A major sportswear manufacturer will pay $1.5 million to a relief fund for Honduran workers to be jointly monitored by the Solidarity Center, a core institute of the National Endowment for Democracy.

Nike Inc. will make the contribution as part of a settlement of a dispute with the Central General de Trabajadores de Honduras, a union representing former workers at Hugger and Vision Tex, two Nike contract apparel factories that abruptly closed January 2009. The sub-contractor firms were accused of denying more than $2 million in severance pay to employees.

Nike said the two plants only produced a one-time order for 800 units of apparel at the Vision Tex plant and that the workers’ severance was the responsibility of the factories whose actions violated Nike’s own code of conduct.

The firm nevertheless agreed to establish a relief fund to be administered by the CGT, the Solidarity Center and the Worker Rights Consortium, a network of US colleges monitoring labor standards in global supply chains. The fund will be supervised by a Cornell University professor of labor relations.

Victims of human trafficking are highlighted in a new report from the Solidarity Center, an institute of the National Endowment for Democracy. The report highlights the challenges of combating human trafficking and exploitation of migrants, particularly Burmese migrants, on Thai fishing boats.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind calls on the Thai authorities to enforce its new, comprehensive anti-trafficking law and to commit to training labor law inspectors, prosecutors, judges and law enforcement officials.