Retail Giant Wal-Mart Stores Criticized for How Uniforms are Made

Tuesday 14th of October 2008 07:58:37 PM

The retail manufacturing industry has been under scrutiny for many years for using low wage workers in their factories located in the Pac-Rim areas. But for one of the first times, a retailer has been targeted. The sheer size of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has made it visible to those who monitor worker conditions for human rights abuses. The company has enormous economic power in countries where supplier manufacturing is found.

There is a company called SweatFree Communities that keeps track of the hours worked and wages paid to workers in certain countries. These countries allow producers to take advantage of child labour, pay extremely low rates for clothing pieces, or require an excessive amount of hours. Wal-Mart has been accused of using Bangladesh workers to make school uniforms who were paid $20 a month and required to work 19 hours a day.

The truth is that a supplier for Wal-Mart actually had the uniforms made. When SweatFree published their report, Wal-Mart issued a statement that said, “Consistent with our concern for the workers and their working conditions, we took immediate action when we received the SweatFree draft report. We visited the factory unannounced and then met with the principal factory owner ad our suppliers to ascertain conditions. Additionally, we proposed using an independent third party to work with factory management over the next twelve months to monitor factory operations.”

Wal-Mart is not the only retailer using the factory in question. Wal-Mart responded to the SweatFree Cummunities report by offering to partner with the watchdog organization to continue overseeing human rights condition at the factory. SweatFree feels as if the retail giant should develop a code of ethics that discourages the use of sweat shops. The monitoring of clothing retailers is expected to increase over time.

Image by Kashfia Rahman, www.sxx.hu/