This morning, the employees at PT Buma, a factory in Subang Indonesia which manufactures for clothing for many prominent American brands including Ivanka Trump’s clothes line, told The Guardian about how they are being heavily exploited. They are being paid the lowest wages in Asia and explained how it is impossible to meet the production targets even with overtime.
One pressing issue that was raised was one of the factory’s policies that gives financial incentive to women encouraging them to work overtime while menstruating. While Ivanka is well known for her campaigns demonstrating Trump’s commitment to women’s health and feminism worldwide, their factory’s policy is clearly a form of violation not only against human but also women’s rights.
The Guardian interviewed more than a dozen workers. One of them was Alia, giving birth to two children led her to work at the factory. Alia and her husband live in a $30 boarding house in horrible conditions, and had to leave their children with their grandparents in rural area. While constantly working overtime, they are still in debt and can only afford to pay for gasoline once a moth to visit their children. She said to the reporter that her ideal work life balance would be to be able to see her children more than once a month.
Earlier in May, Ivanka’s shoe factory in China was also investigated by the undercover New York-based rights group who later were detained and two went missing. This begs the question of potential abuse of authority, the effectiveness of the inner working of the current US administration, and its transparency.
Having been in the west wing with no specific title since the start of president Donald J Trump’s administration, Ivanka Trump has been heavily criticised by many. President Trump has handed over the day-to-day running of his business to a trust managed by his sons. Nevertheless, Trump maintains the power to veto any potential deal that hinders their political work.
Ivanka Trump, daughter and close advisor to President Donald Trump.
Yesterday, a second federal appeals court has upheld a unanimous decision to block another extreme revised travel ban proposed by Trump. Many International communities’ activist groups and people who were heavily effected and frustrated by his policies are planning to take further grass root actions as seen earlier this year, as a 5.2 Million people Women March across the country and in capital cities around the world including London. The working of this administration is also questioned and opposed among congressmen as a petition had passed a million-signature mark.