Html - PUMA CATch up
Html - PUMA CATch up
Html - PUMA CATch up
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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.