The German-based retailer Tchibo is the second major
company to sign on to an agreement with international
and Bangladeshi trade union and labour rights
organizations (including MSN) to implement a fire and
building safety program in Bangladeshi garment
factories. Since 2006, more than 600 garment workers
have died in Bangladesh due to unsafe workplaces. The
agreement was first signed with PVH (owner of Calvin
Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) in March. The program will get
underway once two more major brands have signed on to
the agreement.
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New iPhone, old abuses
New reports show that the iPhone 5 is being produced by
employees who work far more hours than allowed by Chinese
law, who are not paid for all the hours they work, who
lack any true voice in the workplace to advocate for
necessary reforms, and who include thousands of student
“interns” who are being coerced to work at Apple supplier
factories in China. Some of MSN’s allies have produced
damning reports on labour practices at factories owned by
Apple’s major supplier, Foxconn:
- New research
by Students and Scholars Against Corporate
Misbehaviour (SACOM) at a facility producing the
new iPhone found overtime hours two to three times
higher than allowed by law, failure to pay the legal
overtime rate, wages that don’t meet basic needs, no
breaks, and a subcontracted workforce that receives
fewer legal benefits than regular workers.
- The Worker Rights Consortium and the Economic Policy
Institute published a detailed
overview of labour rights violations at Foxconn
facilities.
- A
recent New York Times article profiles a China
Labour Watch report confirming that student interns
are coerced to work at Foxconn; they will not be
allowed to graduate if they don’t produce the new
iPhone.
