It seems that Donald Trump and those close to him like Ivanka Trump believe in putting America first, but Ivanka’s clothing manufacturer is in China, which seems to contradict her father’s words. Some people say she will fight for worker’s rights, but many employees who work for her clothing line’s manufacturer are underpaid and overworked. The factory in question employees 80 people. Each of these employees were punching in about 60 hours per week.
Several audits were completed recently, and most of them reported that the people working at this factory did not make more than $62 a week, even though they were working overtime. It should be noted that the facility in question was actually producing the clothes for the G-III Apparel Group Ltd. This company has the exclusive rights to produce Ivanka’s fashion line, meaning the extent of her involvement is not entirely clear.
No one knows just how far this issue has gone either since G-III has contracted with other large companies like Kenneth Cole and Calvin Klein. G-III is not a stranger to these types of audits; it even praised third-party groups and the Fair Labor Association for their exceptional work.
The auditors went through the factory and thoroughly checked a number of practices. They found two dozen violations under the U.N. International Labor Organization. The violation most people are concentrating on is the overtime violation. Under U.N. law, workers cannot work more than 36 hours of overtime in a month, yet people working on Ivanka’s clothes were working somewhere between 42 to 82 hours of overtime.
There is no doubt that these infractions are being addressed by G-III. The company actually released a statement saying that many of these violations have already been corrected since being discovered and others are being worked on. The company wants everyone to understand that its goal is to be fair to its employees, no matter where they are from.
Ivanka has not commented on this developing story, but what is interesting to note is her recent visit to Germany where she spoke at a conference about female empowerment. There, she stated that she and her father were champions for equal pay for all people. This was met with ‘boos’ from the crowd.
Donald Trump has said that he wants American companies to start manufacturing in the United States. He wants them to stop taking their businesses or factories outside of the country. In Donald Trump’s perspective, doing something like this is like stealing from American workers. In fact, he has also mentioned China, saying that it is one of the countries stealing American jobs from people who really need it.
It is rhetoric like this that is making many people criticize both Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump because many of his companies outsource work. Some are saying that they are both guilty of stealing jobs from American workers and should not talk about other companies doing the same.
It is understandable that many people want Trump and his family to lead by example. They are the people Americans look up to, so this belief should apply to his company and any companies ran by his family members.
No one can predict the future or what a business or person will do. Ivanka can still make a statement regarding this scandal and make her beliefs known. It is possible that Trump and his family are in the process of making the kind of changes that would bring back companies to the United States. The problem is that actions speak louder than words, and right now, Ivanka’s actions are not inspiring much trust.