The sports footwear industry, often accused of violating fundamental labour standards, has made greater progress in implementing worker-friendly codes of conduct than the apparel and retail sectors, reports the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The ILO study is based on interviews with hundreds of managers, activists, government officials, factory workers and worker representatives and visits to more than 90 enterprises and suppliers in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the US, Europe, Guatemala, Turkey and Honduras.
The researchers say multinationals should move away from purely policing compliance by companies, but should instead help workers to be empowered to oversee their workplaces. They say this should be accompanied by backing from top management, effective training and teams able to speak to suppliers.
Ivanka Mamic, an ILO official specializing in workplace relations and labour issues in global supply chains, who wrote the report, said: ‘Not surprisingly, progress is being made where serious efforts are being expended by buyer firms and where linkages between suppliers and buyers are the tightest.’ The report says that because the sports footwear sector has close links with suppliers it has performed better than the apparel sector, where progress has been patchier, and the retail sector, where in some areas even minimal compliance is missing.
