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Vozes dos Trabalhadores da Cadeia Asiática de Suprimento de Vestuário: Um Relatório sobre Violência da Classe Feminina

Uma aliança global de sindicatos, e organizações pelos direitos dos trabalhadores e direitos humanos no qual inclui Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), CENTRAL Cambodia e Global Labor Justice liberaram um relatório inovador que foi feito entre as fábricas no dia 25 de Mayo revelando violência da classe feminina da cadeia Asiática de suprimento de vestuário Walmart. As organizações também estão pedindo para o Walmart tomar *providências imediatas*, para finalizar a violencia e assedio que estas mulheres trabalhadoras estão forçadas a enfrentar diariamente. Após iniciativa empreendedora dos sindicatos, o International Labour Organization (ILO) vai convocar para configurar um padrão internacional de trabalho na violência da classe feminina. Líderes de sindicatos ao redor do mundo, governos e negócios vão encontrar para discutir a oportunidade histórica criar um padrão global, protegendo mulheres em todos os setores. Este relatório vai informar a discussão e acertar que os comentarios e recomendações das mulheres trabalhadoras de baixa renda estão sendo ouvidos e empoderados e as cadeias de suprimento que dependem dessas mulheres trabalhadores também são empoderadas para criar um sistema forte para os empregadores, empresas multinacionais e governos eliminar violência da classe feminina.

Este relatório inclui uma investigação de violência da classe feminina na fábrica da cadeia de suprimento Walmart conduzido entre Janeiro 2018 e Maio 2018 em Dhaka, Bangladesh, Phnom Penh, Camboja e Indonésia Java Oeste e segue um relatório feito no ano 2016 documentando violações de direitos humanos na cadeia global de suprimentos e os cinco tribunais detidos pelo Asia Floor Wage em todos os setores.

Estes novos estúdios documentam o assédio sexual e violência da classe incluindo violência física, abuso verbal, a força, ameaças e retaliações, uma rotina falta de liberdade incluindo forçado horas extras. Estes estúdios também esclarecem que a cadeia de suprimentos normaliza esta violência da classe por que acontece com muita frequencia.

Sulatana, Uma Ex gerente de linha de produção em uma fábrica de fornecedores Walmart in Dhaka, Bangladesh compartilha a sua experiencia com assédio sexual e retaliação:

“Ele flertou comigo, ele tocaria em meu ombro ou na minha cabeça. eu tentei ignora-lo. eu pensei que se eu não mostrasse interesse, ele iria parar. Não funcionou. Ele me ofereceu um aumento de salário e uma promoção se eu concordasse, Quando eu não aceitei, ele ameaçou me demitir.

Eu estava ansiosa e com medo. Eu faltei no trabalho no dia seguinte…A polícia se recusou a receber minha queixa alegando que eu não tinha nenhuma prova autêntica. Alguns dias depois,…o gerente geral me chamou para seu escritório e pediu-me para renunciar imediatamente. Quando eu abordei o Recursos Humanos, me disseram que a decisão final era do Gerente Geral.

Shahida, Uma costureira de 26 anos que opera em uma fábrica de fornecedores in Dhaka , Bangladesh detalha o abuso verbal direcionado que as trabalhadoras vivenciam para evitar receber benefícios no local de trabalho:

“Comecei a trabalhar nesta fábrica em abril de 2013. Ganhei uma boa reputação como funcionário qualificado e dedicado. O chefe de linha e o supervisor estavam felizes com o meu trabalho. Depois de completar meu quarto ano na fábrica, eles inverteram sua atitude em relação a mim. Eles gritavam comigo e me ameaçavam. Eles me chamavam de nomes. Eu reportei isso para o gerente da fábrica, mas ele respondeu aumentando minhas metas de produção. Eu não conseguia mais trabalhar assim. Em março de 2018, antes de completar meu quinto ano, deixei o emprego. Era exatamente o que eles queriam. Eu me demiti e eles não me pagaram a gratificação que eu tinha ganhado porque eles disseram que eu havia me demitido do trabalho.”

Uma trabalhadora de uma antiga fábrica de fornecedores Walmart em Kingsland Garment, Jacarta, na Indonésia, descreve o impacto físico de trabalhar longas horas sentado em uma fábrica mal ventilada :

“No trabalho, estou com dor de estômago, digestão e nariz problemas de sentar longas horas trabalhando tanto tempo extra, e trabalhando tantos dias. Mas às vezes eu só tenho que esquecer minha doença porque não tenho dinheiro. Eu tenho que ser a rocha da família.

