Ethical Standards and Working Conditions in Wal-Mart's Supply Chain

SECTION 2: “VIOLATIONS WILL OCCUR”HOW HARD ARE THE AUDITORS LOOKING?Wal-Mart has repeatedly excused its own failures on the basis that auditors can not find all of theviolations. However, the structure of the audit system prevents auditors from having a chance toreally look for violations.First, factory auditors do not spend enough time at a factory to really get a clear picture of how itruns and what violations may be occurring. According to the 2005 Report, a factory tour tocheck on safety and question production workers on equipment and working conditions typicallylasts about three hours, “depending on the size of the factory.” The 2006 Report the report statesthat “a team of two auditors spends a full day auditing a factory, thus a combined time ofapproximately 16 hours is spent auditing each factory.”Further compromising the weak rating system is auditors’ lack of compliance in following theguidelines of the system. Auditors are required to assess specified safety and equipment usagesand they are also expected to talk directly to workers; yet this rarely occurs. For example, anauditor for the Chong Won Fashion, Inc. factory in the Philippines decided to simply cut offorders because of perceived freedom of association violations. This violation according to Wal-Mart’s rating system does not warrant a Failed rating, but rather a Corrective Action Plan. Evenmore alarming is that the auditor made this decision without speaking with factory workers orthe NGOs operating in the region to determine if this was the best approach to solving thefactory problems.In reality, the workers who are interviewed by auditors are often too scared to speak candidlyabout their conditions. Wal-Mart itself admits that coaching of workers is one of the biggerproblems they have identified. With “minimal factory officials present,” workers who are leastlikely to give a bad report are those who are hand-picked for interviews. Factory conditions haveinstilled fear in the workers, whom are hesitant to speak up against the abuse. In the PetraApparel Factory in Jordan, there have been reports of physical and verbal abuse for speakingduring work hours. One worker gives an account of being coached by managers before an auditat a factory producing for Wal-Mart in northern India:“We (workers) have to work seven days in a week. We are never paid double thewage for overtime since we are paid on piece rate. We always had complaintsabout low wages and working hours but we could not express it. Auditors haveinterviewed me once. Before that the management instructed me that weregularly use needle and pulley guards, that we do not have overtime, that we areall paid very well and that all the workers are very happy.” 1Although Wal-Mart believes that as “our auditors became more familiar with the factories andthe factory workers and as the workers became more accustomed to the interview process, theymore openly shared their experiences,” these relationships never actually form because auditorsare rotated. According to the 2005 report “the practice of rotating auditors allows a newperspective during each factory visit,” along with the practices of only seeing an auditing team1 Clean Clothes Campaign, “Looking for a quick fix,” 2005. http://www.cleanclothes.org.11