Clear Voice, a workers’ confidential communication hotline on employees’ rights, which has just completed its first year of operations in China, is expanding to five more Asian countries in partnership with Verité, a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating sweatshop abuses.
Doug Cahn, the Clear Voice president and a long-time corporate responsibility practitioner, said: ‘Low-wage, semi-skilled factory workers did not have access to mobile phones five years ago. Today they do. Clear Voice harnesses technology to protect workers against abuses.’
In addition to its hotline service, Clear Voice provides factory managers at participating companies with training to establish grievance mechanisms that deal with workers’ concerns. The two services give factories information about issues that concern workers, and the ability to respond to them constructively.
Confidential information reported by workers is communicated to senior factory managers. The factories’ actions are communicated back to workers. Brands and retailers can use Clear Voice data to check factories’ progress in tackling workplace issues.
The partnership with Verité will now offer Clear Voice services in Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
In its first year Clear Voice has received complaints about concerns ranging from underpayment to sexual harassment.
