Cambodian shoe factories under the spotlight

Radio Australia

Updated August 1, 2011

German sportswear giant Puma has been on the back foot recently after a report the company commissioned showed a litany of abuses at one of its subcontractors in Cambodia.

The company commissioned the investigation after more than 200 workers fainted at a shoe-making factory in Phnom Penh.

Presenter:Robert Carmichael
Speaker: Chuon Momthol, trade union leader; Catherine Vaillancourt-Laflamme, International Labour Organisation

• Listen:
• Windows Media
  

CARMICHAEL: In April around 200 workers at a factory that makes shoes for Puma fainted and were taken to hospital. A few days ago another 49 fainted too.

The April incident drove Puma to commission an independent report from a US-based non-profit called the Fair Labor Association, and the results made for uncomfortable reading in Germany.

The subcontractor, a company called Huey Chuen, employs around 3,300 workers, and was found to have failed in dozens of areas.

For instance, deductions from employee wage packets were unclear; there was no fire safety plan; new employees received no training; the firm deducted sick days from annual leave entitlements. The list of breaches of Cambodian law is long.

All of Huey Chuen's Cambodian employees are members of the Cambodian Union Federation, whose president Chuon Momthol visited those who fell ill earlier this year.

CHUON MOMTHOL: When I met the workers at the hospital, most of the workers say they have difficulty in breathing. And then some of them put on oxygen - and they say they feel so dizzy, blackout, they cannot open their eyes. Something like that.

CARMICHAEL: Shoemaking uses some potentially dangerous glues and solvents, and the report also found significant problems with storage of chemicals and poor ventilation.

In fact the concentration of chemicals in the air was so strong that the investigators said they were unable to take measurements for their own health reasons. They concluded that the April faintings were likely due to a combination of exposure to chemicals and excessive overtime.

Puma has since ordered health checks for all workers, implemented a program to improve working conditions at the firm, and is considering providing meals for workers.

Later this year Puma's executive chairman will visit the factory to ensure it is now up to standard.

Chuon Momthol says he is satisfied with Puma's actions.

CHUON MOMTHOL: Puma is now try to put some conditions to Huey Chuen to improve it - so far from April until now, frankly Huey Chuen did not get a lot of orders.


CARMICHAEL: It is unlikely that Huey Chuen's problems are confined to one factory.

Garment manufacturing is a vital industry here, employing 300,000 people and earning the country around $3 billion a year.

Most garments are exported to the United States and the European Union - and are ordered by big brands such as Levi Strauss, H&M, The Gap and Adidas.

To minimize reputational risk, interested parties crafted a program called Better Factories Cambodia - or BFC. It was set up 10 years ago, and monitors garment factories to ensure labour standards are met and maintained.

Every one of around 300 factories that export garments must comply with BFC.

However shoemaking is a more recent development and is not subject to monitoring.

Catherine Vaillancourt-Laflamme is a BFC training specialist with the International Labour Organisation, or ILO, the UN's labour body, which helped establish Better Factories Cambodia.

BFC has no mandate to monitor footwear factories, she says, but has helped some on a voluntary basis.

VAILLANCOURT-LAFLAMME :There's only a little bit less than 40 footwear factories in Cambodia - so if there were interest for BFC and the ILO to get more involved into this sector, the small number of factories would allow that we can have a very comprehensive approach and intervention in this sector bringing in 100 percent of the manufacturers together to look into the issues and the opportunities that we would have to improve working conditions in this sector.


CARMICHAEL:In other words, with just 38 factories, now is the time to raise standards across Cambodia's shoe-making industry.

On Thursday, says Chuon Momthol, Buddhist monks went to the Huey Chuen factory to hold a blessing ceremony in order to banish the bad spirits that some workers believe are causing the problems.

Puma has also insisted the factory institute a raft of improvements in a less spiritual vein, including better ventilation and proper storage of chemicals, and an insistence that pregnant woman and nursing mothers - who total around 120 of the workers - are kept well away from chemicals.