Labor
What Work Is Like in the U.S.
How Trump’s Tariffs Could Affect Nike and Its Factory Workers
The sportswear company offers a case study in the ripple effects of the global trade war, including how workers can get squeezed.
Decades After Nike Promised Sweatshop Reforms, Workers in This Factory Were Still Fainting
Workers have been fainting for years in Cambodia’s garment factories, where more than 57,000 people now produce Nike goods. A former medical worker at one of the company’s suppliers blamed overtime hours, among other factors.
Nike Says Its Factory Workers Earn Nearly Double the Minimum Wage. At This Cambodian Factory, 1% Made That Much.
Nike has made an expansive effort to convince consumers, investors and others that it is improving the lives of factory workers who make its products, not exploiting them. A rare view of wages at one Cambodian factory tests this claim.
EPA Scientists Said They Were Pressured to Downplay Harms From Chemicals. A Watchdog Found They Were Retaliated Against.
Three reports issued by the agency’s inspector general detailed personal attacks suffered by the scientists — including being called “stupid,” “piranhas” and “pot-stirrers” — and called on the EPA to take “appropriate corrective action” in response.
Featured Reporters
Impact of Our Reporting
Customer Service Company That Worked With Disney, Comcast Will Pay $2M to Workers to Settle Lawsuit Over Pay Practices
The D.C. attorney general settled with Arise Virtual Solutions for misclassifying workers as “independent contractors.” The action followed a ProPublica story that outlined the violations.
Proposed Wage Theft Legislation Would Strip Violators of Their Ability to Do Business in New York
“We did not have the data to understand the scale of the issue in New York State until the ProPublica and Documented series came out last year,” state Sen. Jessica Ramos said.
Local Reporting Network
Aprueban $8 millones para viviendas para obreros de granjas. La policía intentará cerrar las brechas lingüísticas.
Funcionarios electos del Condado Dane en Wisconsin dijeron que las reformas responden a la investigación de ProPublica sobre la muerte de un niño nicaragüense en una granja lechera en 2019.
Series
Series: Nike’s Gold Standard: Testing Nike’s Corporate Responsibility Claims
Series: Waiting on Paychecks: New York’s Rampant Wage Theft Goes Unpunished
Series: Peligro en las granjas: Los obreros en la sombra de la industria lechera
Series: America’s Dairyland: Risking Workers’ Lives for the Milk We Drink
Series: The New Sweatshop: The Secretive World of Work-At-Home Customer Service
Series: On the Line: How the Meatpacking Industry Became a Hotbed of COVID-19
Series: Trashed: Inside New York’s Deadly Private Garbage Industry
Series: Half-life: Nuke Lab Workers Getting Sick
Series: Temp Land: Lost Wages, High Injury Rates, Few Benefits
Series: Insult to Injury: America’s Vanishing Worker Protections
What We’re Watching
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.
Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.
Sharon Lerner
I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Andy Kroll
I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.
Melissa Sanchez
I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.
Jesse Coburn
I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.
If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.
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