Anannya Bhattacharjee, secretariado de AFWA, diz “o Walmart e o criador de tendências de gestão das cadeias de suprimento e confiam na exploração das mulheres trabalhadoras para capitalizar os lucros. Eliminar violência da classe feminina das cadeias de suprimento o Walmart e as outras marcas devem assumir a responsabilidade. É necessario tambem que o Walmart e as outras marcas respeitam a liberdade de associação e barganha coletiva que permite às mulheres ser agentes de mudança na economia global.”

“A necessidade de dignidade e equidade é global,” diz a Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum, diretora de Global Labor Justice nos EUA. “Mulheres nos EUA devem fazer mais. Devemos exigir prestação de contas nas lojas, nos armazéns e nas redes globais de produção.

Tola Meun, diretora executiva de CENTRAL diz, “Como os alvos de produção são irrealistas, violência da classe e uma realidade que estas mulheres trabalhadoras de confecções enfrentarem diariamente. Estos casos estão nunca reportados por ter medo de retaliação no trabalho.”

Em resposta aos relatorios, o Women’s Leadership Committee de Asia Floor Wage Alliance esta requisitando o Walmart a fazer três passos de acção imediato:

1. Suporte público e um compromisso proativo ao implementar a ILO convenção de recomendações da classe feminina violentada que inclui as recomendações da AFWA e parceiros.
2. Encontrar com o AFWA e o comitê de mulheres líderes nos próximos três meses para discutir descobertas na cadeia de suprimentos e próximos passos.
3. Trabalhar proativamente com AFWA para comandar o comitê de mulheres nas fábricas que eliminam violência sexual contra a classe feminina pelas empresas.

Esta semana o Walmart teve uma reunião com seus acionistas e liberou um relatório de responsabilidade global no início deste ano. O Walmart ainda não forneceu uma resposta substantiva apos os relatorios e solic’ita’co’es de acc”ao foram mandados na manha’ no dia 23 de Mayo, 2018.

Trabalhadores do Walmart com o Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR) anunciaram suporte de #TimesUp Legal Defense Fund para suportar litigio contra o Walmart para o assedio sexual.

Worker Voices from the Asian Walmart Garment Supply Chain: A Report on Gender Based Violence

A global coalition of trade unions, worker rights and human rights organizations, which includes Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), CENTRAL Cambodia , and Global Labor Justice released a groundbreaking factory level research report on Friday, May 25th exposing gender based violence in Walmart’s Asian garment supply chain. The coalition is also asking that Walmart take immediate action t to end the violence and harassment that women garment workers are forced to endure regularly in their garment supplier factories.

After significant initiative from trade unions, the International Labour Organization (ILO) will convene to set international labor standards on gender based violence . Trade union leaders from around the world along with governments and business will meet to discuss the historic opportunity to create a global standard protecting women across sectors. This report has been prepared to inform this dialogue and to make sure the experience and recommendations of low wage women workers and the sectors and supply chains that rely on them are uplifted in order to create a strong framework guided by the leadership of trade unions and worker organizations that will provide employers, multinational enterprises, and governments a blueprint for eliminating gender based violence in the workplace.

The report includes an investigation of gender-based violence in the Walmart garment supplier factories conducted between January 2018 and May 2018 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and West Java, Indonesia; and builds on a 2016 report documenting human rights violations in Walmart’s garment global supply chain and five tribunals held by the Asia Floor Wage on the sector overall.

This new research documents sexual harassment and violence including physical violence, verbal abuse, coercion, threats and retaliation, and routine deprivations of liberty including forced overtime. The research also makes clear these are not isolated incidents and that gender based violence in the Walmart supply chains is a direct result of how this employer conducts business.

Sulatana, a former production-line manager in a Walmart supplier factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh shares her experience with sexual harassment and retaliation:

“He flirted with me, he would touch me on the shoulder or touch me on the head. I tried to ignore him. I thought if I showed no interest, he would stop. It didn’t work. He offered me a salary increase and a promotion if I agreed. When I did not, he threatened to fire me. I was anxious and afraid. I skipped work the next day… The police refused to receive my complaint on the grounds that I had no authentic proof. A few days later, . . . the General Manager me to his office and asked me to resign immediately. When I approached Human Resources, I was told that the General Manager’s decision was final.”

