Tesco 'sweatshop shame' fury
26 June 2008
Clothes workers paid 16p an hour
Workers making clothes at a factory in India for the top British retailer Tesco are toiling long hours for as little as 16p an hour - only half a living wage.This warning is signalled today by the charity War on Want and the campaign group Labour Behind the Label, which will bring the Indian researcher who uncovered the scandal to protest at Tesco's annual meeting tomorrow (Friday 27 June 2008).
It follows BBC TV's Panorama on Monday (23 June) which showed some of India's poorest people, including children, working long, gruelling hours for poverty pay on Primark clothes in slum workshops and refugee camps.
According to the research, employees at a large Tesco supplier factory in Bangalore are struggling to survive on less than £1.50 a day for a 60-hour week, with a 20 per cent hike in rice prices making life even harder.
Employees in the factory earn on average £38 a month, and the lowest paid receive just £30, while the Bangalore Garment and Textile Workers' Union last year calculated a living wage as at least £52 a month. Employees complained that bosses forced them to work overtime or face the sack and they receive only half the extra hours recorded.
Workers say the high pressure to produce orders means they risk dismissal for failing to meet double their normal targets, requesting sick leave or arriving late on two consecutive days. Some employees, fearing the loss of their jobs if they miss targets, skip lunch and do not drink water in order to reduce the number of times they go to the toilet.
Haneefa, who lives with her parents and is also their carer, earns just £38 a month. She admits: "I don't buy anything for myself. I can't save anything from what I earn. It is difficult to survive on this money."
The factory does not recognise a trade union. And some workers fear managers are targeting them for potential firing for their individual union membership, which would flout Tesco's ethical code of conduct. One employee told colleagues about a forthcoming union meeting on a Sunday, the workers' only day off. Bosses then imposed compulsory overtime and threatened staff with severe punishment if they failed to work on that day.
At last year's Tesco AGM, War on Want submitted a shareholder resolution demanding Tesco guarantee the fair treatment for workers as promised under its ethical code of practice. Tesco opposed the resolution that sought to ensure decent pay and conditions for overseas workers. But an unprecedented one in five Tesco shareholders refused to support the retailer's opposition to the resolution.
The new research follows War on Want's earlier report Fashion Victims that revealed workers in Bangladesh paid as little as 5p an hour to produce clothes for Tesco.
Simon McRae, senior campaigns officer at War on Want, said: "Our new evidence again reveals how Tesco's cheap clothing comes at the shameful price of workers' poverty. Again and again, scandals exposing UK retailers exploiting garment workers underline that the public cannot trust stores to police themselves. It is high time the British government legislate to stop this abuse."
Martin Hearson, campaigns coordinator at Labour Behind the Label, said: "How many times do we need to hear stories like these before Tesco gets its act together and pays workers a living wage? Every little really does help garment workers living below the breadline, especially as food and rent costs shoot up."
NOTES TO EDITORS
- The research, Tesco and Indian garment workers - lessons forgotten, can be downloaded below.
- The researcher, Suhasini Singh, who works for the Indian labour rights organisation Cividep, is available for interview.
- Tesco's annual meeting will take place at 11am tomorrow (Friday 27 June) at the National Motorcycle Museum, Coventry Road, Solihull B92 0EJ
CONTACTS Paul Collins, media officer, War on Want (+44) (0)20 7549 0584 or (+44) (0)7983 550728 Martin Hearson, campaigns coordinator, Labour Behind the Label (+44) (0)7727 235391
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