A new report by Finnwatch reveals serious violations of basic human and labour rights in Thai factories involved in the production of major Finnish and European retail chains’ private label products.
Finnwatch investigated the responsibility of two tuna companies, Thai Union Manufacturing and Unicord, and a fruit processing company called Natural Fruit. All three companies produce to the global market and have well-known international customers.
In structured in-depth interviews with Finnwatch researchers, the workers of the factories the majority of whom are migrants from neigbouring countries described the use of forced and child labour, unlawfully low wages, excessive overtime, abuse by managers and unsafe working conditions.
The report Halvalla on hintansa (“Cheap has a high price”) was launched in Finland and Thailand on Monday, 21 January.
To find out more about the findings, click on the following links:
Executive summary of the report Cheap has a high price (updated 25 January 2013)
European press release focusing on the role of the problem factories’ international customers
Press release focusing on the situation in Thailand
Full report in Finnish
Finnwatch is an independent Finnish research NGO focusing on global corporate responsibility issues.