Japan’s fast fashion brand Uniqlo’s supplier factories in China have poor working conditions. As factory workers’ base wages are too low to make ends meet, workers have no choice but to work overtime for 112 to 134 hours a month. This violated China’s legal upper limit on overtime of 36 hours a month. Women work 11 hours a day and are given only one or two days off in a month. Working hours may stretch from early in the morning until 10 pm or 11 pm.
When workers organized a strike in 2009, the company used gangsters to deal with the striking workers with physical violence. There have also been protests at Uniqlo in Indonesia. The aim was to draw attention to Uniqlo’s disregard for the fate of thousands of women who lost their jobs at Uniqlo's former supplier in Indonesia – and are still owed wages and severance payments. Uniqlo was evading accountability for workers who lost their jobs when a factory closed down in early 2015. The closure put 4,000 people out of work and pushed them into a desperate situation.
Fast Retailing claims it is keen on improving employees’ working conditions in order to fulfill its responsibility as a global company.
