On July 10, 2015, CLW sent an email to Uniqlo urging the company to demand its supplier Artigas in Shenzhen, China to negotiate with workers who have been protesting for five weeks to demand their legal right to unpaid remuneration and compensation. (For information on the struggle read
CLW statement from July 9, 2015.) The response from Uniqlo lacked specific details on what it is doing in this case and what steps it will take. The letter's content bears notable resemblance to a
June 17 statement from Uniqlo's parent company, Fast Retailing.
Below is the text of Uniqlo's response to CLW's program coordinator, Kevin Slaten
Dear Kevin,
Thank you for your email regarding our sourcing practices.
When producing UNIQLO products, we work closely with our Production Partners to ensure they fully comply with our Code of Conduct (COC). We regularly monitor employees working conditions, and we do our best to resolve problems as soon as possible.
It is our top priority that our production partners respect human rights and ensure appropriate working conditions at all times. We first learned of the working conditions in these two factories at the end of last year, and we moved quickly to inspect these facilities as the reports concerned us greatly. We have urged swift action to these factories on the issues identified, and we are cooperating fully to ensure improvements are made. If no improvement will be made, then we will take strict action that may include reviewing our business relationship with these suppliers.
In accordance with the COC, we regularly conduct factory monitoring, weighing most heavily on child labor and forced labor in our evaluation criteria. Also, our COC states that Production Partners shall maintain wages in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
You will find additional details in our CSR report at http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/csr/report/pdf/csr2014_e.pdf#page=1andpagemode=thumbsandzoom=80
Sincerely,
UNIQLO USA CUSTOMER CENTER