“I believe once you start work for worker rights, you cannot stop. You just can't stop yourself. I need to protest. I need to have these worker's back.”

Kalpona Akter is a former child worker and labor activist from Bangladesh. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity and was awarded Human Rights Watch's Alison Des Forges award for Extraordinary Activism.

Learn more about Kalpona’s work:

• https://twitter.com/kalponaakter
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpona_Akter
• https://www.thenation.com/article/world/kalpona-akter-interview-bangladesh/

About The Labor Link Podcast

The Labor Link Podcast supports workers' rights in global supply chains by sharing personal stories and perspectives of the men and women organizing the workers who make our stuff. The Labor Link Podcast is hosted by Judy Gearhart of American University’s Accountability Research Center and produced by Empathy Media Lab of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Contact Judy Gearhart for media inquiries at gearhart@american.edu.

About the Host of The Labor Link Podcast

Judy Gearhart is a senior researcher at the Accountability Research Center  and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. Previously she served as the executive director at the International Labor Rights Forum and programs director at Social Accountability International. She also worked in Mexico and Honduras on trade, labor rights, and democratic participation.

About the Accountability Research Center

The Accountability Research Center (ARC) is based in American University’s School of International Service. ARC bridges research and frontline perspectives to learn from ideas, institutions, and actors that advance strategies to improve public accountability.

Through extensive dialogue with partners and collaborators, ARC co-designs exploratory research that is relevant for their strategies and can contribute to international thinking about how change happens.

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