Clothes retailers accused of labour abuses in Cambodia
BBC News | 12 March 2015
Several High Street and high-end fashion brands have been implicated in a report on labour abuses in Cambodia.
Human Rights Watch says it has uncovered alleged abuses at
Cambodian garment factories that supply Marks & Spencer, Gap,
H&M, Adidas and Armani.
The pressure group found evidence of discrimination and anti-union practices, it says.
HRW says it also found evidence of people being forced to work overtime and discrimination against pregnant women.
The study found that factories supplying major retailers
often sub-contract work to smaller factories, which are more likely to
hire staff on a casual basis.
This makes it harder for workers to complain for fear of losing their jobs, HRW maintains.
Ethical standards
"These international apparel brands need to help labour law
compliance by publicly disclosing and regularly updating the names and
addresses of their factories," says HRW researcher Aruna Kashyap.
HRW says it has documented conditions inside 73 factories in Cambodia through interviews with more than 340 people.
Marks & Spencer does not publicly disclose the names of
its suppliers but HRW believes that 13 of the 73 factories supplied
goods to the British retail giant.
"We have not been presented with any evidence to support
these claims," a Marks & Spencer spokesman said. "If HRW comes to us
with any evidence we will, of course, investigate."
The retailer insists that its suppliers adhere to strict
ethical standards, including "providing good working conditions, freedom
of association, treating workers with respect, limits on overtime and
paying fair rates of pay.
"All our supplier factories are audited regularly by third
party, independent auditors and are visited by M&S compliance
managers," the company said.
M&S has committed to publishing a list of its suppliers in 2016.
Lost contracts
Adidas and H&M already publicly disclose their suppliers
and HRW said that Adidas, Gap, and H&M have seriously discussed
efforts to address the problems identified in the study.
H&M told the BBC that supplier companies subcontracting
work to smaller factories would lose their contracts with the retailer.
"H&M has distributed a translated copy of its suppliers'
list to local unions and labour rights groups to encourage
whistle-blowing on undeclared units," the company said.
Gap said: "We are investigating the alleged labour practices
highlighted in this report. If true, they are unacceptable and violate
our code of vendor conduct."
Adidas said it has created a process for workers to seek whistleblower protection.
"The vast majority of our supply chain in Cambodia is
unionised," a spokesman said. "Workers have the right to join unions of
their own choosing."
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