Women sewing blue jeans for Levi's, Wrangler and Lee face sexual harassment and gender-based violence and some have been coerced into having sex with supervisors to keep their jobs in African factories, labour rights groups say.
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In response to the revelations, the brands have agreed to bring in outside oversight and enforcement for more than 10,000 workers at five Lesotho factories, according to a report from the Washington-based Worker Rights Consortium.
The labour rights group investigated Taiwan-based Nien Hsing Textile factories in Lesotho - a poor, mountainous kingdom encircled by South Africa - after hearing from a number of sources that women who sew, sand, wash and add rivets to blue jeans and other clothes were facing gender-based violence.
Managers and supervisors forced many female workers into sexual relationships in exchange for job security or promotions, says the report, released on Thursday.
In dozens of interviews, the women described a pattern of abuse and harassment, including inappropriate touching, sexual demands and crude comments.
When the workers objected, they faced discrimination and retaliation, the report said. The factory managers also fought union organising, it said.
Female workers told investigators even male colleagues were molesting them.
"Male workers like touching females in a way that is not appropriate," one worker said.
"The foreign national managers slap women's buttocks and touch their breasts. They sometimes take them home for sex," another worker said.
Their testimony in the report is anonymous to protect workers' privacy.
Levi Strauss & Co vice president of sustainability Michael Kobori said that as soon as the company received the Worker Rights Consortium report it told Nien Hsing "this would not be tolerated and required them to develop a corrective action plan".
Levi's, The Children's Place and Kontoor Brands, maker of Wrangler and Lee jeans, said in a joint statement they want all workers, especially women, to feel "safe, valued and empowered".
The US companies are funding a two-year program, in collaboration with the US Agency for International Development, that establishes an independent investigative group where factory workers can raise concerns.
Factory owner Nien Hsing has agreed to work with Lesotho-based unions and women's rights organisations to develop a code of conduct and enforcement actions.
Australian Associated Press
