Helsinki (05.12.2002 - Tiina Ritala) What can a Western consumer do if a worker at a Vietnamese shoe factory has to sniff chemicals for 15 hours a day? Not much, but importers and buyers working in enterprise purchasing departments can influence such matters. This is one of the main conclusions of a reportage book published in Finland in November and written by the Finnish freelance journalist Elina Grundstöm.

Winter is a quiet period at the Vietnamese shoe factory. This Taiwanese owned facility in Ho Chi Minh City employs over 2,000 people. Its entire output is exported. In Finland the shoes are sold by retail outlets such as those supplied by Kesko, the country’s leading marketing and logistics company.

In Winter Hoa, 19, and Huong, 32, work about 48 hours a week, which is within the legal limits. They then earn EUR 38 to 45 a month. But from June to September the women spend daily about 15 hours in the factory. This means months with an average week of more than 70 working hours. At the peak season they are off work only every third Sunday. In the peak period, according to Hoa, earnings rise to EUR 65.

Normally the employer gives the workers one meal per day. In the peak season, however, two meals are given. When the working days are long workers receive not only more to eat. Some of them also ingest more poisonous toluene, as this solvent is stored in open tanks.

"Breaking the overtime legislation is commonplace in export-oriented factories in Vietnam. This factory is not even one of the worst. It is said to be better than average, owing to such things as the good meals and the health clinic", the author estimates.

Slow progress in certification

Kesko buys shoes from this factory even though both Vietnamese law and ILO core labour standards are broken in the factory, and even though the SA 8000 standard is not applied there. Kesko is committed to SA 8000, which has given the enterprise a progressive reputation in social matters.

In spite of the weaknesses at the shoe factory, Grundström does not condemn Kesko’s decision to buy from the Vietnamese facility. She looks positively at the development whereby Kesko, and thereafter several other Finnish importers, have begun to recognise defects and search for ways to correct them. The biggest step forward has been Kesko’s commitment to the SA 8000 standard.

"SA 8000 is a good, comprehensive code of social responsibility," Grundström says. However, we will have to wait the system breaks through in countries producing low-cost export products. To date only 162 producers globally have received the certificate. Of Kesko’s thousands of suppliers, only a dozen are certified, and roughly another twenty are engaged in the certification process.

In Grundström’s opinion, the basic problem lies in the structure of Finnish retail trade and the quality of purchasing practice. Finnish enterprises tend to "go shopping" around the world, buying a little here and there. The other Nordic countries have more strong retail chains that design products themselves and take part in quality control in producer countries. In Finland enterprises have not employed their own auditors.

Marketing chief Pertti Joronen, a shoe specialist at Citymarket, a chain belonging to the Kesko sphere, says that Kesko tries to influence working conditions in the factories by such means as direct discussions with factory management.

Kesko’s chains do not buy products blindly, but send product group managers to production sites in the Far East and rely on the assistance of Kaukomarkkinat, a Finnish importer with an office in Hong Kong.

"Last year, for example, the Citymarket chain bought 4,000 pairs of shoes from the Ho Chi Minh City factory, which is about half a day’s production from this facility. Our weight is thus not very great, but we try to influence according to our resources," Joronen says. In his opinion the large Western chains occupy a key position.

Request information on a product's origin

Is there anything each one of us could do while waiting for ethical codes to gain ground? Grundström thinks that no individual consumer is responsible for Hoa and Huong having to inhale harmful solvents for all their waking hours. Consumer alertness will not help much if there is no information about the product’s origin, or even about the country of origin, let alone the actual producer. The price may also be misleading, as a more expensive product can well be made in the same factory as a cheaper product.

According to Grundström production of counterfeit famous brand products nowadays takes place in more employee-friendly conditions than production of the non-branded products.

"It is the responsibility of importers to ensure that only products made with respect for the ILO core labour standards ratified by Finland are imported to Finland," Grundström says. She stresses the responsibility of buyers working for Finnish enterprises around the world, testing the markets and making agreements.

Consumers can influence matters slightly by demanding information about the origin of products. In Grundström's opinion, the consumer is entitled to know whether a garment or a pair of shoes in a shop has been made by children, or whether the employees involved are paid a living wage.

"If the shop assistant cannot answer, then it is worthwhile addressing the question to the outlet manager, or even to the Head Office of the retail chain or branded goods company. A good enterprise answers questions concerning the origin of its sales items quickly and objectively," Grundström advises in her book.

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*Elina Grundström, Yrjö Tuunanen (photos): Alkuperämaa tuntematon ("Country of origin unknown"), Tammi, 2002