While the idea of a whistle-blowing hotline is not new, the high penetration of mobile phones in garment-making countries means it is now more feasible for brands and retailers to use them to communicate directly with workers. A number of programs using mobile phones have already been rolled out or are in the process of being implemented. Adidas has been piloting an SMS whistle-blowing scheme, Marks & Spencer has been testing a surveying system in partnership with Labor Link, and Wal-Mart is in the process of setting up a program that directly communicates with workers through a company called Labor Voices.
Most recently, the group of North American brands and retailers who make up the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety unveiled plans to set up an anonymous worker hotline later this year, allowing workers to report their concerns on factory safety via mobile phone.
SMS is a new tool
Adidas announced in May that it had begun experimenting with SMS texting at a number of its factories in Indonesia. It stated that the system has allowed the factories to detect issues early on and address them before becoming a concern for workers and unions. The voluntary program means that workers can only participate if they share their mobile phone numbers. Adidas has access to incoming grievances data, enabling it to monitor and track how factory management handles grievances and identify any critical issues.
Factory managers can send SMS texts to workers' mobile phones from the factory's computer system, improving communication between workers and managers. Adidas can also share information with workers via text, which should help them understand its workplace standards. The sportswear giant reported that the results of the pilot project have been "very encouraging" so far, noting that in the first month after its launch, factory management received three times more grievances and suggestions from workers than before.
Involvement of Labour and Management
"For example, we often do studies on worker management communication, or worker satisfaction levels. This is particularly important in places like China where factories can have 100% staff turnover in a year," she says, suggesting that suppliers can then respond to this information to attempt to improve workforce retention. The company also carries out surveys in the community to validate the result it gets from the factory and go to workers directly without getting factory management involved.
Franzese emphasised that in 20 years of social auditing, brands have never had the tools to go directly to workers - until now. "Certainly workers are interviewed in audits. But I've been on audits where we've seen paperwork that the factory managers have given workers with the right answers. They're coached to lie to auditors so brands don't get reliable information." Marks & Spencer is one of the first retailers to trial Labour Link's system, and the company's head of ethical trading, Fiona Sadler, told that its experience has been very positive.
M&S said that in the past it has carried out worker interviews or questionnaires on paper - and in one programme in Bangladesh where literacy levels were low, had smiley faces for workers to tick. The retailer has so far done one study using the Labour Link system and got an 80% response rate, which Sadler describes as "phenomenal". She adds: "It's a fun way to give feedback, and the workers really engaged with it." Key to getting the programme off the ground, said Sadler, was setting structured questions, which helped to get the factory on board. As for the factory's reaction: "They subsequently said this is a great way of getting feedback, so that's why we'd like to take it further."
Labor Voices
Another company working to connect directly with supplier workforces is Labor Voices, which has been contracted by Wal-Mart to monitor its factories in Bangladesh. Labor Voices President and CEO Kohl Gill says the scheme operates two ways - to give workers information on their rights at work, as well as informing brands about factory conditions. Other benefits for workers include information on their rights at work and
the local programmes and services available, as well as polling them on what they observe in their workplace their hours, conditions and safety issues - all through their phones. Gill says the system helps workers to make better decisions, letting them know the best places to work, while also giving other stakeholders actionable information to make better sourcing decisions.
The group currently plans to connect with workers in Wal-Mart's 280 supplier factories in less than a year. Information will be pushed out to workers, via their mobile phones - particularly on safety conditions, on things they should be expecting from their employer such as clear fire exits and regular fire drills. "When you open a system up to worker feedback, there will be other grievances that workers lodge with us, so we'll also have a grievance handling process that allows us to contact those workers over time to resolve those grievances, and if they are red line issues, and something we cannot resolve, then we escalate these to the employer and to the brand itself," Gill told.
What makes the company unique, says Gill, is how it maintains a longer term relationship with workers. Each worker has a profile that stays on the system that allows it to continue to work with users over time, "so it doesn't limit us to blind surveys," emphasizes Gill. "We work on a long term basis, we know what we've asked of a particular worker, what particular response they've given us, we do the translation and the transcription at our end, and if there are issues that we need to follow up with that worker, then we're happy to do that as well."
This article was originally published in September issue of 'The Stitch Times' magazine.
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