Shahida, a 26-year-old sewing machine operator in a Walmart supplier factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh details the targeted verbal abuse women workers experience in order to avoid being paid workplace benefits:

“I began working at this factory in April 2013. I earned a good reputation as a skilled and dedicated worker. The line-chief and supervisor were happy with my work. After completing my fourth year at the factory, they reversed their attitude toward me. They shouted at me and bullied me. They called me names. I reported this to the factory manager, but he responded by raising my production targets. I couldn’t manage to work this way. In March 2018, before reaching my fifth year, I quit the job. It was exactly what they wanted. I resigned and they did not pay me the gratuity I had earned because they said I had resigned from the job myself.”

A woman worker from a former Walmart supplier factory in Kingsland Garment, Jakarta, Indonesia describes the physical impact of working long hours, seated, in a poorly ventilated factory:

“At work I’m facing stomach pain, digestion and nose problems from sitting long hours working so much overtime, and working so many days. But sometimes I just have to forget my sickness because I have no money. I have to be the rock in the family.”

Anannya Bhattacharjee, secretariat of AFWA says, “Walmart, the trend-setter for lean supply chain management relies on women workers’ gender-based exploitation in their supply chains to maximize their profits. To eliminate gender based violence in supply chains, Walmart and other brands must take responsibility on their supply chains. It is also fundamental that Walmart and other brands respect the freedom of association and collective bargaining that allow women workers to be change agents in the global economy.

“The movement for dignity and equity at work for all women is global”, says Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum, U.S. Director of Global Labor Justice. “Women in the U.S. shouldn’t stop at holding Walmart and U.S. corporations accountable for what happens in their U.S. retail stores and warehouses. We must also demand accountability along their global production networks.”

Tola Meun, Executive Director of CENTRAL says, “Gender based violence is a daily reality for women garment workers driven to meet unrealistic production targets in Walmart supply chains. Most of these cases are not reported due to fear of retaliation in the workplace.”

In response to the reports, the Women’s Leadership Committee of the Asia Floor Wage Alliance is asking Walmart for three immediate action steps :

1. Publicly support and commit to proactively implement an ILO Convention Recommendation on Gender Based Violence that includes the recommendations from the Asia Floor Wage Alliance and partners.
2. Meet with Asia regional meeting (s) organized by the Asia Floor Wage Women’s Leadership Committee in the next three months to discuss the supply chain findings and next steps.
3. Proactively work with the Asia Floor Wage Alliance to pilot women’s committees in factories that eliminate gender based violence and discrimination from the supplier factories.

Walmart held its shareholder meeting this week and released a report on global responsibility earlier this year. A substantive response from Walmart has yet to be received after the reports coupled with requests for action were sent to Walmart the morning of May 23 ^rd , 2018.

Walmart workers at U.S. retail stores with the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR) announced support from the #TimesUp Legal Defense Fund to support litigation against Walmart for sexual harassment.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 25th, 2018

CONTACT: Nazly Sobhi Damasio, nazly@globallaborjustice.org

Worker Voices from the Asian Walmart Garment Supply Chain: A Report on Gender Based Violence to the 2018 International Labour Organization

A global coalition of trade unions, worker rights and human rights organizations, which includes Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), CENTRAL Cambodia , and Global Labor Justice released a groundbreaking factory level research report today detailing gender based violence in Walmart’s Asian garment supply chain and are also asking for immediate action be taken by Walmart to end the violence and harassment that women garment workers are forced to endure daily.

After significant initiative from trade unions, the International Labour Organization (ILO) will convene to set international labor standards on gender based violence . Trade union leaders from around the world along with governments and business will meet to discuss the historic opportunity to create a global standard protecting women across sectors. This report has been prepared to inform this dialogue and to make sure the experience and recommendations of low wage women workers and the sectors and supply chains that rely on them are uplifted in order to create a strong framework guided by the leadership of trade unions and worker organizations that will provide employers, multinational enterprises, and governments a blueprint for eliminating gender based violence in the workplace.

The report includes an investigation of gender-based violence in the Walmart garment supplier factories conducted between January 2018 and May 2018 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and West Java, Indonesia. The research seeks to understand the spectrum of gender based violence and associated risk factors; and to use this information to address gender based violence through an ongoing approach that incorporates training on workplace violence as well as national and international level advocacy. The report builds on a 2016 report documenting human rights violations in Walmart’s garment global supply chain and five tribunals held by the Asia Floor Wage on the sector overall.

