Swedish fashion retailer H&M plans to boost workers rights and impose stricter requirements on the use of short-term, fixed duration contracts for workers at its supplier factories. This came as a response to a new report titled ‘Work Faster or Get Out: Labor rights abuses in Cambodia’s garment industry’.

The report also points to the failure of government labour inspectors to protect workers’ rights besides issues such as discrimination against pregnant workers, forced overtime and retaliation against those who refuse overtime, and unfair treatment of union workers. It also claims the worst conditions occur in small factories carrying out work on a subcontracting basis for larger suppliers with export licences. Eventually supplying to well-known Western brands including Marks & Spencer, Gap, H&M, Adidas, Armani and Joe Fresh.

It recognises the frequent use of short term, fixed duration contracts in the Cambodian garment industry constitutes an illegal breach of workers’ rights, which needs to be addressed by it and other buyers, H&M is reported to have said. Starting from early this year H&M will have stricter requirements towards its suppliers. It will revise its contract requirements, as a first step towards achieving a change towards un-fixed duration contracts, it added.

Suppliers that employ workers over two years on fixed duration contracts will be seen as being in violation of its code of conduct requirements. All suppliers with this violation will be required to create a remedial plan on how to transfer workers to fixed duration contracts. Factory auditors of the company will then follow up on the implementation of these plans. To ensure that this transition takes place in a sustainable way the company will work closely with other actors in the industry. Primarily, it will work closely with international and national unions and employer associations to anchor this shift with the workers themselves, so that this change is understood and seen as beneficial.