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Dignity factory workers producing shirts for overseas clients, in Accra, Ghana

Cooling Before It Got Cool: Case Studies in Heat Adaptation in Southeast Asian Factories

Heat Adaptation in Apparel Factories

A new examination of how apparel factories are adapting to extreme heat while investing in cooling, automation, and climate resilience strategies.

A thermal image of a worker at a station in a garment factory, showing the high heat levels through brighter orange colors at their workstation.
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The Dindigul Agreement to End Gender-based Violence and Harassment

Has It Worked?

This is GLI’s official final assessment of the Dindigul Agreement to End Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at a South Indian apparel factory that could be a model for other factories around the world. 

Large room of garment factory workers
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Global Labor Institute's Climate-Labor Work

GLI Climate-Labor Research

See all of our analyses on the intersection of labor rights and climate change.

GLI climate workers webinar
Read GLI's Climate-Labor Work

Measuring Supply Chain Due Diligence

Labor Outcomes Metrics

Read about the Global Labor Institute's new quantitative metrics that measure labor outcomes—actual impacts for workers.

Workers in Bangladesh
Read more about Measuring Supply Chain Due Diligence

Latest Research and Events

AI and the New Informality

GLI Fellows Sarah Krasley and Maria Mexi announce a new AI impacts project: What happens when workers remain employed, but their autonomy narrows day to day? When organizational accountability becomes blurred, professional recognition declines, and the protections that once made employment meaningful begin to thin out?
Illustrations of six data workers, working at computers in isolation from each other. Painted background includes hazy image of cubicles; digital overlay of glass fractures.
AI and the New Informality

“Mitigating Heat Stress in Garment, Footwear, and Travel Goods Sector”

GLI's Jason Judd publishes "Migrating Heat Stress in the Garment, Footwear, and Travel Goods Sector," a new policy brief from GLI and GIZ (Germany) that makes the case for new heat-stress protections for workers in Cambodia’s apparel, footwear and travel goods industries.
Image of bright sunny sky
“Mitigating Heat Stress in Garment, Footwear, and Travel Goods Sector”

The Global Fight against Forced Labor: The U.S. and the EU at the forefront

This policy brief from Visiting Fellows Samira Rafaela and Kelly Fay Rodríguez looks at the EU's Forced Labour Regulation, compares it with legislation in the US, and presents recommendations and solutions to make the FLR more effective.
Women wearing bright colored outfits carry bricks across a short rickety wooden bridge in front of a lightly colored brick wall.
The Global Fight against Forced Labor: The U.S. and the EU at the forefront

22 January 2026 Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Global Labor Institute and Thammasat Business School Bangkok Conference 'Hot Air: What works to combat extreme heat in apparel production in Asia?' Recap

Please enjoy our recap of our 22 January 2026 conference in Bangkok, 'Hot Air: What works to combat extreme heat in apparel production in Asia?'
People sit in a room for a conference behind wooden tables.
22 January 2026 Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Global Labor Institute and Thammasat Business School Bangkok Conference 'Hot Air: What works to combat extreme heat in apparel production in Asia?' Recap

Cooling Before It Got Cool: Case Studies in Heat Adaptation in Southeast Asian Factories

A new examination of how apparel factories are adapting to extreme heat while investing in cooling, automation, and climate resilience strategies.
A thermal image of a worker at a station in a garment factory, showing the high heat levels through brighter orange colors at their workstation.
Cooling Before It Got Cool: Case Studies in Heat Adaptation in Southeast Asian Factories

Falling behind: Minimum wage-setting in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry

In this GLI Policy Brief, we provide an analysis of the government’s wage-setting process and changes in the minimum wage’s value and purchasing power over the last 15 years.
Front page of a GLI policy brief. It says "GLI Policy Brief | December 2025 Falling behind: Minimum wage-setting in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry, By Jason Judd, Avi Hossain and Brian Wakamo" with an image of Sri Lanka garment workers at the top of the page and the ILR Global Labor Institute and Cornell University logos at the bottom of the page.
Falling behind: Minimum wage-setting in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry

In The News

Media Mentions

Nike says its factory workers earn nearly double the minimum wage. At this Cambodian factory, 1% made that much.

Pro Publica
“Companies have enormous leeway in what they report. It’s enormously difficult to compare within firms across years. Between firms, impossible. Companies are able to pick and choose how they tell their story,” says Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute.
Nike says its factory workers earn nearly double the minimum wage. At this Cambodian factory, 1% made that much.

Is It Time For Fashion To Enter Its Heat Pump Era?

Forbes
This piece references new research published by the Global Labor Institute.
Is It Time For Fashion To Enter Its Heat Pump Era?

Cornell researchers call for annual review of Bangladesh RMG wages

The Business Standard
"There is a clear need and room — both political and economic — for an annual wage-setting process in Bangladesh. It's long overdue," says Jason Judd, executive director of ILR's Global Labor Institute.
Cornell researchers call for annual review of Bangladesh RMG wages

Review RMG workers' wages annually, not every five years

The Daily Star
This piece summarizes a study conducted by Jason Judd and ILR's Global Labor Institute that found that, given current inflation rates, garment workers in Bangladesh paid the minimum wage are losing income year after year.
Review RMG workers' wages annually, not every five years

The Policy Ask with Jason Judd: “The UK’s Modern Slavery Act is not fit for purpose”

The New Statesman
Q&A featuring Jason Judd, the executive director of the Cornell’s Global Labor Institute, discussing international workers' rights, President Lula, and being "less fox, more hedgehog."
The Policy Ask with Jason Judd: “The UK’s Modern Slavery Act is not fit for purpose”