Feb 2001, The Verite report on Kuk Dong

(More on this case) ( !! Note that Kukdong changed it's name sept 2001 to Mex Mode )

The following was received from US/LEAP February 6, 2001:

Feb. 2 2001, The Verite report on Kuk Dong

ACTIVITY REPORT - TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2001 - KUKDONG INTERNATIONAL

The Verité Audit Team and the Verité Observer spent the day at the Kukdong factory in order to:

Observe and note how workers who had left the factory during the work stoppage were being received when re-applying for a job at the factory
Observe and note how the union was dealing with workers
Conduct a comprehensive management interview
Interview workers on-site
Conduct a comprehensive health & safety inspection of the factory facilities

ARRIVAL AT THE FACTORY:

Upon arriving at the factory, Daniel Long with the Worker's Rights Consortium was at the front gate taking notes. Verité team members and the Verité Observer introduced themselves. Daniel Long told us that he had received instructions not to talk to us. We told him that we understood and left him there on his own.

Inside the factory:

We identified ourselves to the guards who let us in without any problem. Inside the courtyard, about 60 former workers stood in line in front of the building’s main entrance while 20 newcomers were filling application forms. The general mood was a bit tense. A few tough-looking and heavily armed guards blocked the entrance to the main building and others observed the scene from a short distance.

A4 sheets posted on the Coke machine announced that workers who wanted to return to work would not face any reprisal and their rights would be respected as any other worker.

While asking workers about the process of reintegration, a man dispatched by the head of security came to a team member and said, "Sr. Alberto told me that you needed something and he sent me here to help you." The auditor thanked the man, but declined his assistance. This was taken as a signal to the auditor to maintain distance from the workers so as to not jeopardize them. The workers were told to give their names and the date they left the factory and would later be told whether or not they could return to work.

A few workers from a village were sent to investigate the mood and conditions of rehiring. If conditions were acceptable, then the rest of the former workers from their village would return. In the meantime, they were concerned about retaliation.

When we arrived, the line was pretty long but our presence stimulated the process. Inside the building, a few women who had been accepted back to work were waiting in the corridor in front of the entrance into the lines’ hall. The team member later realized that they were waiting to get into the union office, a requirement prior to starting work.

All these observations took place while waiting for the President, Mr. S.K. Byun and the General Manager, Mr. Hoon Park to take part in the introduction meeting.

INTRODUCTION MEETING WITH HIGHER MANAGEMENT:

After a round of introductions and an explanation of Verité's presence, Mr. Byun took the floor and explained the following several points:

¨ The management had originally intended to re-hire former workers at their previous level until the end of January after which date they would be re-hired at the same conditions as new workers. As Nike and Reebok had insisted that the factory should make sure that all workers were notified, the factory launched a media campaign. The factory printed ads in the newspapers, broadcasted on the radio, posted information on all 19 community buses, hired a speakerperson to go from village to village and expanded the deadline for workers to be re-hired at their previous level until Friday February 2nd.

¨ After Tuesday February 6th, returning workers would be treated as newcomers and would be assessed and judged suitable for re-employment accordingly. When asked which criteria would apply, management told me that the Korean supervisors knew their people and would pick the "good" workers and not the “bad” ones (a good worker being one who "does not give headaches" and who is efficient).

¨ Today (Tuesday), the union would gather workers for an "education session," in accordance with what Nike and Reebok required, and the conciliation and arbitration board would come to the factory on Thursday and Friday to explain, among other things, the steps to follow to put a new union into place.

After this short conversation, the team divided and each member dealt with one's assigned tasks. At that point, we noticed that a Caucasian man was around and we learned that it was Nike representative who had actually come to the factory that day to attend the conciliation and arbitration board sessions that had been postponed to the end of this week. Gabriel Llaguno, Nike's Corporate Responsibility Compliance Manager, was supportive of our job and offered to be of assistance should we face any problems.

BACK TO THE REINTEGRATION PROCESS:

Outside, the same people the team member had met at 8 a.m. were still waiting, three hours later, without being told what they had to wait for. As it turned out, they had to stop at the union office - where the team member followed part of them - to fill out and sign a form on which the following text is written (rough translation):

I hereby am contacting this union to let it know that I have made the decision to formally join the group that you represent. I am aware of the status and I commit myself to respect the latter as well as the agreements, commitments and decisions that are taken during the meetings, congress and councils of your organization and those of the CROC at which you are affiliated at both state and national levels. Expecting a positive decision from your partÖ Puebla, date, name, age, address, place of origin, recruitment date, previous job and signature".

In the meeting the team member attended, union representatives reluctantly provided the group of workers with a copy of the bargaining agreement so they could read it. Yet, the atmosphere was so tense that some of the workers were feeling uncomfortable and sometimes looked at the team member for a sense of direction which the team member could obviously not provide. Few of them read the document but all of them signed the forms to join the union anyway.

