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Ikea, Kohl’s and Walmart are members of 2010 Sweatshops Hall of Shame, published by International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF). These companies are on the list because of unsafe working conditions at the factory Mederes Tekstil in Denizili in Turkey. This factory produces bed linens for Ikea, Kohl’s and Walmart. Unionizing is prevented by punishment or dismissal. Four workers have died because of the unsafe working environment. Ikea, the factory’s primary buyer investigated the labor conditions in the factory and concluded that there were no major labor problems. Requests made by ILRF to work on improving the conditions in the factory have been ignored by all three companies. Read more about the 2010 Sweatshops Hall of Shame in ILRF’s report.

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The National Labor Committee’s May 2006 report titled, “US-Jordan Free Trade Agreement Descends into Human Trafficking & Involuntary Servitude,” documents violations of workers’ rights in numerous Jordanian factories. Factories included the Needle Craft Est., Atlanta Textile Manufacturing Co., and Al Safa Garment Factory, all of which produces brand names sold under Kohl’s. The lack of respect for workers’ basic human rights included the following:

• Human trafficking and involuntary servitude of guest workers
• Confiscation of workers’ passports and denial of legally required identification cards
• Routine work shifts of 14.5 to 16.5 hours. At Needle Craft Est., workers typically exceeded Jordan’s legal workweek limit by 400 percent
• No sick days, paid vacations, or government holidays allowed
• Wages below the legal minimum; in Al Safa, wages were 27 percent below the legal minimum
• Sporadic pay
• Inadequate and unsanitary working conditions. In the summertime, factory temperatures rise above 100 degrees in Al Safa
• Workers subject to violence and threats if production goals not met

A worker at the Needle Craft Est. stated, “We felt like birds in a cage. No one helped us.”

While the NLC was investigating working conditions at the Al Safa garment factory, it was discovered that a young Bangladeshi worker committed suicide in February 2005. She hung herself by a scarf in the bathroom after allegedly being raped by the factory manager. There has been no official investigation of her rape and death.

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On March 22, 2004, workers at King Yong, a large Taiwanese-owned garment export factory in Nicaragua producing clothing for export to Wal-Mart and Kohl's, organized a legal union. Shortly after, the facility started firing scores of workers, including several of the newly elected union leaders. King Yong continues to defy repeated demands by the government of Nicaragua to immediately reinstate the over 400 workers fired, end excessive mandatory overtime, pay the legal overtime wage, and to correct numerous health and safety violations including inadequate lighting, excessive noise, poor ventilation and failure to conduct health and safety trainings.

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Lee Kil-Soo, owner of the Daewoosa factory in American Samoa, was convicted in February 2003 of human trafficking for illegally confining workers in "involuntary servitude," holding their passports, and threatening deportation in retaliation for any acts of non-compliance. A US Department of Labor (DOL) investigation reported that workers at Daewoosa were often beaten, deprived of food, and forced to work without pay. Clothing produced by the Daewoosa factory was sold with the "Made in the USA" label, because American Samoa is a US territory. Before Mr. Lee's arrest and the closing of the factory, Daewoosa supplied clothing to J.C. Penney, Kohl's, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart. According to the Manchester Guardian Weekly, only J.C. Penney has paid back wages to the Daewoosa workers.

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As of March 2001, Kohl's was selling clothing produced at the Leader Garment factory in El Salvador. The Leader facility has been cited by the National Labor Committee as a facility that enforces mandatory pregnancy tests--women who test positive are immediately fired, obligatory overtime of 6 working days a week 13 hour shifts, and workers are paid 60 cents an hour - less than one-third of the cost of living.

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The CEO of Kohl's, Kevin Mansell, received $6,653,669 in compensation in 2010. In comparison to the median worker who makes $33,190, Mansell makes $53 per minute while the worker makes $0.25. Furthermore, it would take a median worker 200 years to equal Mansell's compensation of 2010.

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Kohl's received a "F" grade on the 2006 NAACP Economic Reciprocity Initiative report. The grade reflects a measurement of corporate America's commitment to the African American citizenry and other people of color. Companies were surveyed for their activity in employment, vendor development and contracting, advertising and marketing, dealerships and philanthropy.

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In 2006, CEO R. Lawrence Montgomery made $4.218 million in total compensation including stock option grants from Kohl's according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This translates into daily earnings of $16,223. From previous years' stock option grants, the executive cashed out almost $8.4 million in stock option exercises; Montgomery has another $35.37 million in unexercised stock options from previous years.

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Kohl's was the recipient of one of the National Labor Committee's First Annual Golden Grinch Awards, given to companies for outstanding sweatshop abuses and starvation wages. Shipping documents show that on May 5, 2000, 7,500 pairs of Kohl's carpenter shorts that were made in the Chentex factory in Nicaragua arrived in Miami with a customs value of $7.15 per pair. The retail price of the shorts was $34, a 320% mark up. In addition, carpenter jeans made in the Chentex factory arrived in Port Everglades, FL, with a customs value of $11.52 per pair. The retail price was $34, a 195% mark up.