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March 03, 2000
Verité Calls Companies to Conscience on Factories
The humanitarian research organization brings to light accurate data on the global assembly line
for the education of manufacturing companies with overseas operations.
SocialFunds.com --
Workers in approximately 20 percent of the factories in countries from El Salvador to Taiwan, from
Mauritius to Bangladesh, report serious verbal, physical, or sexual abuse on the job. The statistic
for such abuse in Sri Lanka is 70 percent, and fear of reprisals makes that a conservative
estimate. But this abuse is only the most obvious pattern of mistreatment in overseas factories, a
growing concern among shareholders of multinational corporations and the general public.
 One of the reasons we know anything at all
about physical abuse in Sri Lankan factories, child labor in China, and health hazards in Mexican
maquiladoras, is a research and monitoring organization called Verité. Founded in 1995 to address
some of the social consequences of globalization on children and factory workers worldwide, Verité
now has operations in 46 countries.
"Through a process of humanitarian inspections, Verité
ensures that products are made under fair and legal working conditions and in compliance with
international human rights standards," said Heather White, founder and Executive Director of
Verité. "Our operational model involves linking with local organizations for research, worker
interviews, and capacity building."
The goal of Verité is to educate companies that have
manufacturing operations overseas, or contract with local vendors, about the conditions experienced
by their factory workers. As the public becomes more aware of, and outraged by discrimination,
health and safety hazards, inadequate pay, child labor, and outright abuse, corporations are
well-advised to learn more about conditions in their own or their vendors' factories.
Relying on their worldwide network of auditors and NGOs, as well as their experienced staff,
Verité produces a series of Country Notebooks that describe labor laws, standard of living, human
rights, and worker conditions in the most exacting detail. These publications are compiled for
countries that companies rely on for production, and are updated annually.
Verité also
produces a series of Issues Reports, addressing timely subjects in the world of labor conditions.
Their current reports focus on contract labor, a phenomenon of the new global market in which large
numbers of mobile workers travel internationally for factory jobs where they do not speak the
language, making them very vulnerable to maltreatment.
Last year a class action lawsuit
filed on behalf of 50,000 contract workers from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Thailand,
for human rights violations and poor factory conditions on Saipan, ended in a settlement by U.S.
apparel retailers. Verité was chosen to be the independent monitor of the factories as part of this
pioneering lawsuit settlement, recommended by their unsurpassed experience on this issue.
Anyone familiar with the reputation of overseas factory management has to wonder how Verité and
their local NGO partners conduct audits of such prickly issues as harassment, child labor, safety
violations, and worker abuse, without interference. But the management must agree to cooperate with
the audit process as a condition of doing business with their buyers, the multinational
corporations that hire Verité.
Most of the information that Verité gathers is only for the
eyes of their clients, mainly U.S. and European companies, and is covered by confidentiality
agreements. But general findings on overseas factory conditions can also help raise awareness and
understanding among shareholders and other members of the public.
"Our work is raising
general understanding of problems and consequences created by our rapidly globalizing world," said
White. "We point out labor and human rights hot spots in industries and by geographical region to
assist investment advisors looking at individual companies."
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SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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