Uniqlo tells suppliers to improve conditions

The owner of Uniqlo, Fast Retailing Co Ltd, has told two suppliers in China to improve working conditions after an inspection by the Japanese clothing retailer found problems, including long working hours.

The move comes after a report by SACOM, a Hong Kong-based advocacy group, saying that employees at Dongguan Tomwell Garment Co Ltd and Pacific (Pan Yu) Textiles Ltd were working excessive hours in unsafe conditions, including high temperatures, poor ventilation and on floors covered with sewage.

"Respecting human rights and ensuring appropriate working conditions for the workers of our production partners are top priorities for Fast Retailing, and in this we are completely aligned with SACOM," Yukihiro Nitta, group executive responsible for corporate social responsibility, said yesterday.

The company said it had told Dongguan Tomwell and Pacific (Pan Yu) to make a number of improvements at their factories and in regulating working hours. It also told Dongguan Tomwell to establish a workers' union  .

However, its inspection found discrepancies with some points in SACOM's report regarding Pacific (Pan Yu), including that the cause of a worker's death was electrocution. It said it would continue its inspection and seek talks with SACOM.

Dongguan Tomwell makes clothes for Uniqlo ,and Pacific (Pan Yu) supplies garment factories, including Dongguan. Dongguan Tomwell's parent company, Luen Thai, said it took fair treatment of workers very seriously.

It said it was "committed to establishing strict measures to ensure that our operations are in accordance with Uniqlo's Code of Conduct for Product Partners" and that it would "make ongoing efforts to prevent excessive overtime. In addition, an independent system will be set up to review all aspects of this issue and to closely monitor the progress."

Pacific (Pan Yu) did not answer calls for comment.

Fast Retailing also said it would improve its monitoring system for manufacturing partners including beefing up measures to check overtime hours, track employee accidents and strikes, and introducing a system to monitor factories that supply garment plants.

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