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

Six Seasons, Four Summers: How to Solve Fashion's High Heat Problem

Read The Report

Cooling investments in Bangladesh’s apparel factories can be commercially viable, with an average payback period of one to four years, according to new research from Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute.

a washing image
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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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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

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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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

Latest Research and Events

Video: Sarosh Kuruvilla’s Conference keynote speech

GLI Academic Director brings new data and analysis of private regulation of labor practices
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Sarosh Kuruvilla, Cornell University
Video: Sarosh Kuruvilla’s Conference keynote speech

Video: Thea Lee’s 2022 Conference keynote speech

USDOL Deputy Undersecretary lays out changes for labor provisions in U.S. trade policy and agreements
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Thea Lee, Deputy Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Labor
Video: Thea Lee’s 2022 Conference keynote speech

Speakers and scenes from 2022 NYC Conference

Three crucial questions for global labor governance: Where are we headed with human rights due diligence, private regulation and labor rights in trade policy?” Too long?
Speaker on stage with microphone
Speakers and scenes from 2022 NYC Conference

Global Severance Pay Program Outlined

When apparel factories shut down due to COVID-19, many workers lost their incomes. ILR’s New Conversations Project proposes a model to protect workers.
garment workers in a factory
Global Severance Pay Program Outlined

ILR and ILO Make Suggestions to Help Fishers in Southeast Asia

Researchers from ILR’s New Conversations Project and the International Labour Organization have documented problems faced by fishers, especially migrants, during the pandemic and provided a list of potential policy changes to effect change.
fishing boat in Thailand
ILR and ILO Make Suggestions to Help Fishers in Southeast Asia

Live Event: Rough Seas - COVID’s impact on work in fishing

New Cornell NCP/ILO Ship to Shore Rights brief on fishing in Southeast Asia looks back at the COVID-19 pandemic impacts and responses.
fishing boat in Thailand
Live Event: Rough Seas - COVID’s impact on work in fishing

In The News

Media Mentions

Nike Is Moving Jobs to Low-Wage Regions of Indonesia

Pro Publica
Jason Judd, executive director of ILR’s Global Labor Institute, criticizes Nike’s living wage pledge for falling short on achieving a living wage for workers.
Nike Is Moving Jobs to Low-Wage Regions of Indonesia

2026 Will Be ‘Stress Test’ Year for Garment Worker Rights

Yahoo News
Sarosh Kuruvilla, ILR professor and academic director of the Global Labor Institute, comments on how recent increases in U.S. tariffs have affected progress in improving labor rights for workers. [Syndicated from Sourcing Journal]
2026 Will Be ‘Stress Test’ Year for Garment Worker Rights

How Climate Change Will Shape Fashion Supply Chains in 2026

Vogue
“The technology to cool workers is not complicated, and the costs are manageable in most countries,” said Jason Judd, executive director of ILR’s Global Labor Institute, sharing his expertise about how the garment industry is addressing climate change and heat stress in factories.
How Climate Change Will Shape Fashion Supply Chains in 2026

Justice for Jeyasre: how a brutal murder led to a better deal for garment workers in India

The Guardian
Sarosh Kuruvilla, academic director of the Global Labor Institute, provides an analysis of the Dindigul labor agreement and comments on why Natchi Apparels may be having difficulty finding new clients.
Justice for Jeyasre: how a brutal murder led to a better deal for garment workers in India

Can the fashion industry adapt to a warming world?

Context
“Workers toiling in 35 or 40 degrees Celsius and high humidity is the return of the literal sweatshop,” says this article about the garment industry and climate change, co-written by Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute. The article cites the institute’s “Higher Ground?” report and offers solutions.
Can the fashion industry adapt to a warming world?

2030 is Nearly Here. Can Fashion Still Make Good on Its Climate Promises?

Sourcing Journal
“This is not a technical problem but a political one” said Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, about the fashion industry’s progress with adapting to climate change.
2030 is Nearly Here. Can Fashion Still Make Good on Its Climate Promises?