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Thursday, March 11, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Latest Procurement News
Posted: Friday, November 27, 2009, 9:23AM
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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TAGS
"Corporate Social Responsibility"
Wal-Mart slammed for supply chain workers' 'degrading' conditions
Workers in Walmart's supply chain producing goods including shoes, Christmas lights, tools, curtains and paper boxes for sale in the US are laboring in "illegal and degrading conditions", a new report claims.China Labor Watch's latest investigation of five Wal-Mart supplier factories claims that "not a single factory has implemented Wal-Mart's basic standards, and a total of 10,000 workers included in the report suffer serious rights abuses".
In the report, CLW attributes this failure to ineffective auditing and a pricing structure that forces factories to sell goods at unsustainable prices. As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart leverages its massive product orders to purchase goods at low prices, and workers suffer the financial burden, according to CLW.
"This is not about a single factory, but about Wal-Mart's inability to implement its standards," said CLW Executive Director, Li Qiang.
The report states that workers at all five factories work at least 3 hours of overtime/day, for 100-140 total hours of overtime/month, and one factory routinely schedules overtime through the night. Two of the factories illegally underpay overtime wages at rates as low as $0.44/hour, and two withhold wages from workers who fail to meet production quotas.
"Worker abuse extends beyond paychecks. Workers at two factories are denied gloves on the grounds that it will slow production. Dormitory conditions are so poor that at one factory, there is no running water in the bathrooms," CLW stated.
"Canteen meals are extremely poor and workers often complain of hunger pangs, and one factory forbids workers from leaving the factory to eat. Worst of all, two of the factories have rules forcing workers to lie to Wal-Mart auditors, forcing workers into silence as Wal-Mart turns a blind eye to sweatshop conditions."
According to CLW Wal-Mart has already pledged to "remediate" these five factories.
Procurement Tags - Corporate Social Responsibility, Wal-Mart
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