"If Workers Can’t Speak, CSR is Just PR", The Diplomat, 21 November, 2025

[...] the absence of worker voices in corporate decision-making processes is not a failing on the workers’ part, but a structural gap that can be easily solved. Yet, it is the central reason corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts keep failing.

[...] Forced labor persists as a structural risk across multinational supply chains, and well-intentioned reforms collapse when workers are excluded from the solution.

[...] production naturally migrates to regions with fewer labor regulations, weaker enforcement, and lower operating costs. In these regions, corporations self-regulate and determine their own labor standards. Sometimes, they hire for-profit third-party firms that conduct infrequent social audits to the standards they have set, [...].

Our recent investigation of Apple’s key iPhone supplier, Foxconn Zhengzhou, found many workers still logging 70 to 80 hours per week.

Similar patterns have been observed on my trips to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Serbia, and Hungary. [...].

[...] Workers remain silenced in factory policies, in audit processes, in corporate decision-making, and in global governance forums. [...].

First, global institutions must invest in local watchdogs.

Second [...] Companies serious about responsible sourcing need stable partnerships with independent local organizations [...].

Third, trade agreements must enforce, rather than simply gesture at, labor standards.