South China Headwear Still in Violation of the Law and University Codes

Please find here a case brief concerning ongoing violations of university labor standards at South China Headwear (Shenzhen) Co. Limited, a factory in Longgang District, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China, which employs about 400 workers.
 
The WRC conducted a follow-up investigation of the factory after being informed by the licensee, Vantage Apparel, that an audit conducted under the Sedex 4 program by the auditing company, LRQA, found that South China Headwear had remedied violations previously identified by the WRC, including the factory’s previous failure to provide workers a weekly rest day.
 
To its credit, Vantage Apparel contacted the WRC before beginning to source collegiate apparel from this factory to inquire whether the WRC corroborated the findings of LRQA’s audit. As explained in the case brief, the WRC’s recent investigation found that, contrary to the LRQA audit report, South China Headwear continues to commit very serious labor rights violations—most notably its practices of making employees work seven days per week without a weekly day off, having them perform overtime at nearly three times the legal limit, and taking illegal deductions from workers’ wages. Therefore, collegiate apparel still cannot be produced in this factory without violating university codes of conduct. Vantage Apparel has indicated to the WRC that it will not be using South China Headwear as a supplier until these violations are corrected.

 
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