Charles Patrick Kernaghan (April 2, 1948 – June 1, 2022) was the executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, formerly known as the National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights, currently headquartered in Pittsburgh. He is known for speaking out against sweatshops, corporate greed and the living and working conditions of impoverished workers around the world. Fashion-industry trade magazine Women's Wear Daily characterised his impact as similar in scale to that of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
Early life and education
Kernaghan was born one of three children in Brooklyn to Roman Catholic immigrant parents. His mother, Mary (Znojemsky), was a Czech-born volunteer social worker, and his father, Andrew Kernaghan, was Scottish, and installed acoustic tiles.[1] In 1970, Kernaghan received a BA in psychology from Loyola University in Chicago and in 1975 a MA in psychology from the New School for Social Research.[2][3]