Women workers reported sexual harassment and violence ; and industrial discipline practices, including physical violence, verbal abuse, coercion, threats and retaliation, and routine deprivations of liberty including forced overtime. These are not isolated incidents, gender based violence in the Walmart garment supply chains is a direct result of how Walmart conducts business.

Sulatana, a former production-line manager in a Walmart supplier factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh shares her experience with sexual harassment and retaliation:

“He flirted with me, he would touch me on the shoulder or touch me on the head. I tried to ignore him. I thought if I showed no interest, he would stop. It didn’t work. He offered me a salary increase and a promotion if I agreed. When I did not, he threatened to fire me. I was anxious and afraid. I skipped work the next day… The police refused to receive my complaint on the grounds that I had no authentic proof. A few days later, . . . the General Manager me to his office and asked me to resign immediately. When I approached Human Resources, I was told that the General Manager’s decision was final.”

Shahida, a 26-year-old sewing machine operator in a Walmart supplier factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh details the targeted verbal abuse women workers experience in order to avoid being paid workplace benefits:

“I began working at this factory in April 2013. I earned a good reputation as a skilled and dedicated worker. The line-chief and supervisor were happy with my work. After completing my fourth year at the factory, they reversed their attitude toward me. They shouted at me and bullied me. They called me names. I reported this to the factory manager, but he responded by raising my production targets. I couldn’t manage to work this way. In March 2018, before reaching my fifth year, I quit the job. It was exactly what they wanted. I resigned and they did not pay me the gratuity I had earned because they said I had resigned from the job myself.”

A woman worker from a former Walmart supplier factory in Kingsland Garment, Jakarta, Indonesia describes the physical impact of working long hours, seated, in a poorly ventilated factory:

“At work I’m facing stomach pain, digestion and nose problems from sitting long hours working so much overtime, and working so many days. But sometimes I just have to forget my sickness because I have no money. I have to be the rock in the family.”

Anannya Bhattacharjee, secretariat of AFWA says, “Walmart, the trend-setter for lean supply chain management relies on women workers’ gender-based exploitation in their supply chains to maximize their profits. To eliminate gender based violence in supply chains, Walmart and other brands must take responsibility on their supply chains. It is also fundamental that Walmart and other brands respect the freedom of association and collective bargaining that allow women workers to be change agents in the global economy.

“The movement for dignity and equity at work for all women is global”, says Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum, U.S. Director of Global Labor Justice. “Women in the U.S. shouldn’t stop at holding Walmart and U.S. corporations accountable for what happens in their U.S. retail stores and warehouses. We must also demand accountability along their global production networks.”

Tola Meun, Executive Director of CENTRAL says, “Gender based violence is a daily reality for women garment workers driven to meet unrealistic production targets in Walmart supply chains. Most of these cases are not reported due to fear of retaliation in the workplace.”

In response to the reports, the Women’s Leadership Committee of the Asia Floor Wage Alliance is asking Walmart for three immediate action steps :

1. Publicly support and commit to proactively implement an ILO Convention Recommendation on Gender Based Violence that includes the recommendations from the Asia Floor Wage Alliance and partners.
2. Meet with Asia regional meeting (s) organized by the Asia Floor Wage Women’s Leadership Committee in the next three months to discuss the supply chain findings and next steps.
3. Proactively work with the Asia Floor Wage Alliance to pilot women’s committees in factories that eliminate gender based violence and discrimination from the supplier factories.

Walmart is preparing various activities for its shareholder meeting next week and released a report on global responsibility earlier this year. A substantive response from Walmart has yet to be received after the reports coupled with requests for action were sent to Walmart the morning of May 23 ^rd , 2018.

Walmart workers at U.S. retail stores with the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR) announced support from the #TimesUp Legal Defense Fund to support litigation against Walmart for sexual harassment.

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Global Labor Justice (GLJ) is a US based strategy hub supporting transnational collaboration among worker and migrant organizations to expand labor rights and new forms of bargaining on global value chains and international labor migration corridors.

Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) was officially formed in 2006 and includes more than 76 organizations, including garment industry trade unions, NGOs, consumer groups and research institutes from more than 17 countries from across Asia, Europe and North America.

