CCC decries failure of Social Auditing in garment factories
24 Nov '05
2 min read
Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) demonstrates that social audits as they are currently carried out often fail to deliver as a tool for checking working conditions in facilities producing garments and sports shoes.
Researchers, drawing upon the input of 670 workers from 40 factories, found that social auditing falls short especially in relation to detecting violations of freedom of association, excessive and forced overtime and abusive treatment and discrimination of workers.
Ineke Zeldenrust of the Clean Clothes Campaign stated that the researchers found that workers and their organizations are often marginalized in the social audit process; they don't participate and the reality in the workplace is missed.
Workers reported being interviewed in front of management and therefore too frightened to reveal workplaces problems, being bypassed by the auditors completely, or other irregularities in the interview process.
The study, based on research carried out in Bangladesh, China, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan and Romania, found that social audits are often short, superficial, and sloppy, and is often conducted by global firms whose staff is generally unskilled and inexperienced. Audits often were not followed up with sufficient remediation. The audit industry is also lacking in transparency, which hinders serious discussion about its policy, practices and possible improvements to its methods, the CCC reports.
A Kenyan factory worker of Wal-Mart stated that the auditors are always in a hurry; they sometimes only use their eyes and never engage the workers….They must talk to us if they truly want to know their problems.
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