By Frankie d’Cruz and Francis C. Nantha     August 05, 2008      Categories: News

OUR Human Resources Minister apparently has not seen the Australian Channel 7 television report on “forced labour and appalling working conditions” at a Nike contract factory in Kuala Lumpur.

Otherwise, Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam would not have lashed out at Nike, the athletics apparel giant, for interfering in the internal affairs of Malaysia.

He had also said it was not appropriate for Nike to impose its own standards on a local supplier here.
 
Further, he said the allegations were not accurate and without basis.

What will the Minister say of these screen grabs captured off the video of the Australian news report that had been posted on Youtube which show:

● Unacceptable living conditions
● Substandard housing
● Dozens of men bathing in a single trough

Labour and social activists told Malay Mail yesterday that the statement by Subramaniam in a local daily was “juvenile and shamefully defensive”.

They said likening the ongoing investigations by Nike to meddling is tantamount to brushing off worries raised by the foreign workers here.

The Minister, they said, failed to show concern about Malaysia’s chronic labour shortage and how it affected factory workers.
 
His statement that Nike was imposing its own standards on the local supplier is comical, they said, adding that Nike - being the global leader in sports apparel and footwear - had every right to maintain its high standards.

Also, Nike products are endorsed by some of the world’s top sportsmen and “there cannot be a wide disparity in the treatment of these icons and the people who make the products”.
 
A corporate social responsibility director said it was not wrong for multinational corporations to insist that contracted suppliers adhere to set codes of conduct as “they want to ensure conformity with international labour and environmental standards”.

She said being awarded quality management and data quality certifications does not put a company on top of the heap. “Most of the problems relate to social and environmental compliance and local companies have to begin addressing them.”
 
Channel 7's report last week alleged worker mistreatment at the Hytex Integrated Bhd plant in Taman Ehsan, Kepong, that employs some 1,200 workers.

The report claimed Hytex had housed foreign workers in squalor, withheld their passports and garnished wages; the workers at Hytex reportedly earned a daily wage of RM22, partly due to deductions ordinarily borne by companies.
 
Hytex subsequently disputed they used “forced labour”, saying foreign and local workers were treated equally.

Nike said it found that the majority of housing for employees was "unacceptable,” adding that the workers would be transferred to new Nike-inspected housing within a month.

It stated that steps had been taken to correct alleged worker-abuse problems at Hytex.
 
Disciplinary action against plant managers, if any, would be up to Hytex, not Nike.