BANGLADESHI DEATH IN JORDAN'S QIZ UNDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002211

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE PASS TO USTR SAUMS, ROSENBERG, KARESH
STATE PASS TO DOL JAMES RUDE
DHS FOR U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2017
TAGS: ELAB ETRD GTIP KTEX BG JO
SUBJECT: BANGLADESHI DEATH IN JORDAN'S QIZ UNDER
INVESTIGATION

REF: AMMAN 8998

Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR DAVID HALE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)
AND (D).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On May 8, a Bangladeshi worker in one of
Jordan's QIZ factories died in his sleep after working a
22-hour shift. The cause of death listed on police records
was acute pneumonia. Operations managers at the factory
claim that in an attempt to complete a newly placed monthly
order running behind schedule, they offered voluntary
overtime in the last days before delivery due date. Jordan's
Ministry of Labor (MoL) is investigating the death and the
factory's business practices, while increasing the number of
inspections of the factory to include unannounced night-time
visits. MoL inspectors have not yet determined whether there
is sufficient evidence indicating violation of current local
labor laws. NOTE: Jordan's current labor law does not put a
cap on number of allowable overtime hours, but forced
overtime is both a violation of the labor law (punishable by
fine) and the code of conduct most American brands require of
factories. END NOTE AND SUMMARY.


2. (C) During a May 10 routine visit to the "Century Miracle"
factory in the Al-Hassan QIZ, factory management expressed
concern to Econoffs about the potential fall-out from the
death of a Bangladeshi textile worker in "Classic Fashion,"
an Indian-owned factory located in the same QIZ. A check
with MoL authorities confirmed that two international
monitors fluent in Bengali (funded by USAID to provide
technical assistance to the MoL) received phone calls from
workers at Classic Fashion on May 9 informing them that a
worker had died. Workers who phoned in the death also
claimed that the deceased employee died after working a
22-hour shift.


3. (C) Classic Fashion's operations management admitted to a
locally-based American buyer social compliance auditor,
Kesava Murali, that the worker had completed a 22-hour shift
but died of acute pneumonia which had not been diagnosed
before his death. Management provided medical records and
police reports to substantiate their claim. The deceased
worker's roommates told Murali that the employee showed no
signs of sickness (symptoms of pneumonia) before his death.


4. (SBU) MoL advisor to the Minister Lejo Sibbel informed
EconOff that complaints of physical abuse and long hours were
prevalent at Classic Fashion before the worker's death. MoL
has been compiling complaints and investigating claims for
some time. The factory had been warned about extensive
overtime in the past, and was told that the Ministry was
receiving complaints from workers. On each occasion, the
General Manager (GM) claimed he had instructed operations
management to lower overtime hours. The GM was out of the
country at the time of the Bangladeshi's death and argues
that the 22-hour shift happened without his knowledge.


5. (U) MoL representatives have met with the GM and
operations management three times since the incident. The
MoL remains actively engaged with the factory's management
and the number of inspections at the factory have been
increased to substantiate the case for labor law violations,
while at the same time working with the factory to lower
overtime hours. Additionally, the MoL is proactively
facilitating payment of due wages and social security to the
deceased worker's family from the factory through the
Bangladeshi Embassy.

Buyer Analysis
--------------


6. (C) While the death of the worker demonstrates Classic
Fashion's failure to observe decent labor standards as
required by most American brands, Jones NY social compliance
auditor Murali also believes the death highlights a more
fundamental problem: overall bad management practices in the
QIZ factories. Although the order that Classic Fashion was
completing when the Bangladeshi died was not a Jones' order,
Murali said that the management agreed to share their books
with him. Murali saw an agreement to produce a knit-top for
a buyer that had relatively complicated stitching. Classic
Fashion had promised to deliver approximately 31,000 pieces
in 26 days, which would require 1,200 pieces of output a day,
a goal Murali said was never attainable. Over the first ten

days, Classic Fashion generated only 400 pieces a day.
Factory management tried to increase the number of workers on
the line, but that increased output to 600 pieces a day. The
inability to meet production goals was only flagged as a
major issue in the last few days before the order was due,
leading to overnight shifts by approximately 150 workers,
including the now deceased Bangladeshi, who worked 22 hours
straight.


7. (C) Murali believes that signing an order that required
unattainable daily targets - and then failing to take action
to request an extension or re-arrange the lines with
additional workers early on - demonstrates the lack of
qualified individuals working in management. Lack of skills
specifically needed to run a textile factory and evaluate
order requests is a crucial weakness, Murali argues. NOTE:
Murali has conducted over 200 factory visits in the 1.5 years
he has been in Jordan. The buyer he represents, Jones NY,
orders approximately $150M in textiles from 18 factories in
Jordan making it the largest purchaser of goods from Jordan's
QIZs. END NOTE.


8. (C) Additionally, Murali said, failure to observe a decent
code of conduct in this case also threatens Jones' own orders
with Classic Fashion. According to Murali, while Jones had
been increasing orders with Classic Fashion to encourage
efforts made by management to improve working conditions
(i.e., sanitation, correct wage payments, better food),this
death and overall difficulty in getting the owners to lower
worker hours and provide more days off (currently workers
receive only one day off a month) will most likely have a
negative impact on orders with Classic Fashion.


9. (SBU) Post has not yet seen any press reports on the
worker's death. Management at factories believe that the NLC
has strong channels of communication with workers in the
QIZs, and they are bracing for the impact that a flash report
from the NLC on the death might create for the entire
industry.


10. (SBU) NOTE: A U.S. Customs jump team and Econoff visited
Classic Fashion in March 2007 to follow up on allegations of
transshipments (see reftel). During that visit, Classic's
managers noted that the factory employed 2,600 workers, of
which 2,200 were foreign, and that they were operating at
80-85% of capacity. They assured the team that the factory
had only one 8-hour shift per day, six days a week, and paid
overtime for a maximum 2 hours. Although post has not yet
received the official report from Customs, the team indicated
in an informal outbrief that they did not find any clear
evidence of transshipment at the QIZ factories that they
visited. END NOTE.
Hale