On an average, workers at Pacific put in 134 hours of over time while workers at Luen Thai put in 112 hours every month, despite the fact that China's Labor Law stipulates that overtime should not exceed 36 hours a month.
The researchers said that overtime work was recorded manually on paper at Luen Thai rather than on the regular computer system. "It can be seen that factories can avoid being checked by the social auditors on workers' working hours in this way." SACOM said in its online statement.
Also not all workers are paid their full due since Pacific only pays 1.5 times of the basic wage for overtime pay on weekends, despite the fact that Chinese law requires double pay for weekends, according to SACOM.
Working Conditions
SACOM reported that both
factories maintained very high temperatures inside their facilities. At
Pacific, the average temperatures recorded at the textile workshop was
38 Celsius (100 F) during the summer.
The dyeing workshop
recorded temperatures ranging from 38 to 42 Celsius (100-107 F). Workers
were also required to stand very close to the dyeing tanks which
operate at 100 to 135 Celsius (212-275 F). These tanks have no
protective enclosures to prevent workers from coming into contact with
the chemicals.
The activists also reported that workers in the
ironing department at Luen Thai are required to stand (ostensibly to
maintain morale) while operating irons at 200 Celsius (392 F).
Photos published in the report show male workers working topless in order to deal with the heat. Workers describe the factories as "hell" and said that some of their colleagues "fainted in summer because it is too hot." (Workers are given a high temperature allowance of 7 RMB ($1.11) a day.)
In
addition, SACOM claims that factory floors are routinely awash in
chemical-laden wastewater. Workers reported that one of their colleagues
was electrocuted at the Pacific factory after machinery came into
contact with the water, killing him.
The researchers alleged that the workers are exposed to textile
process dusts that can cause byssinosis, occupational asthma and
respiratory irritation which can be lethal in the long-term. Even worse,
dense concentrations of dust have been known to spontaneously combust
under very dry conditions. (In 1987, 47 died and 179 were injured in a blast at a linen mill in Harbin in northeastern China.)
Workers
are also allegedly exposed to hazardous chemicals. Pacific's dyeing
workshop uses solvents like A569 PTEG and A203 PT200, both of which are
irritants to human eyes and skin. While the factory does provide safety
masks, gloves, and special suits, some workers reportedly did not use
these protective gear because of the hot temperatures that they have
work under.
"The factory does have many policies, but it is another matter that whether these policies are carried out,"
SACOM researchers wrote. "Some workers do not wear (these protection)
because it is not convenient to work (with them). They are not aware of
the danger of the chemicals during the dyeing process."
Punishment System
Fast Retailing claims
that it has a strict quality inspection system. UNIQLO has a team of
technical specialists known as the Takumi team who are regularly
dispatched to partner factories in China to provide technical
instruction. Supervisors from the Fast Retailing production department
in Shanghai also make weekly visits to partner factories to check up on the quality and progress of production.
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