Report on WRC Investigation and Remediation of Labor Conditions at Eagle Speed Marketing (Thailand)

At this link you will find a report detailing the WRC’s investigation and remediation of labor practices at the Eagle Speed Marketing apparel factory (Eagle Speed) in Thailand. The factory employs roughly 1,100 workers and produces goods for university licensees Nike, Inc. and VF Corporation, as well as for the European sportswear firm, Salomon, AG. 

While Eagle Speed had not been disclosed as a producer of university-licensed goods by either Nike or VF, workers credibly reported that garments bearing the logos of WRC member universities had been produced at the factory. Eagle Speed’s parent company also owns a factory named Eagle Pack (formerly, CPPC Public, Ltd.) which has been disclosed as producing university licensed goods for VF.

The WRC began its investigation at Eagle Speed in 2010 after receiving a complaint that more than twenty workers were being confined by the management in a room in the factory because they had objected to being demoted from their usual production jobs to so-called “general administrative” work – which included cleaning the factory. While workers were allowed to leave this room to use the toilet and at the end of the workday, the practice was psychologically abusive, and we requested to the company that it be ceased. As our report discusses, the WRC’s intervention not only put an end to the factory’s confinement of these workers, but spurred the company to reform the management practices that gave rise to the situation in the first place.

Our investigation also identified other working conditions in the factory which failed to comply with Thai labor laws or buyer and university Codes of Conduct, including unlawful discipline and demotion of employees, unsanitary conditions in the company washrooms and canteen, and other health and safety violations, including excessive restrictions on workers’ access to toilets – a widespread problem in apparel factories globally, that affect both workers’ health and their dignity. To the company’s credit, it has largely corrected the problems which were brought to its attention by the WRC and by some of its customers. The WRC will continue to monitor conditions in this factory in order that these improvements can be sustained.

Scott Nova 
Worker Rights Consortium 
5 Thomas Circle NW 
Washington DC 20005 
ph 202 387 4884 
fax 202 387 3292 
[email protected] 
www.workersrights.org