Brands have responded to the “extensive” allegations by the the US-based Worker Rights Consortium by signing enforceable agreements with labour and women’s rights groups to eliminate gender-based violence for more than 10,000 workers at five factories owned by the Taiwanese company Nien Hsing, one of the southern African country’s largest employers.
A two-year investigation by WRC into Nien Hsing operations, published on Thursday, found that managers and supervisors regularly coerced female workers into sexual relationships by promising promotions or full-time contracts. The investigation also found that management failed to take disciplinary action against offenders, and that workers’ right to unionise was suppressed preventing them from collectively raising their concerns.
When WRC presented its findings to Nien Hsing, the company claimed that no cases of sexual harassment or abuse had been reported to the company for the previous two years and that no manager or supervisor had been disciplined for sexual harassment since 2005.
Michael Kobori, vice-president of sustainability for Levi Strauss & Co, told the Associated Press that as soon as the company received WRC’s findings, Nien Hsing were informed “that this would not be tolerated and required them to develop a corrective action plan”.
Vice president Scott Deitz of Kontoor Brands, which owns Wrangler and Lee, told the Guardian that the company was “deeply, deeply concerned” by the allegations, adding: “This was not the way we wanted to learn about these problems. We wanted to learn about them through the audits we conducted.”
Rather than suggest the brands terminate their contracts with Nien Hsing, WRC asked them to use their business relationship to leverage the supplier to change its practices. The agreements include the creation of an independent oversight body with the power to investigate claims of sexual harassment and expose abusive managers. The body also has the power to compel the factories to discipline offenders, including sacking where warranted.