Here we go again

Here is a link to another story giving details of a blaze at a Bangladeshi apparel factory. This might be one of your factories. Do you know where your products are made?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121126/as-bangladesh-factory-fire/?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=business

Labor Compliance programs at your company are not just a nicety. They can help prevent tragedies like this from occuring. How many more deaths will it take to have your suppliers take ownership of compliance?

Sourcing practices at odds with compliance goals

This story from the Financial Times gives a bit more information about Nike's assertion that their business practices can exacerbate a factory's ability to meet compliance goals.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d609cf9e-a434-11e1-84b1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1z67lVImy

If Brands are really interested in making improvements to working conditions in their supply chain, they need to take a long hard look at their own sourcing practices.
Maybe if I say this long enough and loud enough, someone might take notice.

Bangladeshi workers fight back

Warning;

This report makes grim reading.

It also offers some hope that the violations detailed in the report are being taken seriously by the brands using this company.

"How did they not know this was happening?" you might reasonably ask.
Record falsification is a frequent and common problem. In this particular case, the management at both factories seem to be particularly aggressive in their use of it. Bribery and corruption of auditors by factory management are also common problems.

Read the full report here and ask yourselves, could this be happening in my supply chain. The answer is of course, it might. If you are not engaging with your factories first hand, and are not reviewing their management systems to see if they have the capability to meet compliance codes of conduct, this could well be you.

If things don't change, they'll stay the same

As the old adage goes, "If things don't change, they'll stay the same". I thought I'd start my new blog with a look into the past. This article was written by me in 2004 for a business magazine and some things have changed, but many have not. Overtime and Overtime wages continue to be a thorn in the side of many brands. Fortunately, many Brands are realizing that the old way of trying to audit in compliance has not been successful in dealing with these enduring issues.
We need to figure out the root cause of non compliance, both internal and external, and search for ways to work with factories so they are not punished for issues we are in large part responsible for. It won't be easy, but I firmly believe that progress can be made.
Wally