Managers still sometimes swear and yell, said the workers, most of whom are women in their early 20s. Last year, a Korean manager dragged a worker by her collar after she squeezed him as she rushed out the factory door. In parts of the plants, workers endure excessive heat and noise. Six days a week, for eight or more hours a day, they sit on stools hunched over sewing machines or assembly lines. They rarely lift their heads.
Supervisors stand nearby, sometimes at their shoulders.
In one plant, some managers banned talking until last year. That may take awhile. In Vietnam, shoe workers toil about 20 minutes just to buy an egg, estimates the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. She used to cower around a Korean manager who snapped the bra straps of workers as he addressed them. That doesn't happen anymore.