Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein probe 'labour abuses' in Ethiopian factories

Workers are forced to do unpaid overtime and lose pay for drinking water at their work stations: report

LONDON: Fashion giant PVH, which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, said it will investigate reports that Ethiopian workers who make clothes for their high-street stores routinely face verbal abuse and
discrimination and earn as little as 12 cents per hour.

Workers in PVH supplier factories in Ethiopia are also forced to do unpaid overtime and lose pay for drinking water at their work stations, according to the US-based Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), which monitors labour conditions worldwide.

Hiring managers at one factory felt the stomachs of job applicants to see if they were pregnant, a WRC report found. "We will conduct an immediate and thorough investigation and take appropriate action if any violations are found," a PVH spokesperson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation late on Monday in a statement responding to the WRC's findings.

"PVH takes the allegations raised in the WRC report very seriously, noting, however, that some of the interviews are two years old and the [Hawassa Industrial] Park and its practices have evolved since then."

PVH helped finance the flagship manufacturing hub in the southern Ethiopian town of Hawassa, one of a dozen such parks.

One of the poorest nations in Africa, Ethiopia is pushing to switch its economic focus from agriculture to manufacturing, in the face of increased scrutiny over labour conditions and rates of pay in the supply chains of global fashion brands.

Ethiopia does not have a minimum wage but companies sourcing
from Ethiopia have a code of conduct prohibiting abuse, WRC
said.

PVH is one of the world's top clothing companies, generating
nearly $9.7 billion in revenues in 2018 with about 1 million
garment workers in its supply chain, according to its website.

Its spokesperson said that sourcing clothes from Ethiopia
supported the local economy and promoted job creation.