Linking the worst factories with the labels
The building that housed USA Fully Field Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district stands empty now. The grounds are littered with garbage and boxes full of dusty brand labels that were stitched onto clothes by almost 400 workers before the factory owner fled in December and work ceased. Discarded amid piles of shredded cloth were labels from Joe Fresh, “Canada’s number one apparel brand,” European fashion house Vero Modo, and Italian sportswear label Givova, which supplies the uniforms for a host of professional football teams as well as Malta’s national team. The Chinese-owned USA Fully Field was listed as one of the 10 least compliant factories in the Transparency Database published by the International Labor Organization’s Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program. The database, launched last month and set to expand throughout the year, exposed a raft of labor law violations within the industry relating to work safety, staff payments and unfair dismissals. BFC’s goal with the database is to name and shame factories that persistently flout the Cambodian labor law and international standards, pressuring owners to improve working conditions. But BFC’s list fails to link factories with their international buyers—who profit heavily from the garment factory supply chain—limiting its effectiveness in improving workers’ lives, according to industry experts. … Dave Welsh, country director of the Solidarity Center, a U.S.-based labor rights organization, is currently seeking proper severance payment for about 300 former employees of USA Fully Field Garment factory, who were left jobless when the indebted owner of the factory suddenly shut it down. … “There is an enormous gap between what brands say on their websites and in company codes of conduct and what they do on the ground, so the more the brands can be linked [to offending factories] the better,” Mr. Welsh said. Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturer’s Association in Cambodia (GMAC), which represents around 450 garment and footwear factories, also noted a disconnect between retailers’ stated social commitments and the reality of their production chain. Naming and shaming factories alone will not bridge the gap, he said. …
Simon Henderson and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/linking-the-worst-factories-with-the-labels-55839/
