Intermediate report of a complaint at a factory supplying Continental Clothing in Bangladesh – January 2015
During a documentary programme in The Netherlands, the ‘Slag om de Klerewereld’, an apparently underage boy was shown in a label workshop. One of the labels showed the Fair Wear Foundation logo and could be identified as a Continental Clothing label. FWF decided to treat the media report as a formal complaint.
Upon investigation – and owing to the cooperation of Continental Clothing and its Bangladesh supplier – the workshop was found. In the same label workshop, labels of one of Kwintet’s brands was also found. Continental’s Bangladesh supplier had not commissioned the labels directly from this workshop, nor had Kwintet’s supplier – but as illegal subcontracting is common in Bangladesh, a link between the brands and this workshop cannot be ruled out.
Though no longer working at the label workshop shown in the documentary, the boy, aged 13, was identified. Local staff engaged with him and his family to ensure that the boy would no longer work until he was of legal working age. Instead, he is receiving training while still being paid the equivalent of his salary. FWF’s local team is closely monitoring the implementation of the remediation, which is in accordance with FWF’s Child Labour Policy.
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Final REPORT COMPLAINT IN india AT FACTORY SUPPLYING blackout
On 18 May FWF received a complain form a worker working for a factory supplying Blackout. The complaint related to the labour standard ‘No exploitation of child labour’, which is part of FWF’s Code of Labour Practices.
The complainant claimed that there are workers in the factory who the plaintiff considers children at work. None of the workers interviewed confirmed child labour at the factory. Both investigators have observed the factory from very early in the morning when all workers were going in until the very evening until lights were shut off at the factory. Observations have highlighted again issues which have been brought up already during earlier audits. As the case is not grounded, no remediation with regard to child labour is asked for. However FWF highlights the importance to seek for remediation of the audit report findings focusing on the observations during the investigation of the complaint.
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FWF child labour policy
One of Fair Wear Foundation’s labour standards is no exploitation of child labour. Companies affiliated to Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) want to make sure that they source from production facilities that produce under decent working conditions, in accordance with their corporate responsibility. This responsibility has global implications and also applies to countries where local governments are unwilling or unable to adhere to international labour standards.
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intermediate REPORT COMPLAINT IN china AT FACTORY SUPPLYING TAKKO
In May, FWF received a complaint about a number of issues at a supplier of Takko Fashion, including forced and excessive overtime and coaching of workers before an audit.
An investigation showed that parts of the complaint were grounded. Takko Fashion has been informed and is currently working with its supplier on (the implementation of) a corrective action plan, which FWF will verify and publish a final report about.
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Bangladesh: Interview about Bangladeshi boy taking vocational training
A 13-year old boy from Bangladesh is taking a vocational training following an FWF complaints procedure. The boy appeared in the Dutch documentary Slag om de Klerewereld on 9 January 2015. In the documentary, labels for FWF member Continental Clothing were found in a small label printing workshop in Dhaka where employees appeared to be younger than the legal working age. When FWF visited the workshop, also labels from Fristads Kansas Group were discovered. FWF, Continental Clothing and Fristads Kansas Group used the complaints procedure to investigate the matter. A plan was made to remediate the issues. After investigation of FWF local staff in Dhaka, the boy was located.
FWF’s Koen Oosterom went to Bangladesh in April 2015 and met with the boy and his father.
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