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p : 60 | c : 3 <strong>PUMA</strong>.SAfe<br />

our consTanT worry camBodia<br />

After numerous workers had fainted in a<br />

<strong>PUMA</strong> s<strong>up</strong>plier factory in Cambodia in 2011,<br />

we were asked to participate in a people’s tribunal<br />

on minimum living wages and decent<br />

working conditions for garment workers,<br />

which the Asia Floor Wage Campaign Cambodia<br />

organized in early 2012. Mass psychogenic<br />

illness (MPI) was deemed as the<br />

most likely cause behind the mass fainting<br />

as there was not one single common finding<br />

across all the fainting cases. MPI is<br />

considered a “safety valve” mechanism for<br />

workers that could not cope with stressful<br />

work conditions, and the triggers of MPI<br />

always represent cultural fears about illness/health<br />

in the workplace environment.<br />

<strong>PUMA</strong> responded and elaborated transparently<br />

on the points raised as triggers of the<br />

MPI cases including health and safety practices,<br />

poor nutrition among workers as well<br />

as wages. We reiterated that we strive to<br />

maintain our standards at s<strong>up</strong>plier factories<br />

in Cambodia despite all local challenges.<br />

This, however, was put to the test in February,<br />

when worker unrest began to grow and<br />

spread across Cambodia. At <strong>PUMA</strong> footwear<br />

s<strong>up</strong>plier Kaoway Sports Ltd., workers had<br />

asked for enhanced benefits, in line with the<br />

collective demands of workers in the same<br />

region in Cambodia. The factory management<br />

agreed to meet the workers’ demands.<br />

However, on February 20, a massive wildcat<br />

strike er<strong>up</strong>ted and protesters brought down<br />

the gates of the Kaoway Sports Ltd. factory.<br />

They entered the facility and damaged<br />

property and equipment. Some employees<br />

<strong>PUMA</strong> BUSineSS And SUStAinABility RePoRt 2012<br />

were trapped in the building. Regional and<br />

military authorities tried to disperse the<br />

protesters. In this situation, three female<br />

workers of Kaoway Sports Ltd. were injured<br />

by gun shots.<br />

<strong>PUMA</strong> took immediate action to locate these<br />

women workers, and they were being hospitalized<br />

in different health facilities across<br />

the country. <strong>PUMA</strong>, Kaoway Sports Ltd.<br />

and local stakeholders arranged for an<br />

enhanced medical treatment. All three of<br />

them recovered and could be discharged<br />

from hospital after a while. In December, the<br />

court trial relating to the shooting was terminated,<br />

resulting in an acquittal of the suspect.<br />

<strong>PUMA</strong> expressed its disappointment<br />

that justice had not been brought about<br />

almost a year after the crime. <strong>PUMA</strong> continues<br />

to s<strong>up</strong>port Kaoway Sports Ltd. and the<br />

workers affected and will continue working<br />

with local stakeholders to manage the<br />

impact this incident had on its s<strong>up</strong>ply chain.<br />

Throughout the year, <strong>PUMA</strong> worked with<br />

industry peers and local stakeholders as<br />

worker unrest continued to become increasingly<br />

violent. Along with other buyers, <strong>PUMA</strong><br />

s<strong>up</strong>ported the renewal of the Memorandum<br />

of Understanding on Industrial Relations,<br />

which was an agreement between the Garments<br />

Manufacturers Association of Cambodia<br />

(GMAC) and nearly all trade union federations<br />

and confederations that expired in<br />

2012. The buyers concerned expressed their<br />

s<strong>up</strong>port jointly and individually through Better<br />

Factories Cambodia (BFC), through s<strong>up</strong>plier<br />

members in the GMAC and through<br />

diplomatic channels. The renewal of the<br />

Memorandum was considered a solution<br />

to the industrial unrest within the apparel<br />

and footwear industries. The Memorandum,<br />

along with a new regulation on additional<br />

benefits for industry as a whole, was signed<br />

in September and prompted a new mandatory<br />

wage structure in Cambodia.<br />

In April 2012, a final investigation in Huey<br />

Chuen – the factory where workers had<br />

fainted in 2011 - led by the Fair Labor Association<br />

(FLA) highlighted the improvements<br />

that the factory had implemented to address<br />

the causes of the local fainting incidents.<br />

Throughout 2012, there were several cases of<br />

mass fainting in factories. National initiatives<br />

including a fainting investigation team formed<br />

by the government as well as interventions<br />

like the Worker Nutrition study and the One<br />

Change Program of the BFC were not enough<br />

to fully eradicate mass fainting. <strong>PUMA</strong> continues<br />

working with its s<strong>up</strong>pliers to address<br />

the issues raised in the investigations.<br />

In 2012, <strong>PUMA</strong> worked with BFC to include<br />

<strong>PUMA</strong> footwear s<strong>up</strong>pliers in BFC’s Footwear<br />

Factory monitoring program because<br />

Better Work has been primarily an apparel<br />

program.<br />

impelling freedom<br />

of associaTion<br />

In 2012, <strong>PUMA</strong> forged ahead into new sustainability<br />

terrain. The FOA Protocol requires<br />

signatory brands to s<strong>up</strong>port the adoption of<br />

FOA practices by s<strong>up</strong>pliers in Indonesia to<br />

ensure that factory workers are free to form<br />

unions and organize their rights.<br />

The final assembly of a <strong>PUMA</strong> shoe in Asia.

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