Outdoor retailers urged to adopt foreign labor standards

http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_6598017

Outdoor retailers urged to adopt foreign labor standards
By Tom Harvey
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/10/2007 11:29:43 PM MDT

You're a small company that makes rain gear. You want to assure your customers that the Chinese factory that makes your coats and pants pays its workers an adequate wage and allows regular time off.
But when you try to find out its practices, you're given a false set of books. Your inspector is bribed, and when you threaten to take your business elsewhere the factory owners just shrug you off. On the other hand, consumers demand low prices and that means you have to stay in China.
"It's a vicious circle," said James McMichael of Level Works Limited, a Hong Kong-based firm that specializes in helping companies monitor and improve labor conditions in factories in countries such as China and India.
Such are the problems facing members of the Outdoor Industry Association as some companies make an effort to ensure the overseas factories that manufacture their vast array of goods comply with certain labor standards.
The industry, meeting this week in Salt Lake City for its annual summer trade show, has been slow moving into this area, its primary focus in the social arena having been environmental issues and access to public lands.
"There hasn't been a ton of movement in this industry in terms of talking to people about labor conditions in factories," said McMichael as he addressed a seminar on Friday.

FULL story at link.