Evidence of meeting #76 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was employees.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Gary Schellenberger Perth—Wellington, CPC
Thank you, and thank you for coming today to update us.
When you are the last person to ask questions, a lot of the questions you wanted to ask have already been answered.
Mr. Iliopoulos, your employees have health care, an on-site medical centre. Does this include their families or is it just for your employees?
Senior Vice-President, Public and Corporate Affairs, Head Office, Gildan Activewear Inc.
It's primarily for the employees. It's based at our facilities, but families can have access to that as well, as the need arises.
Perth—Wellington, CPC
And is part of the reason you have pick-up and delivery services for your people from and to safe places is because of the high unemployment? These people are employed and they might be attacked, maybe by some people who don't have jobs.
Senior Vice-President, Public and Corporate Affairs, Head Office, Gildan Activewear Inc.
The reason we do that is to offer the best possible working conditions for our employees and, at the same time, we want to ensure as much as possible their safety and try to implement best practices in safety measures.
Perth—Wellington, CPC
Are your tradespeople who work on your infrastructure from the local community or are they also employees of your company?
Senior Vice-President, Public and Corporate Affairs, Head Office, Gildan Activewear Inc.
They're employees of Gildan. We have a very strong, local, decentralized and highly skilled workforce that we trained and developed over the ten-plus years we've been in the country.
Perth—Wellington, CPC
Do these people then maybe leave your company somewhere along the line, to go out on their own?
Senior Vice-President, Public and Corporate Affairs, Head Office, Gildan Activewear Inc.
Typically in areas such as these we have a high retention rate of our employees. Our focus, again, is providing the best possible conditions for our employees, where we're seen as an employer of choice in the country, and every time.... I could give you an example from a couple of months ago. We had a fair where we were looking to employ a couple of hundred people at one of our facilities, and we literally had hundreds or thousands of people lined up outside our gates to come to work for Gildan. I think that's a testament to the reputation we have in Honduras and how we treat our employees and the conditions we offer them.
Perth—Wellington, CPC
I do know a little bit about the OAS—a couple of years ago, I was in Washington.
We have a theatre in my riding called the Stratford Shakespeare Theatre that started a theatre project in El Salvador quite a number of years ago. They developed a theatre company that took kids off the street who were destined for trouble and gangs, and brought them in not only to be actors but also to be carpenters, electricians, set people, to sew and learn a trade. They come in there, and there are performers as well.
So all of these people get trained to do things. Why I asked if some of these people go on from your company is that in this particular theatre company I mentioned, people who maybe learned the carpentry trade, for example, end up leaving and going out and starting their own business and teaching other people. Now people come from Stratford, come from the theatre, usually in the off season and go to help train some of these people. It has worked wonderfully.
Mr. Blackwell, I see you nodding your head a little. I think you understand. I can't remember the place exactly.
Ambassador, Secretariat for Multidimensional Security, Organization of American States (OAS)
Suchitoto.
Perth—Wellington, CPC
Yes, and it was a wonderful time. To see these young people going out then.... And I guess they have a lineup of people at the door who want to get in and do some of this. So I applaud you for that.
I know that the rule of law is very important in getting people out of poverty. If there's no rule of law, it's very tough to get those people up the ladder and out of poverty.
This question is open to everyone. Do you feel—
Perth—Wellington, CPC
Okay, that's long enough for me to ask the question.
Do you feel that the Canada-Honduras free trade agreement is a positive move that may help to advance the rule of law in Honduras?
Senior Vice-President, Public and Corporate Affairs, Head Office, Gildan Activewear Inc.
Absolutely. I think I mentioned earlier that one of the greatest ways to improve conditions in a country is by developing its economy, and a free trade agreement between Canada and Honduras will really open the doors for additional future Canadian investment that will help create jobs and infrastructure and will bolster the economy. I think absolutely, without question, that is imperative and will play a very positive role in terms of continuing to develop the country.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP Wayne Marston
We'll move to Mr. Jacob again for the second round for the NDP and following that, we're going to have a short question from Mr. Sweet.
NDP
Pierre Jacob NDP Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Mr. Iliopoulos.
According to the U.S. Department of State, labour legislation in Honduras is practically identical to the International Labour Organization's standards. However, this legislation is not always in force efficiently and effectively. I would like to know if there are labour laws and standards in Honduras. Is there a minimum wage? For example, are workers unionized in your country, and so on?
Senior Vice-President, Public and Corporate Affairs, Head Office, Gildan Activewear Inc.
Our code of conduct is based on the ILO principles. We have very strict standards. We do regular monitoring to ensure that each of the underlying principles of our code of conduct is respected at each of our locations. That's a regular audit monitoring that we do on an annual basis at each of our facilities.
That monitoring is also done by external third parties in an independent manner as well, so we're very confident that each of the standards that we base our code of conduct on is respected in each of the countries in which we operate and in each of the facilities in the various countries in which we operate.
NDP
Pierre Jacob NDP Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Thank you, but you did not answer my question. Are your workers unionized?
Senior Vice-President, Public and Corporate Affairs, Head Office, Gildan Activewear Inc.
In Honduras we actually have two. Not all of our facilities are unionized. We're very pro-freedom of choice and we recognize our employees' rights to freedom of association. We work very collaboratively with unions and with NGOs in Honduras. One of our facilities in Honduras is in fact unionized and governed by a collective bargaining agreement. We also have a facility in Nicaragua that's unionized and governed by a collective bargaining agreement. We also have unions at our facilities in the Dominican Republic.
So we definitely work in a very collaborative manner with NGOs and unions to ensure that our employees are looked after in the best possible manner.
NDP
NDP
Pierre Jacob NDP Brome—Missisquoi, QC
All right.
Honduras ratified five of the International Labour Organization's fundamental conventions. In your opinion, Mr. Iliopoulos, do Gildan Activewear Inc. factories comply with best practices and international labour standards? Have there been concerns about the way workers are treated in the company's factories? If so, what action has been taken to rectify the situation?
Senior Vice-President, Public and Corporate Affairs, Head Office, Gildan Activewear Inc.
We follow the strictest of standards. Our code of conduct is based on the highest standards not just in the industry but also from the highest level of organizations, be they the ILO, the Fair Labor Association, the Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production. We conduct regular monitoring audits to ensure that these standards are maintained at the highest levels.
In the results of the audits, if there are ever items that are identified with respect to there being issues, no matter how minor the issues are, there is always a remediation plan that's put in place immediately by the company to ensure that any issues are in fact rectified in a timely manner. There's a follow-up with respect to those remediation items to ensure that everything was properly implemented and there are always follow-up audits to ensure that the issues no longer exist once they've been identified. That's something that we do on a regular basis at each of our facilities.
This is a staple and a pillar as part of our operations in whichever country in we operate in, not just Honduras.