During this meeting, the team member spoke in a corner to Luis J.C.Lee, Head of Administration, who told me that it was not compulsory that the workers joined the union. When I asked him why they then did not tell the workers so, he was very uncomfortable and took me outside of the room to explain that they, the management, were not very happy with the union and that the latter had imposed on them since the beginning. He added that they would rather have had the union from McDonald's (whose name he forgot) for that union promoted training for their workers and other positive points.

When the team member came out of the union room, the team member talked to a group that had signed the union application form. When the team member asked whether the union had provided them with a copy of the bargaining agreement, they told the team member “no”. As the team member suspected, they only provided it to the group that the team member accompanied because the team member was present to witness their procedures.

After signing this form, workers were told that those recruited would be informed within a week via a telegram. Those who would not receive anything were to consider that they failed to get the job. Workers complained that while there was a sign posted on the Coke machine saying that no one would face retaliation, not to be hired would be a form of retaliation. After that, they left. It was about 1pm.

THE NEWCOMERS:

Have to fill an application form, provide copies of the birth certificate, school records and housing bill. Mr. Lee insisted that they would double-check their date of birth since some potential hires were actually younger than they claimed.

UNION EDUCATION SESSIONS:

The union started in the morning to "educate" the workers. They took them line by line; about 35 people attended each session.

A rough translation of the presentation of Jaime Sanchez Juarez, the Union's Secretary General, follows:

We are here today to explain what we can do for you. As you might not be aware, the problems at Kukdong are no longer local but international. We are concerned about the image of the factory outside. The factory has acquired a very bad reputation because of the media reports that have been circulating worldwide and through Internet giving a lot of false information about what is happening here. This is why we have had and will have a lot of visits from representatives from Nike, Reebok, as well as NGOs, like this lady here to assess the working conditions of this factory. So we ask you to tell the truth about what is going here and dismiss all the allegations according to which you are being beaten, the food you eat is rotten, etc.. If this goes on, Nike, Reebok and other clients will stop using the factory and we will stay unemployed. You have to tell them that you want to work in peace. We already adjusted some salaries, we will propose to the management that they give you the 12 pesos, equivalent to the lunch you get at the cafeteria, so you can bring your own food. We are building a new cafeteria that should open around 15 March and we will ask the management to change the food provider. In addition to the raise you got from 15 January, we will ask management to make it retroactive as from 1 January. We also obtained four additional paid days off. There will be a commission on food and hygiene. People have to be aware of the benefits you have. If there are problems, talk to the Koreans and if they do not do anything, come to us. We cannot come to talk to you while you are in the lines for we do not want to disrupt your work but you have named a representative within your group. You should go to her when you are experiencing problems and then she should then talk to the union who will then talk to the management. The union wants to support you. If we failed, we ask you to give us another opportunity. You have to support us so we can support you.

Then followed a dialogue with the workers to make them aware of the issues at stake and urging them to understand and support the tough job of their representative. We should point out that in some lines, people are so young, 20 years on average, that they behave in a rather immature way and may not be very conscious of what this is all about.

Some workers expressed concerned with regards to transportation. It is true that the majority of them live far out in the countryside (we have experienced that on Monday) and need transportation. While the majority has access to buses contracted by the factory, few of them do not, at least until their village. There is one specific case for people living in Magdalena. Before the stoppage, they used to be 24 workers coming from this village, now they are only five. The factory thinks that it is too costly to contract a bus for five people but workers say that if transportation is available, the rest of the workers from their village will come back to work.

Some workers talked about the incentives they used to have and that were much appreciated, such a receiving a "torta" upon completion of one year of work, or the attribution of some kind of a diploma/honorary plate for the best worker of the month etc. The union explained that these practices had to stop further to the situation that was currently taking place but would resume once the situation cleared.

Workers also mentioned that indeed, the food had improved over the past two weeks and that if it were to remain as such, they would go on using the cafeteria.

Some mentioned that when hired, they were told they would receive a raise every three month but that it never materialized.

A lot of promises were made that should be confirmed as to their implementation in the near future.

When Mr. Sanchez was asked if a union representative was always around he said that Jose Luis Ruiz was the person in charge at the factory.

FINAL MEETING WITH MANAGEMENT:

The Verité audit team leaders had a final talk with Mr. Byun and Mr. Park. The day was pretty hard for them with the Verité and Nike visits. They were eager to hear what we had to tell them and openly expressed their concerns. They informed us that they had already increased workers' salaries, that they were much above the minimum wage and that their were considering increasing more. They added that they had asked both their general and criminal lawyers to drop the charges they had intended against one of their staff and five outsiders (see final report).