"#PayUpUniqlo Background"

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Worker testimony and documentation retrieved from the factory verifies that Uniqlo was a very significant buyer from Jaba Garmindo, not only in terms of production volume but in terms of its influence over factory operations. For example, a 52-year-old worker who worked at the Jaba Garmindo factory for 22 years confirmed that she sewed thousands of Uniqlo garments and frequently was forced to work overtime in order for the factory to fulfill Uniqlo orders…

Uniqlo was able to dictate working patterns in the factory and place demands that directly led to increased workplace stress, excessive overtime, and high targets. This demonstrates that it did have, and was willing to use, leverage over its supplier to dictate operational methods…According to international standards, therefore, Uniqlo retained a clear responsibility to prevent, address, and mitigate adverse human rights impacts for the workers at the Jaba Garmindo factory, both while it was sourcing at the factory and at the point it made the decision to leave…

Uniqlo has yet to provide any evidence that the necessary steps were taken to mitigate the significant adverse effects of its withdrawal. For example, the recognised unions at the factory—of whose existence Uniqlo was more than aware—were never notified about Uniqlo´s decision to end their relationship with the factory, a decision that took place just two months prior to the collapse of Jaba Garmindo.

Now we are asking for Uniqlo to take responsibility for their failure to prevent the labour rights violations at Jaba Garmindo and to ensure that the consequences of those failures are not borne by workers who spent years of their working lives creating profit for the factory and its buyers…

In its statement, Uniqlo claims that “the company has offered to work with the relevant parties to facilitate re-employment for any workers who remain unemployed.” We consider this to be a misleading statement that does not reflect the facts.

In June 2017, Uniqlo did request ILO Better Work’s Indonesia office to host a meeting between Uniqlo staff and representatives of the two unions representing Jaba Garmindo workers. The meeting was supposed to be the beginning of a process where a negotiated agreement could be developed that would address the violations raised by the union. In the meeting, Uniqlo made clear that in fact it had no intention of negotiating, but was there merely to collect and share information. They agreed that a follow-up meeting would be held where next steps forward would be discussed.

The promised second meeting never materialized, despite numerous requests from the union for a date to be identified. Instead, Uniqlo sent a single email to the union stating that:

We are considering whether there is any reasonable action we might take to help facilitate their re-employment. To help us evaluate what’s possible, we hope you may be able to share with us some additional detail about the situation for these specific workers.

The union considered this response to be inadequate on a number of levels. Firstly, the proposal does nothing to address the actual violation that the workers are seeking remedy for. Even if such a re-employment scheme would be feasible—and previous experience in these cases suggests it would not—workers would still be owed $5.5 million…

Secondly, it is doubtful that even if a re-employment scheme were to go ahead that Uniqlo would be able to find work for 2000 workers at supplier factories based within a reasonable distance of where the workers live. It is also unclear whether Uniqlo intends to compel their suppliers to employ workers who are, on the whole, older and who are now known to be ex-Jaba Garmindo workers…

Thirdly, despite outlining their concerns with Uniqlo’s proposal, the union responded in October 2017 to ask for further clarification and, again, another meeting. Since that date, Uniqlo has refused to respond to their emails.

Uniqlo also claim that “Fast Retailing is currently leading talks with stakeholders across its industry about methods that might protect apparel industry workers from similar scenarios in the future.”…

Uniqlo is somewhat vague in explaining exactly which stakeholders are involved in these talks. As a global network actively working in this field, we have been unable to identify who are involved in such conversations and where and when they are taking place…