makeITfair response to Nokia - 30 September 2009
Nokia published a response to makeITfair in June on its website.
We appreciate Nokia’s statement that "good labor standards should be a right of every worker, and we take seriously our responsibility to promote high environmental and social standards in our supply chain."
However, Nokia claims erroneously that the company's labour standards (code of conduct) for its suppliers already covers the specific requirements that makeITfair has highlighted in relation to working hours and pay.
MakeITfair is calling for workers to be paid a living wage (which is in most producer countries far above the minimum wage) and to cap working hours at a maximum of 48 hours per week and voluntary overtime of no more than 12 hours - not on a regular basis.
The reality is that Nokia's standards are not on par with makeITfair’s standards at all. Nokia’s supplier standards on working hours and pay refer to abiding by local labour laws. Nokia requires that "suppliers shall ensure that employees can perform assigned tasks efficiently without exceeding the maximum working hours as defined by local labor laws or applicable collective agreements". Nokia also require its suppliers to "provide all employees with fair compensation (wages/salaries) meeting or exceeding local legal and industry minimum standards".
Simply using local labour laws as a benchmark does not set any meaningful clear standard on wages and working hours. In most countries, the minimum wage is set far below a living wage, this is common practice in order to attract foreign investment. In many countries there is either no cap on working hours, or the cap is set very high. Even when there is a reasonable cap on working hours, as for example in China, it is often not implemented – not by the government, nor by the companies. The result is that most factories producing electronic prducts have working hours that often exceed 60 hours per week, and can go as high as 84 hours per week on a regular basis.
This emerged clearly in interviews with workers conducted by SACOM for makeITfair in 2007-08 (Silenced to Deliver - report) in three factories in China that were producing for Nokia. During peak season, workers toiled for up to 12 hours per day, 6 or 7 days per week, adding up to overtime of 80 to 180 hours per month. This is way above the legal maximum of 36 hours monthly overtime, as stipulated under Chinese labour law. The majority of factory workers interviewed were exhausted and most objected to being forced to work so much overtime. Following its own investigation, Nokia informed makeITfair that all three factories could improve their efforts to reduce overtime hours.
The different problems are often connected: minimum wages make it essential for workers to engage in a lot of overtime. To cut inhuman working hours and improve workers' conditions, makeITfair believes that electronics companies should be more ambitious in their approach and set their supplier standards at a higher level than just local labour laws.
MakeITfair requests Nokia to set a clear limit on normal working hours and overtime hours, to follow international standards and to ensure that a living wage forms a central part of its standards. MakeITfair encourages Nokia to raise the level of its supplier standards and adopt a more positive ethical code based on international standards, multi-stakeholder participation and external auditing through its supply chain. MakeITfair believes this will promote genuine improvement in conditions and protection of workers all over the world and would welcome Nokia's efforts to move beyond legal compliance. MakeITfair continues its active dialogue with Nokia on this issue.
