Imagine beingsuspended for five days because you are too ill to get to work. Or having 30 per cent of your day's pay deducted for arriving 32 minutes late. Or being persistently insulted and humiliated by your supervisor.

These were three of a string of labour, health and safety violations uncovered at a factory in the Philippines making clothes for Levi Strauss. The abuses make shocking reading. But what is remarkable is that they have been documented and made public on the internet with the active co-operation of the US jeans manufacturer.