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The Guardian has spoken to more than a dozen workers at the fashion label's factory in Subang, Indonesia, where employees describe being paid one of the lowest minimum wages in Asia and there are claims of impossibly high production targets and sporadically compensated overtime.
The workers' complaints come only a week after labour activists investigating possible abuses at a Chinese factory that makes Ivanka Trump shoes disappeared into police custody.
The activists' group claimed they had uncovered a host of violations at the plant including salaries below China's legal minimum wage, managers verbally abusing workers and "violations of women's rights".
In the Indonesian factory some of the complaints are similar, although the wages paid to employees in Subang are much lower.
[...] PT Buma, a Korean-owned garment company started in Indonesia in 1999, is one of the suppliers of G-III Apparel Group, the wholesale manufacturer for prominent fashion brands including Trump's clothing.
[...] When Alia was told the gist of Ivanka Trump's new book on women in the workplace, she burst out laughing. Her idea of work-life balance, she said, would be if she could see her children more than once a month.
[...] Carry Somers, founder of the non-profit Fashion Revolution said: "Ivanka Trump claims to be the ultimate destination for Women Who Work, but this clearly doesn't extend to the women who work for her in factories around the world."
In March, Indonesia was called out by President Donald Trump for having an unfavourable trade balance with the US. The president took issue with Indonesia's $13bn surplus last year and vowed to penalise "cheating foreign importers".
Bad pay, unrealistic production requirements, unpaid overtime and verbal abuse are among the complaints of the workers. Ivanka has factories in China, and Indonesia where wages are even lower. Does textile production really have to be like this? Can we really not afford buying clothes made in humane conditions?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday June 17 2017, @10:40PM (1 child)
I don't dispute the current numbers there. I dispute what percentage of profit the manufacturers are willing to settle for. Right now they're making about 3-400% profit on the manufacturing process. It is my opinion that they would still want 3-400% profit after a 10x wage increase, as would the wholesalers, as would the retailers. Any labor cost increase is going to be multiplied by ~50-60 before it hits the consumers.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tfried on Sunday June 18 2017, @06:56AM
Do they want to make 3-400% profit? Sure. More, if they can.
Would they still need 3-400% profit margin to keep their overall profit? Certainly not. They'd need a small extra slice of profit to cover stuff they produce but don't sell, etc. But the largest part of their expenses (esp. marketing) is not affected.
Could they keep operating at 3-400% profit margin? Depends on the market. Right now, "fair clothing" is a niche market with few players, and premium prices. And thus, "doing the right thing / voting with your money" is prohibitively expensive to most. However, if all manufacturers were forced to pay the same higher minimum wage, do you think they could keep that margin? I for one don't see the market mechanism for that.