On May 9 the watchdog Verité published its report on tobacco industry workers in Kazakhstan and the firm Philip Morris reemphasized its commitment to protecting the workers in its supply chain. In 2009 Human Rights Watch criticized the mistreatment of migrant labourers under the Kazakh farmers who cultivate tobacco for the company's Kazakh base; for example the suppliers withheld their workers' passports, used child labour, and refused to pay their wages.
The language of the HRW and Verité reports is surprisingly gentle; apparently Philip Morris approached Verité to examine the problem in the first place and it is probable that the company had not known what suppliers' working conditions were like. From one or two other instances I guess that on the whole multinational corporations are taking more pains not to be flagrantly diabolical; from what I remember of the No Logo era, the attitudes used to be far more unrepentant and belligerent.
Kazakhstan: Philip Morris International Overhauls Labor Protections [Human Rights Watch] (May 9, 2011)
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Postscript: Child labour in carpet factory, Pakistan (UNICEF photo)
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