Zaichun Ye, right, Verité consultant in China, seeing if a worker wears chainmail gloves in a textile factory in Yuhang in Zhejiang Province. Inspectors came and went from a certified Walmart in the province of Guangdong in China factory production approval of more than $ 2 million in specialty items that land on Walmart shelves in time for Christmas.
But unknown to the inspectors, none of the playful elements, including costumes reindeer and Mrs. Claus costumes for dogs, which were supplied to Walmart was manufactured at the factory. However, Chinese workers sewed goods - who had been ordained by the Quaker Pet Group, a company based in New Jersey - in a factory rogue who had not gone through the certification process established by Walmart labor, safety or quality of workers, according to documents and interviews with officials involved.
To be approved for shipment to Walmart a subcontractor Quaker just moved items to the factory approved, where they were presented to the inspectors as if they had been sewn together there and never left the premises.
Shortly after the goods arrived at Walmart stores, which began to fall apart. Thousand miles westward factory knitwear Rosita in northwestern Bangladesh - who made sweaters for businesses throughout Europe - adopted an audit inspection with high marks. A team of four monitors gave hundreds of factories approve checkmarks. In the 12 major categories, including hours of work, remuneration, management practices and health and safety, the factory received the top rating of "working conditions" good. "- No complaints from workers," the auditors wrote.
In February 2012, 10 months after the inspection, Rosita workers razed the factory, destroying machinery and accusing the management of failing the promised raises, bonuses and overtime pay. Some said they had been harassed or beaten by guards sexual. Not a hint of those complaints were reported in the audit.
As Western companies rely mainly on low-wage countries far from the headquarters of producing cheap electronic clothing and other goods, factory inspections have become a vital link in the supply chain of production abroad.
A comprehensive review by The New York Times reveals how the inspection system designed to protect workers and ensure quality manufacturing is riddled with flaws. Inspections are often so shallow that omit the most basic labor protections such as fire escapes. And even when inspectors are tough, factory managers to find ways to trick them and hide serious violations, such as child labor or locked exit doors. Hazardous conditions cited in audits often take months to correct, often with little enforcement or monitoring to ensure compliance.
Dara O'Rourke, an expert in global supply chain from the University of California, Berkeley, said that little had improved in 20 years of monitoring of factories, especially with increased use of the "check" inspections at thousands cheaper factories. "Auditors are under increased pressure to speed, and are not able to keep up with what's really happening in the apparel industry," he said. "We see the factories and passing audits brands, but not factory workers."
However, major companies like Walmart, Apple, Gap and Nike turn to surveillance not only to verify that production is on time and of adequate quality, but also to project a corporate image that aims to ensure consumers not using sweatshops Dickens. Moreover, Western companies now rely on inspectors to detect hazardous working conditions, such as faulty wiring or blocked stairs, which some corporations have exposed to accusations of irresponsibility and exploitation of the factory after disasters that killed hundreds of workers.
The collapse of the Rana Square factory in Bangladesh, which killed 1,129 workers in April, international scrutiny on the monitoring of the factory has intensified and pressured the world's largest retailers to sign agreements to strengthen inspection standards and improve security measures. While many groups consider agreements a breakthrough, some auditors lifetime and working groups voice skepticism inspection systems alone can assure a safe workplace. After all, they say, the number of audits in factories in Bangladesh has increased steadily since the country has become one of the largest garment exporters in the world, and there are still 1,800 workers have died in disasters workplace in the last 10 years.
"We have been auditing factories in Bangladesh for 20 years, and I wonder '? Why are not these things change Why are not things getting better,'" said Rachelle Jackson, Director of Sustainability and innovation in Arche Advisors, a monitoring group based in California.
Even with American and European companies executives are appointed this summer to put a stricter regime of controls and safeguards under the new arrangements in place, these efforts are limited to Bangladesh. Other nations leading apparel producers such as China, Honduras, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam, are not getting much attention intensified or expanded inspections. Thousands of factories in these countries will undoubtedly continue to be reviewed through the superficial "check" audits.
