Federation regulatory body levies restrictions on Motsu Fabric
Following the Scope's expose on the working conditions inside a Motsu Fabric factory, the Federation's main trade regulatory body has declared their products violate Federation laws on worker treatment and are thus heavily restricted from being imported into the Federation. Several trade ships belonging to Motsu Fabric were turned away from Federation space by customs officials as they had not passed newly required regulations, while existing stock of Motsu Fabric goods in the Federation were frozen pending further investigation.
Senator Harle Isley, who introduced the proposal to the regulatory body, has stated that the measure is "a temporary hold until further investigation can be completed." She went on to say, "Should it be discovered that the Scope's report was misleading, or if Motsu Fabric changes their practices to comply to federal regulations, we will naturally drop the ban."
Nastur Traschel, CEO of Motsu Fabric, blasted the Federation as "falling for ludicrous, one-sided propaganda." According to him, "The Scope's report used an anonymous worker, whose face was obscured so that viewers don't even know if he was Caldari, to levy false claims against our company. It used undercover cameras in an unnamed factory that may not even belong to Motsu Fabric. It failed to do a thorough investigation of the lives of the workers shown in the factory, only focusing on a few isolated incidents of supposed employee abuse. And instead of bringing proof of these allegations to us, where they would have been properly investigated, they decided to make a sensationalist broadcast in order to slander our good name and reputation."
He vowed to use his company's status as an Amalgamated Textiles subsidiary to pressure the Federation to lift the restrictions. "Comparing our employees to slaves is ludicrous. Our employees have their own private dwellings that they can come and go from as they please. The only parts of their life mandated to them are the parts of their lives they spend at work, which amount to less than half of their days. None are forced to stay or are ever abused by management. They earn wages which they may spend as they please. It's ludicrous. Simply ludicrous."
Prior to the broadcast, Motsu Fabric was responsible for 1.7% of all fabric product sales inside the Federation.