VZCZCXYZ0007
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAM #2211/01 1440819
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 240819Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8703
INFO RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0122
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0240
RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

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