|
 |
 | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| | You are in: Business | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | | Thursday, 27 September, 2001, 16:22 GMT 17:22 UK South Korea accused of using slave labour  Some clothes are made using sweatshop labour By BBC World Business Report's Sally Hardcastle Garment workers around the world are accusing South Korean companies of treating workers as "virtual slaves" in factories abroad. The Secretary General of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLW) has gone to Seoul to protest about the treatment of workers in countries including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The ITGLW, which represents workers in the garment industry all around the world, alleges that South Korean companies running factories abroad top the list of bad employers. The organisation's Secretary General Neil Kearney is in South Korea to present evidence which has come in from factories in many developing nations. Sweatshop conditions Mr Kearney told World Business Report that employees had to work long hours for starvation wages. According to Mr Kearney, workers are often beaten when they made mistakes and fired if they complained.
He claims that that the rogue employers ride rough-shod over local labour laws - and are starting to give the south Korean clothing industry a bad name around the world. The Korea International Trade Association has admitted that some South Korean businessmen abroad have treated local workers unfairly. However, it believes this can partly be blamed on different corporate cultures, but insists that the situation is improving. | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Business stories now:  Links to more Business stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Links to more Business stories |
 | | ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII|News Sources|Privacy  |
E-mail this story to a friend