28th August 2009
Judge rules that Wal-mart is not responsible for factory conditions
A federal appeals court in the USA has ruled that despite Wal-Mart's code of conduct holding its contractors to decent labor standards, the company can not be prosecuted for alleged sweatshop conditions. The decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit of Appeals in San Francisco is a real blow for the campaigners who filed a suit on behalf of factory workers in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland and Nicaragua.
According to reports in the San Francisco Chronicle, campaigners accused Wal-Mart of failing to enforce its code, while touting its standards to potential shoppers. The code of conduct, adopted in 1992, tells Wal-Mart's suppliers to follow local laws and industry standards on pay, working conditions, child labor and discrimination. It says Wal-Mart will monitor compliance and cancel its contracts with any supplier that violates the standards or refuses to allow inspections. The suit alleged that Wal-Mart was lax in monitoring factories, often gave its contractors advance notice of inspections, coached workers on how to respond and pressured inspectors into covering up violations. The suit also claimed the deadlines and price restrictions in Wal-Mart's contracts made shoddy working conditions inevitable.
Learn more about the limits of factory inspections in ensuring workers' rights are respected in the context section.
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