 2002
In October 2001, workers at the Mex Mode factory in Atlixco, Mexico formed the first independent union to sign a collective bargaining agreement with a Mexican maquila factory. Within months, Nike threatened to stop ordering from the factory, and the union—and activists worldwide—kicked into high gear.

The Hidden Assembly Line: Gender Dynamics of Subcontracted Work in a Global Economy
BY RADHIKA BALAKRISHNAN AND ED. KUMARIAN PRESS, INC., MONITOR, FALL 2002
Read an excerpt from The Hidden Assembly Line, a collection of essays on the impact of trade globalization on women workers in Asia. In this section, Professor Radhika Balakrishnan examines the difficulties of organizing with subcontractors who often work in the home and are viewed as scabs by traditional unions.

Under Fire
BY DAVID DRICKHAMER, INDUSTRY WEEK, JUNE 1, 2002
Consumer cries for sweatshop-free products drive big-name brands to extraordinary lengths to monitor working conditions at contractor plants.

Saipan Workers Can Sue as Class Labor
BY NANCY CLEELAND, L.A. TIMES, MAY 15, 2002
Ruling is a milestone in effort to change garment manufacturing practices on the island.

Hot Fudge-Flavored Social Justice
BY MARC B. HAEFELE, CHRISTINE PELISEK, LA WEEKLY, APRIL 29, 2002
From ice cream to fair labor practices? It's all in a day's work for Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry's. He's behind the Hot Fudge Social Venture Fund, an investment group dedicated to making a profit – just not at the expense of labor rights.

San Francisco Chronicle
BY BILL WALLACE, FEBRUARY 20, 2002
Human rights now a factor in CalPERS investments Fund won't support repressive regimes.

Verité China Suppliers' Conferences
MONITOR, FALL 2001
Verité began organizing suppliers' conferences in China in 1998 in response to a clear need among factory managers to understand the social labor law compliance process. At first, their reception was tentative. But in 2001, over 150 factory owners and managers attended Verité's spring 2001 conference in China's Zhuhai Special Economic Zone. Is the tide turning?

Life Skills Training Program in China
BY HWEI-LING GREENEY, MONITOR, FALL 2001
"After I left school, I was afraid that I would never have another chance to continue studying. It is hard to believe that I have been given this opportunity." That's just one response from over 1,000 workers who have participated in Verité's life skills training program. Learn why this program has proven so popular – and so necessary.

Chinese Workers Sue Employers Over Sexual Harassment
BY CHARLES LOWE, LAWRENCE BROWN, MONITOR, FALL 2001
Chinese labor laws are fairly complete, but many Chinese workers never enjoy their protection. Whether they're unaware of their rights or intimidated into silence by management, few workplace violations are ever reported. That is, until the summer of 2001, when 56 women in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone decided they'd had enough.

Compliance Choices: Challenges and Red Herrings
BY MIL NIEPOLD, MONITOR, FALL 2001
Companies often ask Verité to certify factories as socially “compliant” – that is, as respecting core human rights. But in an increasingly volatile global economy, factory conditions can literally change from one day to the next. Verité’s Mil Niepold examines the challenges of compliance and points the way toward sustainable change.

Verité Index
MONITOR, FALL 2001
Think you know the facts about global labor issues? The Verité Index just might surprise you....

Maine Clean Clothes Bill Passes
BY BJORN CLAESON, MONITOR, FALL 2001
In 1996, the Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign launched an anti-sweatshop campaign to boost community awareness and change the buying habits of local merchants. Five years later, the effort had blossomed into groundbreaking statewide legislation and inspired similar campaigns around the country. How did they do it?

The Mekong Environment and Resource Institute (MERI)
MONITOR, FALL 2001
Workplace conditions don't simply affect factory workers – when factory waste is badly managed it can affect the surrounding communities as well. Verité is partnering with the Mekong Environment and Resource Institute to better understand how development affects the Mekong river basin and the people who rely on the river for their livelihood.

View from Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan Garment Factory Workers in the Middle East
BY SONALI GUNASEKERA, MONITOR, FALL 2001
Exploitation is at its worst for the world's contract workers. Far from home and their traditional social networks, they face constant wage disputes, forced overtime and sometimes abuse – and they live without legal protections. Nowhere is this more evident than with Sri Lankans who travel to work in the Middle East. Verité's Sonali Gunasekera reports.

Summary of Verité Findings in Turkish Factories
MONITOR, FALL 2001
Few are better positioned to provide an overview of working conditions in Turkey than Verité. Verité has been conducting audits and worker interviews in Turkish factories since 1999. Intrigued by what they found? Read on.

Can We Put an End to Sweatshops?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2001
Three eminent Ivy League professors propose new labor standards in the cogently argued and enjoyable Can We Put an End to Sweatshops? Not only did the authors make their case for the standards, they also invited responses from academics and activists in the field, including Verité's founder Heather White. Read the Publishers Weekly review.