Company profile: Mizuno Corporation
Headquarters: Osaka
Country: Japan
Founded in: 1906
Total points of sale in Europe: estimated 21.000
Owned by: Public shareholder company
Name of CEO: Akito Mizuno (CEO)
Product description: Mizuno has a collection of sports shoes, sports apparel and sports accessories, both for women and men.
Countries of production: China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
General remark: n.a.
Mizuno Corporation
1-12-35,Nanko-kita,
Suminoe-ku,Osaka559-8510,Japan
Comment CCC and proposals for action
Mizuno has responded to the CCC questionnaire sent in 2007 and subsequent correspondence. The company is in dialogue with TWARO (the Asian and Pacific Regional Organisation of the International Textile, Garment and leather Workers’ Federation) about its CSR practices, and shows willingness to respond to issues raised by labour rights organizations.
However, the company still has a long way to go to make its supply chain, including its purchasing practices, fair and transparent. Mizuno falls short on transparency about the working conditions in its supplier factories. In a letter to the CCC Mizuno announces that it has planned to disclose the results of factory audits under certain conditions in 2009. The CCC welcomes this step, and would like to encourage Mizuno to disclose its list of suppliers and include the corrective actions taken to resolve detected labour rights’ violations in its factory audit reports. In 2008 Mizuno has again included in its CSR report a comparison chart comparing the report with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative. Unfortunately, Mizuno has failed to include information about working conditions in its supply chain, nor does it report on its efforts to ensure that international labour standards are complied with.
To ensure a credible implementation of its code of conduct, Mizuno is encouraged to join a multi-stakeholder initiative. This should include the establishment of confidential and accessible means for workers to report exploitation and abuse, and independent training to workers concerning their rights at work.
In its letter to the CCC, Mizuno has indicated that it is willing to revise its code of conduct on some of the issues mentioned in the section “formal commitment to labour standards”. In particular Mizuno committed to making reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ILO conventions with regard to ending the worst forms of child labour and the prohibition of (threats of) physical abuse, unusual punishments or discipline, sexual and other forms of harassment as well as intimidation by the employer. The CCC calls upon Mizuno to also revise its code on the remaining relevant ILO conventions, including guaranteeing a living wage for all workers producing its goods.
As in general the case in the sportswear industry, workers are often severely restricted in their right to freedom of association. Mizuno should therefore take concrete steps to encourage decent working conditions in countries and free trade zones where freedom of association and collective bargaining are restricted by law and limit its sourcing in these countries and zones. In this respect, the CCC welcomes Mizuno’s recent commitment to participate in follow-up plans to explore amongst other issues how to promote trade unionism and collective bargaining as well as improving wages across the sector. To guarantee that all workers are entitled to the full package of labour rights, Mizuno should ban, or severely restrict, the use of short-term contracts. Finally the CCC expects Mizuno to make sure its purchasing practices allow suppliers to respect labour standards, which includes stable business relationships, and reasonable prices and delivery times.
The following evaluation of the company’s performance in terms of transparency, code implementation and monitoring of labour standards is based on the company’s response to the questionnaire from the CCC and on an additional desk study conducted by the CCC in 2007. In the section “Recent developments” you can find additional information gathered after 2007.
Transparency
Mizuno Corporation has responded to the CCC-questionnaire and has provided some additional documents. The company is highly transparent with regard to: turnover, profits, sales and corporate structure. The amount of salaries of the top management is not known. Some information is given about producer countries and the structure of the supply chain. A sustainability report is publicly available but it does not meet international reporting standards (GRI). Mizuno Corporation provides neither the results of factory audits nor information about verification activities. The company does not disclose general targets for future monitoring activities.
Formal commitment to labour standards
Mizuno Corporation has adopted a code of conduct that requires compliance with all relevant local labour laws, but does not indicate that where local and international standards are at variance the higher standard should prevail. The code does not include a reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The company is formally committed to respecting minimum labour standards in accordance with ILO Core Conventions. These include the right to organise and bargain collectively and prohibit child labour, discrimination, and forced labour.
Mizuno Corporation’s code of conduct does not apply to all workers affected by labour practices for which the company has some measure of responsibility. Beyond the ILO Core Conventions, the company is only committed to paying the legal minimum wage or industry standard, i.e. not a living wage. There are no limits to overtime. No mention is made of a safe and hygienic environment for the workers who produce the company’s garments and/or sportswear. The company does not explicitly require that all workers receive a regular employment contract.
Beyond the labour standards mentioned above, the company code is not precise enough on some specific issues. It does not state its commitment in relation to*:
- the provision of transitional measures that will be in the interest of the child and of her/his family where child labour is found;
- special provisions for workers under 18 years of age (e.g. education, no night work);
- specific steps to encourage decent working conditions in countries where freedom of association and collective bargaining are restricted by law;
- prohibiting the retention by employers of security deposits or identity papers;
- payment of overtime at a premium rate.
- guaranteeing a living wage during regular working hours without overtime;
- prohibiting physical abuse, threats of physical abuse, unusual punishments or discipline, sexual and other forms of harassment as well as intimidation by the employer.
- ending the worst forms of child labour with explicit reference to ILO core-convention 182.
Code implementation and purchasing practices
Although a few steps have been taken, Mizuno Corporation does not have sufficient instruments to effectively implement minimum labour standards in its supply chain. The company has translated its code of conduct into Chinese, but not in other languages of countries it is sourcing from. According to the information given Mizuno Corporation has no intention to implement the payment of living wages to workers. Mizuno Corporation takes, to some extent, the impact of its own purchasing practices into account. It has established some procedures which show how to improve planning and prevent excessive overtime. There are no provisions to give buyers positive incentives to reward better working conditions.
Monitoring and Verification
There is nothing known to CCC about monitoring results. The company is not involved in independent verification by a multi-stakeholder approach.
Violations of labour rights and public conflicts
There are no CCC public urgent appeals calling on Mizuno to take responsibility for workers’ rights violations in its supply chain.
Recent developments
At a three day conference in July 2008, organised by the Play Fair 2008 Campaign (led by the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation and the Clean Clothes Campaign), Mizuno committed to participate in follow-up plans to explore amongst other issues how to promote trade unionism and collective bargaining as well as improving wages across the sector.