Nike has posted social audits of 22 suppliers in South and Central America on the internet as part of its new commitment to openness about working conditions at 700 contract factories around the world.
The US-based clothing company has put the details on its web site as part of its ‘Transparency 101’ initiative, which commits it to publishing the results of all monitoring visits by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) over the coming years.
The South and Central American audits are the second set to be publicised in this way. Last summer Nike launched the initiative by posting summaries of 53 supplier audits at North American and Mexico factories on its web site (EP3, 2000).
It will shortly publish PwC audits in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
As with the North American and Mexican audits, the monitoring in South and Central America showed that many of the problems identified at factories related to health and safety infringements, such as blocked emergency exits.
Between May 1999 and August last year, 12 of the 40 instances of non-compliance with Nike’s code of conduct found related to health and safety. Nine related to a lack of documents. PWC said many difficulties arose from incomplete personnel files, particularly in relation to proof of age’.
Other frequently cited problems included a lack of health and safety training and excessive overtime.
Children were found to be working at one factory in Honduras. In Guatemala, managers at one factory refused to allow staff, including pregnant women, to go to the toilet or to visit the local social security office. PwC classified this as ‘forced labour’. Nike says it has now resolved the matter with the factory owners.
At another factory in Guatemala, a supervisor who was found to have slapped a woman with his notebook was reprimanded and all workers were given training in Nike’s ‘zero-abuse and no-harassment’ policy.
At a factory in the Dominican Republic, owners were instructed to end staff compulsory pregnancy tests which were judged to be a breach of working rights. The factory has now begun courses on family planning, pregnancy and sex education, run by a female doctor.
However, the inspectors also praised the managers of several factories, including one in El Salvador where employees ‘manifested their appreciation of the special loans they obtain in cases of family emergencies’ and where the factory owners sponsor employees studying part-time for college degrees.
The PwC audits have been published alongside reports of internal inspections by Nike staff between September 1999 and August 2000.
Nike has contracts with 25 factories in eight countries in Latin America, employing more than 23,000 workers in Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru.
Nike ended its contract with the June Textile company in Cambodia last month because of ‘repeated violations’ of its code of conduct, including the use of child labour. June Textiles was given two months’ notice of the contract termination so that managers could try to replace Nike’s business and avoid job losses. Nike accounted for around 9 per cent of the supplier’s total production.