New sweatshop row hits Primark
03 December 2009
NEWS PEG: Friday, 4 December 2009 London Primark hails sales growth at its annual meeting
EMBARGO: 00.01 hrs GMT, Friday, 4 December 2009
£19 a month workers demo targets AGM
Primark's ethical claims face a pounding today (Friday, 4 December) as new research exposes another sweatshop where garment workers producing its clothes toil up to 84 hours a week and can earn as little as £19 a month - less than half a living wage.
Anti-poverty campaigners will demonstrate outside Primark's flagship London store only hours before the cheap fashion retailer celebrates huge sales expansion at its parent company's annual meeting.
Activists from the charity War on Want will protest at Primark exploiting workers making T-shirts, skirts, trousers and babywear in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
And the campaigners will then go into the meeting with Stacey Dooley from the television series Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts.
The charity's research (briefing below) found employees at the factory earn as little as £19.42 a month (2200 taka) before overtime - less than half the living wage of at least £39.74 a month (4500 taka). They are compelled to toil up to 84 hours a week, but ordered to tell buyers they earn a proper wage and face no excessive working hours. The factory also produces clothes for New Look and Zara.
One garment worker, Madhovi, aged 21, said: "My mother is losing her sight in our family's village. The pay is so little that I cannot afford to send money for her treatment. Happy days will never dawn. All our dreams will remain unfulfilled."
Another worker, Ratna, also 21, said: "My husband has a terminal illness. I have paid for his treatment, but can only to afford to see our small daughter once in two years."
Simon McRae, senior campaigns officer at War on Want, said: "Our research underlines the abuse which faces overseas garment workers producing high street clothes. Shoppers cannot rely on retailers to police themselves. Now Gordon Brown must act."
Primark says the retailer has doubled audits and inspections of its factories, appointed an ethical trade director and more ethical trade managers, trained buyers, senior personnel and suppliers in ethical trading, and implemented a new online audit management system.
Khorshed Alam, the Dhaka-based researcher behind the latest study and Fashion Victims II, said: "None of Primark's claims - so-called ethical staff, training and audits - have made any difference to the workers' poverty."
Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers' Federation, said: "This new research and the study last year show typically bad factories which abuse workers' rights."
Thousands of people have supported War on Want's Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops campaign, the biggest-ever call for British government action to stop fashion retailers exploiting overseas workers.
NOTE TO EDITORS
War on Want will protest from 9.00-10.00 am GMT on Friday, 4 December 2009 outside Primark's flagship store at 499 Oxford Street, London W1C 2QQ
The annual meeting of Primark's parent company, Associated British Foods, takes place at 11.00 am on Friday (4 December) at the TUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS.
Last month Primark announced a massive 20 per cent jump in sales to £2.3 billion for the year to 12 September and profits up 8 per cent to £252 million.
The War on Want report which showed Primark workers exploited at three other factories can be found here
CONTACT: Paul Collins, War on Want media office (+44) (0)20 7549 0584 or (+44) (0)7983 550728
Comparison between Primark's ethical claims and reality
INTRODUCTION
War on Want's research has exposed how sweatshop conditions abroad are a direct consequence of the business practices of high street shops here in Britain. These companies squeeze suppliers to obtain cheap garments in bulk that can be sold to UK consumers at bargain prices. The conditions in factories supplying British shops are scandalous. In garment sweatshops across Bangladesh, workers earn poverty wages, work long hours, face abuse and are denied trade union representation. War on Want's groundbreaking Fashion Victims reports published in 2006 and 2008 uncovered shocking treatment in factories supplying Tesco, Asda and Primark.
Primark has responded to criticism by making a number of ethical promises about improving standards in its supply chain, including increased audits and inspections of factories, the appointment of an ethical trade director and more ethical trade managers and the training of buyers, senior personnel and suppliers in ethical trade, and implemented a new online audit management system. As a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative, Primark has committed to ensuring workers receive a living wage. The ETI's code of conduct also calls for decent working conditions, a 48-hour working week and the right to join a trade union.
However, trusting companies to clean up their act simply does not work. The latest War on Want research exposes Primark's continuing failure to comply with the ETI standards to which the company has signed up. War on Want has interviewed workers making Primark clothes at a sweatshop factory in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Workers in the factory earn as little as half a living wage, work up to 84 hours a week, face harassment and are not allowed to join a union.
Workers in the factory and War on Want's partner in Bangladesh the National Garment Workers' Federation, say that the factory is typical. The factory also supplies New Look and Zara.
