Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) has accused Japanese clothing giant Uniqlo, a part of the Fast Retailing Group for not acting against abusive working conditions and environmental pollution issues in its supplier factories in mainland China. The company despite acknowledging the said problems did not do anything to stop them, the labour rights groups in the country have said.
Four clothing factories manufacturing goods for the fashion chain were alleged to have abused workers by enforcing overtime work beyond legal limits, using toxic chemicals that harm the workers and pollute the environment and failing to pay for workers’ social insurance and housing fund premiums, according to Sophie Chen, project officer for SACOM.
In a report jointly conducted by SACOM and three other labour-related groups and issued in January, the factories were also alleged to have collected fines from workers who failed to meet certain job requirements and ignoring workplace safety.
In its response to the SACOM report, Uniqlo in its CSR report has said that it has increased monitoring of its textile suppliers, cut overtime working hours, and improved the working environment and management style since February.
www.uniqlo.com
sacom.hk
