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| Hospitalized workers after mass fainting (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post) |
August 2, 2011
ABC Radio Australia
German sportswear giant Puma has been on the back foot recently after a report the company commissioned showed a litany of abuses at one of its subcontractors in Cambodia.
The company commissioned the investigation after more than 200 workers fainted at a shoe-making factory in Phnom Penh.
Correspondent: Robert Carmichael
Speaker: Chuon Momthol, trade union leader; Catherine Vaillancourt-Laflamme, International Labour Organisation
Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)
CARMICHAEL: In April around 200 workers at a factory that makes shoes for Puma fainted and were taken to hospital. A few days ago another 49 fainted too.
The April incident drove Puma to commission an independent report from a US-based non-profit called the Fair Labor Association, and the results made for uncomfortable reading in Germany.
The subcontractor, a company called Huey Chuen, employs around 3,300 workers, and was found to have failed in dozens of areas.
For instance, deductions from employee wage packets were unclear; there was no fire safety plan; new employees received no training; the firm deducted sick days from annual leave entitlements. The list of breaches of Cambodian law is long.
All of Huey Chuen’s Cambodian employees are members of the Cambodian Union Federation, whose president Chuon Momthol visited those who fell ill earlier this year.
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