War on Want has launched Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops, a campaign to end sweatshop exploitation once and for all. War on Want is calling on the government to regulate the fashion industry, with firm provisions to guarantee basic rights for workers, including a living wage and the right to join a union.
PRIMARK CODE OF CONDUCT TESTED
Primark's code of conduct lists "the standards we require from our suppliers". War on Want's research contrasts these standards with the findings of our latest research.
- PRIMARK CODE: EMPLOYMENT IS FREELY CHOSEN
There is no forced, bonded or involuntary prison labour.
WAR ON WANT RESEARCH:
Overtime is mandatory. It is not considered optional. Workers at the factory toil on average 70 hours a week, including 20 hours of compulsory overtime. The workers say that if they refuse overtime their bosses deduct from their pay the wage for their overtime the previous day. - PRIMARK CODE: FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND THE RIGHT TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ARE RESPECTED
Workers, without distinction, have the right to join or form trade unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively. The employer adopts an open attitude towards the activities of trade unions and their organisational activities. Workers' representatives are not discriminated against and have access to carry out their representative functions in the workplace. Such representative functions should include a workers' committee, with elected members where workers can confidentially raise concerns they may have with regard to these guidelines. Where the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is restricted under law, the employer facilitates, and does not hinder, the development of parallel means for independent and free association and bargaining.
WAR ON WANT RESEARCH:
According to the workers in the factory, trade unions have been banned. - PRIMARK CODE: WORKING CONDITIONS ARE SAFE AND HYGIENIC
A safe and hygienic working environment shall be provided, bearing in mind the prevailing knowledge of the industry and of any specific hazards. Access to clean toilet facilities and to potable water, and, if appropriate, sanitary facilities for food storage shall be provided.WAR ON WANT RESEARCH:
The factory lacks any safe drinking water. Workers must risk their health by using tap water. The supplier employs 1000 workers, with 350 making Primark clothes. They share small, unhygienic toilets. The toilets and wash rooms do not even provide tap water. -
PRIMARK CODE: LIVING WAGES ARE PAID
Wages and benefits paid for a standard working week meet, at a minimum, national legal standards or industry benchmark standards, whichever is higher. In any event wages should always be enough to meet basic needs and to provide some discretionary income. All workers shall be provided with written and understandable information about their employment conditions in respect to wages before they enter employment and about the particulars of their wages for the pay period concerned each time that they are paid. Deductions from wages as a disciplinary measure shall not be permitted nor shall any deductions from wages not provided for by national law be permitted without the express permission of the worker concerned. All disciplinary measures should be recorded.WAR ON WANT RESEARCH:
Workers earn as little as £19.42 a month (2200 taka) before overtime - less than half the living wage of at least £39.74 a month (4500 taka). Employees on average receive £20.31 a month (2300 taka), with the highest on £26.50 a month (3000 taka). None of these workers can afford nutritious food, decent housing and adequate healthcare. The vast majority of the employees live in slum homes - one room, often shared with up to three family members - without access to clean water or hygienic toilets. They share kitchens, toilets and bathrooms with other families. Workers interviewed are exhausted and malnourished. Employees who work standing up suffer from swollen legs. Most of the employees reported that in recent months one or two family members had suffered health problems such as stomach pain, dysentery, jaundice, diarrhoea or heart disease.The supplier fails to give workers any written employment information, such as their appointment letter or any other document which complies with national labour laws or decent conditions in line with the standards of the United Nations agency the International Labour Organisation. Wages are paid as late as 10 days into the next month, with up to 15 days' wait for overtime pay. The workers said they received no wage slips. Employees cannot plan their childcare as they only learn of any need to undertake compulsory overtime on arrival at the factory. Anyone who fails to return after a lunch break forfeits a full day's pay. Workers also lose pay for lateness or absence without prior consent.