CENTRAL (The Center for Alliance of Labor & Human Rights) is a local Cambodian NGO. The organization empowers Cambodian working people to demand transparent and accountable governance for labor and human rights through legal aid and other appropriate means.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 2nd, 2018

CONTACT: Nazly Sobhi Damasio, nazly@globallaborjustice.org

Asia Floor Wage Alliance Women Trade Union Leaders Garment Supply Chain Statement

We write as women trade union leaders in the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) representing thousands of women garment workers in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Cambodia. Our members produce clothes for H&M, Gap, Walmart and other well known brands which consumers in the U.S. and Europe wear.

The research we commissioned this year exposed women garment workers in Asia fainting at their workplaces due to malnutrition, exposure to high temperatures, and high levels of chemical substances in poorly ventilated spaces. The physical toll of garment work is exacerbated by violence that inflicts physical, mental, and sexual harm. These experiences of violence are unrelenting. Women workers are forced to work through lunch and into overtime hours that may stretch into the night.

Women workers also reported facing increased harassment and retaliation when they come forward to report to supervisors, auditors and brands. Unions that stand with their women members also face aggressive union busting tactics.

Corporations Cannot Investigate Themselves ― They Must Work with Women Led Worker Organizations

We commissioned this independent research to show that world what workers, trade unions, and brands already know well. Gender-based violence is prevalent and a consequence of fast fashion supply chain contracting practices. The research also proves how corporate social responsibility and internal audits exist to whitewash the problems. Uncovering and solving these problems requires working with worker organizations to change purchasing practices.

Brands sometimes like to say that violence and exploitation is coming from a few bad supervisors or Asian culture as a whole, but our research showed that it is not the case at all. The research showed how the fast fashion business is based on a business model that uses production targets and so-called competitive pricing to create a captive workforce earning subminimum wages and being forced to work overtime, placing women garment workers at routine risk for gender based violence. To sell clothes so cheap, turn over new styles fast, and deliver such high profits to brand executives and shareholders, suppliers rely on a business model that utilizes the discrimination and exploitation women workers as a cost saving measure.

Help Us Show a New Way Forward with Brands, Suppliers and Trade Unions

We are encouraged that the research has received significant global attention in major news outlets in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. We have received numerous messages of support from the women’s movement, trade unions, human rights groups, and others who recognize the problem and demand for it be stopped immediately.

But we need you all to understand the scope of this serious issue and take it a step further.

Now that Gap, H&M, and Walmart have been challenged to recognize what the research shows, they are trying to use their own internal audits and corporate social responsibility to distract from the necessary structural changes that they need to make immediately.

Brands themselves know these internal audits do not work. These are the same audits that have already failed to uncover what our research showed. These are the same auditors that determined Rana Plaza was safe months before it’s collapse, and resulted in the deaths of more than a thousand garment workers, the majority of whom were women.

Our research shows that these internal investigations are used by suppliers to coach women workers and threaten them to not participate in. These are the same corporate programs which address trainings without actually changing the supply chain pressures where gender based violence is common as a method of meeting high production, low cost contracts from the suppliers.

Urge Gap, H&M, and Walmart to Work with AFWA Women Leaders’ Committee to Pilot Projects in the Supply Chain Factories

As women workers and leaders of trade unions who work on their supply chains day after day we don’t just know the problems ― we know what solutions will work. These jobs are important to us – and we expect them to be decent jobs with living wage salaries, nondiscrimination, and freedom to join and lead worker organizations. These brands cannot do it alone, but together with their suppliers, and trade union leadership we can pilot innovative agreements and practices that enable women workers to lead in their workplaces, communities, and beyond.

Together We Can Remove Barriers So Women Workers Can Drive the Solutions!

We know the problems and the solutions to solving them. And we want our factories and our countries to be models of decent work for women.

If Gap and H&M are serious about commitments to women’s empowerment they and their suppliers should work, locally and regionally, with us ― women workers and women trade union leaders to pilot programs that change conditions in the factory immediately.

We know that dozens of of trade unions and civil society organisations in Asia and globally support our efforts and we ask our supporters around the world to keep fighting alongside us. Urge Gap, H&M, and Walmart to work side by side with the AFWA Women Leaders’ Committee.

The undersigned (and growing list) of women trade union leaders of Asia Floor Wage Alliance Women Leaders Committee urge H&M, Gap and Walmart to work with us to discuss these supply chain findings and pilot women’s committees in factories that eliminate gender-based violence and discrimination from the supplier factories.

