Charles Kernaghan of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights recently reported the following good news from Bangladesh: “At the Next Collection factory, we were able to demand the firing of ten corrupt and highly abusive senior managers. Today, the workers are no longer beaten, forced to toil 14- to 17-hour shifts, seven days a week, and cheated of their wages and overtime.
With the support of Verité and Calvert Investments, San Francisco’s Department on the Status of Women worked closely with some of the Bay Area’s largest employers, including McKesson, Deloitte, Google, Recology, Symantec, and Gap. Together they crafted a web-based self-assessment tool—the Gender Equality Principles Initiative (GEPI)—for employers to benchmark their policies and practices and compile an extensive library of online resources to further promote gender equitable workplaces. GEPI was recently awarded the 2012 International Work-Life Balance Award in Milan, Italy.