Sustainable Development
Sreelatha Menon, 10.10.2010
The global supervisor in this case was the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which ten years ago donned the role of a labour inspector when it started the Better Factories initiative.
Ten years ago, the Cambodian government was forced to go to ILO for inking a trade agreement with the United States which insisted it would accept shipments from only countries that complied with international labour standards.
What makes a factory a decent work place?
If workers are allowed to form associations for collective bargaining, if they are not made to work more than the hours for which they are paid, if there is no forced or child labour and if the women workers get maternity benefits. These ifs are often missing when factories become sweat shops and production targets justify everything.
Cambodia is a small country with 300 garment factories and could have easily bundled all of these into a special economic zone immune from labour inspections and trade unionism.
Tuomo Poutiainen, the technical advisor to the Better Factories project, says ILO was loathe to take up this assignment but the small size of the project prompted it to go ahead.
The scheme has seen factories become part of a unique equation between suppliers, buyers, workers and trade unions, with ILO playing mediator.
Its excellent record on the labour law front has made Cambodia a favoured supplier for many companies which do not want disputes and labour law violations to harm their brand value, says Poutiainen
The main task ILO does is to have its 36-member staff act as labour inspectors who visit factories once a year and interview the workers. Where there are problems, solutions are found to the satisfaction of all concerned
ILO then puts together reports on each of these factories. These are bought by the garment buyers as a warranty for the products they buy from these factories. While this protects the rights of workers, the businesses get a smooth flow of orders.
Now, many counties want ILO to implement a Better Factories project for them, says Poutiainen. The project is nothing but labour inspection under the orders of the government. In addition, there has been some capacity building and effort to make the mostly illiterate seamstresses learn new skills to take them up the value chain.
Of course there won’t be another Better Factories project run by ILO. The UN agency is, however, going to partner with NGOs in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Morocco for a modified Better Work project for their garment factories.
It is not that the presence of ILO has gagged the unions or eliminated strikes in Combodia. There are strikes all the time, a sign of workers continuing to have a say in matters. For instance, if a strike is on over wages, then ILO mediates and suggests solutions and keeps monitoring to the satisfaction of all concerned, says Poutianan.
He feels the arrangement has helped businesses as well as workers. But most benefits have gone to buyers who don’t have to spend on checking if their suppliers are violating the labour law. ILO sees these buyers as stakeholders who can be expected to fund such third-party inspection projects in other countries. The difference is that industry in Cambodia has realised the benefits of being fair.
In countries like India, labour departments don’t have the kind of backing required to do their job with the freedom that ILO has in Cambodia. So, only wiser governments can have better factories.
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