Signed:

• Asia Floor Wage Alliance Women Leaders’ Committee
• Yang Sophorn, President, Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), Cambodia
• Kokom Komalawati, Women and Child Department, National Leadership Committee, Gabungan
• Serikat Buruh Indonesia(GSBI) (English: Indonesia Joint Trade Unions), Indonesia
• Sumiyati, National Leadership Committee, Serikat Pekerja Nasional (SPN) (English: National Union of Workers), Indonesia
• Dian Septi, General Secretary, FBLP-KPBI (Federasi Buruh Lintas Pabrik- Konfederasi
• Persatuan Buruh Indonesia), Indonesia
• Rukmini V.P., President, Garment Labour Union, India
• Rathi, Vice President, Karnataka Garment Workers Union, India
• Anannya Bhattacharjee, Garment and allied Workers Union, India
• R.J.K Inoka Damayanthi, Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU), Sri Lanka
• Lalitha Ranjanee Dedduwakumara, Textile, Garment and Clothing Workers Union, Sri Lanka
• P. Kumasi, President, National Free Trade Union, Sri Lanka

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CONTACT: Nazly Sobhi Damasio, Global Labor Justice, nazly@globallaborjustice .org

Concerns Raised at PRI’s Responsible Investment Meeting About The International Finance Corporation’s Investments Promotion of Decent Work & Development in the Hospitality Sector

Global Labor Justice issued the following:

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – At this year’s PRI ,billed as the world’s leading responsible investment conference, Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation challenged whether the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) investments in globally branded hotels actually promote decent work and development. Burrow said, “Development loans must benefit workers — not just global financiers. Development through hospitality sector investments must ensure engagement with trade unions at every level.” Burrow’s comments referenced recent letters sent to the IFC raising concerns various labor issues at hotels Marriott operates for IFC loan recipients.

Loans from the IFC require recipients and entities with whom they contract to ensure labor standards for development on the project under a Performance Standard on Labor and Working Conditions ,updated in 2012. Loan applicants must include an economic and social action plan with their application, disclosing concrete steps to meet the standard at each phase of the project. The IFC makes these publicly available through its online information portal .

The discussion at this year’s PRI signals a change to the “business as usual” approach to private sector investment in the hospitality sector for the IFC and private lenders who invest alongside the IFC. Investors are now on notice to be attentive to how the IFC, its loan recipients, and global brands like Marriott ultimately respond.

In a letter responding to a proposed 45 million USD loan to Ananta Hotels and Resorts Limited for a Marriott Hotel and Residence property in Bangladesh, The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) and human and labor rights NGO Global Labor Justice (GLJ) requested that the IFC conduct additional due diligence before approving the loan, in order to ensure ethical labor standards throughout the life of the project.

In a letter referencing a $20.95 million USD loan to SAMHI Private Limited, covering a wide portfolio of hotels in India, the majority now branded Marriott, Hotel Mazdoor Panchayat, an trade union organizing in hotels, along with human and labor rights NGO Global Labor Justice (GLJ) alleged that the project does not adequately protect workers with relation to freedom of association, gender based violence, limits on contract labor and subcontracting of permanent jobs core to the industry, and living wages that enable workers and their families to afford basic necessities and participate in development.

They asked that the IFC take action to ensure that the loan recipient, SAMHI, and its branded operator Marriott, engage with trade unions as they continue to proceed with the organizing in hotels covered by the project. “We expect SAMHI, Marriott and their financiers to ensure all the hotel workers on this project are paid living wages, with fair working conditions, and freedom of association, and not retaliate against workers for forming unions in their hotel chains.” said Ashim Roy, President of Hotels Mazdoor Panchayat.

Marriott International is the largest hotel chain in the world with more than 6,500 properties in 127 countries and earning more than $22 billion in the 2017 fiscal year , which has funded its global growth in part through these preferential loans. With over 100 managed and/or franchised hotels in India and approximately 50 more under construction and renovation, Marriott’s 22,000 rooms make it the largest branded hotel chain in India.

Marriott could also face potential strikes after 8,000 workers in six cities in the United States voted to authorize strikes. More than 12,000 Marriott workers have had their contracts expire and continue negotiations to secure better standards around job security and safety while demanding the hotel giant provide more for workers who say they often can not afford to live in the cities where Marriott prospers.

Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum, U.S. Director of Global Labor Justice, explained that, “The International Finance Corporation is enabling Marriott to export problematic U.S. labor relations policy including ‘right to work’ policies which are at odds with the International Labour Organization’s standards on human and labor rights. We look forward to dialogue with the IFC on best practices to make these projects models for advancing decent work and socially responsible tourism.”

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