-
PRIMARK CODE: WORKING HOURS ARE NOT EXCESSIVE
Working hours comply with national laws and benchmark industry standards, whichever affords greater protection. Workers shall not be required to work in excess of 48 hours per week and shall be provided with at least one day off for every 7 day period on average. Overtime must be on a voluntary basis, shall not exceed 12 hours a week, shall not be demanded on a regular basis and shall always be compensated at a premium rate.WAR ON WANT RESEARCH:
Workers interviewed toil six days a week and between 9 to 14 hours a day, including one hour for lunch. Overtime is mandatory. Depending on the workload, employees can be made to work seven days a week and can finish as late as 10pm. An average working week is 70 hours long . However, workers can be made to work for up to 84 hours a week. Employees say they receive just 60 per cent extra pay for overtime which should be paid at the full rate earned in normal hours. -
PRIMARK CODE: NO DISCRIMINATION IS PRACTISED
There is no discrimination in hiring, compensation, access to training, promotion, termination or retirement based on race, caste, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, union membership or political affiliation.WAR ON WANT RESEARCH:
According to workers, men obtain better paid jobs than women. The supplier's recruitment favours single women rather than mothers with childcare responsibilities. The factory shows buyers its daycare centre for children, but no child is allowed there, according to War on Want's researcher. -
PRIMARK CODE: NO HARSH OR INHUMANE TREATMENT IS ALLOWED
Physical abuse or discipline, the threat of physical abuse, sexual or other harassment and verbal abuse or other forms of intimidation shall be prohibited.WAR ON WANT RESEARCH:
Women workers say they suffer physical and verbal abuse from supervisors for reasons such as enquiries about pay and overtime or requests for leave.
PRIMARK ETHICAL MOVES TESTED
PRIMARK ACTION
Primark says the retailer has doubled audits and inspections of its factories this year, appointed an ethical trade director and more ethical trade managers, trained buyers, senior personnel and suppliers in ethical trading, and implemented a new online audit management system.
WAR ON WANT RESEARCH
Interviewees said the factory's owners ensure the workplace and toilets are clean for buyers' visits. Employees are instructed to tell buyers they have a comfortable work environment, receive a proper wage and face no excessive hours or forced overtime.
Methodology
The above information is based on interviews conducted with 18 workers at one factory in Bangladesh during October 2009.
- The ages of workers ranged from 19 to 28 years, with 22 years the average.
- Sixteen women and two men were interviewed, reflecting the gender demographic of the factory.
- Of these workers, ten were married and eight had children.
- The factory, typical of Dhaka suppliers, makes clothes for Primark and other retailers including two other British chains, New Look and Zara.
- Employees' names have been changed and the factory's identity withheld to protect workers from reprisals.
- The exchange rate from taka to sterling has been calculated at £1 = 113 taka , the average rate for October 2009.
CASE STUDIES
Madhovi
Madhovi, aged 21, comes from Bogra in northern Bangladesh and moved to the capital Dhaka for work in a garment factory. She lost her farmer father four years ago. Her mother works as a maid and lives with Madhovi's sister and brother in their rural village.
Madhovi, who earns £21.57 (2500 taka) a month - barely half a living wage - says: "Somehow, I survive on this money, but feel miserable. Simple food and rent gobbles up the money. Happy days will never dawn. All our dreams will remain unfulfilled.
"Both my mother and I wear wornout dresses from other women. She is so poor that the family cannot always eat. I can only go to see her once a year.
"My mother is losing her sight. The pay is so little that I cannot afford to send money for her treatment.
"When I was ill, I could not pay for a doctor. I don't tell my family about my misery. I always say, I am fine. My pay has not increased for two years.
"I manage to send some money home so that my sister and brother can go to school. My mother senses my hardship and wants to take them out of school.
"But I want to see them educated. I don't want them to work in the garment industry. I will eat little and try to send money for them."
Ratna
Ratna is also 21 and from Kamarpara in northern Bangladesh. Her parents died when she was small.
Ratna had to give up school due to poverty.
Later she married a man and both came to Dhaka for work in garment factories.
Ratna, who also earns £21.57 (2500 taka) a month, says: "My husband has a terminal illness. I have paid for his treatment, but can only afford to see our small daughter once in two years.
"How can I afford the travel costs after meeting all our expenses? Prices have soared sky high. Everything is costly."
Ratna had to borrow £43.14 (5000 taka) in order to be reunited with her three-year-old daughter during the recent Muslim festival Eid.
Ratna said: "She wants to see us. I must pay this money back in instalments. I will have to eat just plain rice and lentils.
"Because her father is sick, I want to see my daughter become a doctor to treat the poor."
PICTURE OPPORTUNITY
WHEN? 9.00-10,00 am GMT, Friday, 4 December 2009
WHERE? Primark's flagship store, 499 Oxford Street, London W1C 2QQ
WHAT? Anti-poverty campaigners - including Stacey Dooley from TV series Blood, Sweat and T-shirts - protest first outside the store and then go into the annual meeting of the retailer's parent company
Comment:
