A Peruvian company that used lie-detector tests to grill workers about strike action and rob them of their rights has been slammed for its anti-worker behaviour.
Says Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation: ‘The behaviour of Texpop S.A. is beyond the pale. Two years ago the company used abusive lie-detector testing to illegally dismiss workers. The company continues to violate worker rights, including imposing twelve-hour workdays, misusing the clocking-in cards to push down wages, ignoring the provisions of the collective agreement, unfairly dismissing workers who protest at poor conditions, and failing to pay severance and social benefits to dismissed workers.
“One worker was taken to an office on the other side of the city where she was wired up to a polygraph machine and grilled about what she knew concerning a possible strike over seniority pay. After hours of questioning she was told she had failed the test and was fired. At seven o’clock at night, in an unfamiliar part of the city, in the dark and with no money on her, she was left to make her own way home.
“Another former worker, Enrique Rosales, who had worked for fourteen years in the company, was told two years ago that in order to keep his job he too would have to take a lie-detector test. Three weeks later he was told the results suggested he had not been totally honest in one of his responses, and that under its rules the company could not continue to employ him. However, the company claimed that because the issue was a minor one, it was prepared to make an exception and allow him to work on a contract basis, meaning he would lose his rights as an employee, including bonuses, paid holidays, seniority pay, social security and the right to severance. When he refused he was fired”.
The ITGLWF has urged the company to meet with the workplace union and the national textile workers Federation FNTTP to find urgent solutions to the problems faced by workers and has warned that unless a rapid solution is found, approaches will be made to the multinationals sourcing from the company, including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, Gap Inc, BCBG, North Face and Hollister.
