The National Labor Committee recently released a report alleging a New Balance Factory in Hongyuan violated several labor codes, including mandatory 14 to 15.8-hour shifts, No regularly scheduled weekly day off; and 96 hour work weeks. However, according to New Balance, the company does not contract, nor has ever contracted product at the Hongyuan factory identified in the NLC/CLW press release.
The factory that does produce New Balance product is located in Houjie, Dongguan City. This factory is closely monitored by a New Balance Compliance Team including a Compliance Manager for China and a Compliance Specialist. The Compliance Specialist is based in the factory and is there every day.
Workers at factories in China producing New Balance footwear are limited to a maximum of 54 hours a week. That includes 40 regular working hours with a maximum of 14 additional overtime hours. All overtime is voluntary.
New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. operates with the highest ethics and stands for integrity of people and product. We have a strong compliance program and aggressively promote our standards and monitor supplier factories continuously with a full compliance team in China. Our standards are rigorously applied through a process which includes training, establishing standards of performance, sharing of ideas and methods for compliance, monitoring by New Balance, and monitoring by an independent third party.
