This is the first public synthesis report produced by Better Work Nicaragua. It represents the findings from assessments carried out from February 2012 to March 2013 in the first 20 factories, including information from pilot assessments conducted in October 2011.
The initial assessment results reveal the following:
♦ No evidence of child labour and forced labour was found in the factories covered in this report.
♦ The most common areas of non-compliance in the areas of national labour law are in the categories of Occupational Safety and Health, and Contracts and Human Resources.
♦ Regarding Freedom of Association, the implementation of clauses in collective bargaining agreements was the area in which there were the highest levels of non-compliance.
The programme works with the factories to address these findings through advisory services, including the development of Improvement Plans and the formation of a bipartite Performance Improvement Consultative Committee (PICC), and training.
Compliance synthesis reports for each of its country programmes, presenting analysis of non-compliance at the aggregate level. The goal of these reports is to provide transparent information for all programme stakeholders regarding working conditions in the factories participating in the programme.