Problem with Audits Companies monitoring factories have established a booming business in the two decades from Gap, Nike, Wal-Mart and others were tarnished by revelations that its overseas factories employing underage workers and engage in other abusive practices I work. Each year, these monitoring companies evaluated over 50,000 factories around the world that employ millions of workers. Only Walmart commissioned over 11,500 inspections last year. Spurred by the increased demand for monitoring, stock prices of three of the companies listed on surveillance larger bag, SGS, Intertek and Bureau Veritas, have risen by 50 percent two years ago.
Inspections carried great weight with factory owners, who stand to gain or lose millions of dollars in orders according to their qualifications. With such high stakes, factory managers have been known to attempt to deceive or mislead the auditors. Offers unprecedented bribery. Often notified in advance about the visit of an inspector, factory managers, unlocked doors fire exit stairs unlock disordered or telling children underage workers did not show up to work that week.
Unauthorized subcontracting, or agriculture work at a factory unapproved (as was the case of the order of Quaker Group of pets in China), is "very, very common," said Gary Peck, founder and CEO of S Group a design and sourcing company based in Portland, Oregon.
Although almost all retailers banning the practice in their contracts, providers still do to save money, speed of production and meet large volume orders.
And even inspections authorized factories may be deeply flawed. When NTD Apparel, a contractor from Walmart which is based in Montreal, hired a company to inspect the Tazreen factory in Bangladesh before 112 workers died in a fire in November, survey monitors asked if the factory had the right number fire extinguishers and smoke detectors on each floor. But he did not call to see if the factory had closed or fire escapes, fireproof stairs, which security experts say could have saved lives.
"If this is a preflight inspection of the box, you better have the right boxes in sight," said Daniel Viederman, CEO of Verité, a monitoring group nonprofit.
Sajeev Jesudas, president of UL Verification Services, which conducted the audit Tazreen said the inspection of fire escapes and fireproof stairs was "the responsibility of the local building inspectors." Bangladesh has been criticized for having too few officials to inspect factories.
Greg Gardner, executive director of Arche Advisors, said retailers and Western brands often seek different levels of audits. Some, like Levi and Patagonia want rigorous - and expensive - audits, while others prefer limited, low-cost audits not jeopardize relationships with favored suppliers.
Audits can be very brief. One inspector may visit a factory of 1,000 employees for six to eight hours to review all types of manufacturing problems, such as wages, child labor or toxic chemicals. Some auditors are only five days of training, while the Administration Occupational Safety and Health requires three years of training and experience in helping inspectors before employees can conduct an inspection of a factory of considerable size in the United States.
For Rosita, after the workers went on his fury, Western companies who bought knitwear factory was alarmed. So Rosita owner, Ocean Sur, a conglomerate based in Hong Kong, commissioned a new inspection.
The inspection, conducted by Verité, based in Massachusetts, was a scathing broadside. Verité monitors found "continuous physical abuse" and "verbal and psychological harassment" with managers forcing workers who arrived late to stand for "many hours without a break."
Inspection three days Verité found errors in the calculation of wages, chemical containers labeled only in English and unreasonably high production quota for which they were disciplined or fired for not complying with the workers. The inspectors noted that workers "often face abuse," including teasing administrators if they requested sick leave or annual leave. The monitors also found that managers had fired employees for missing work due to a death in the family and that the security guards had beaten workers involved in union activities and protest.
Mr. Viederman Verité said the previous inspection, conducted by an important monitoring firm, SGS, showed deficiencies audit checklist. SGS inspection involved a one-day visit, looking largely yes-no answers, probably for a modest fee.
He noted that SGS had interviewed employees only inside the factory, where they were often unlikely to speak frankly, and not outside workers - for example, at stops or at home, where workers open.
Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights, was surprised when he read the inspection report for SGS Rosita. "The auditors said that everything was in perfect order," he said. "This demonstrates the ineffectiveness of these monitoring bodies can be."
Effie Marinos, manager of sustainability at SGS, defended the results of your company. She said she had followed the SGS inspection protocol developed by the Business Social Compliance Initiative, a group of factory certification for European companies.
Ms. Marine said the protocol for not interviewing Rosita required outside the factory, a practice that workers warned could undermine a relationship between a Western company and its suppliers.
"You do not want to start the whole approach to the lack of trust, they are trying to fool you, they are behaving unethically," he said. "You can sour a whole relationship."
