Gap is one of the major clothing retailers right next to Nike and Wal-Mart in the level of mass-producing. It has over three thousands factories in fifty different countries all over the globe, majority in the third world country. Just as any big company, in order to mass-produce with cheap labor, Gap is profiting from its companies in the poorer countries such as Southeast Asia and China. There has been fingers pointing at Gap and its foreign labor policies, criticizing and questioning the way it operates. Worker unions had questioned the chairmen of Gap if they are fully informed of the foreign companies about the working condition in their factories. The Gap clothing company admitted that many of the three thousands factories in 50 different countries around the world fail to comply with the minimum labor conditions promised by the contract they signed with Gap.
Issues such as under age labor, unsafe and abusive working condition have put Gap on the defensive side against the worker unions around the globe. Many over seas companies are in violation with the contract they have signed with Gap. In Cambodia, a BBC reporter claimed that he had found a child of age 12 working in the factory when the legal age of working in the country is 15. In China, 25 percent of factories found to have used psychological coercion or verbal abuse against its workers. In Latin and Central America, companies have been found exercising physical punishments. Also in Africa, workers are expose to machinery that did not have proper protective and safety devices. Many of these issues are threatening Gap to close down its factories and loose business.
According to Gap’s chief administrative and compliance officer, many of the issues above are due to management problem, instead of bl ...