Primark Fires Indian Child Labour Firms
18th June 2008
The UK-based discount clothing store Primark has sacked three of its Indian suppliers after discovering that they used child labour to finish their goods. Primark has proven to be a big hit on the high street thanks to its mixture of low prices and cutting-edge fashion. It has over 170 stores and made a massive £200m profit last year.
Primark discovered that their chosen Indian suppliers has sub-contracted embroidery and sequin work to smaller firms that relied on child labour. The BBC, whose Panorama programme carried out a six-month investigation into Primark’s working practices, alerted the company to this problem.
A Primark spokesperson explained that the lapse of standards was due to “illegal sub-contracting”, they said: “The information provided by the BBC enabled us to identify that illegal sub-contracting had been taking place and to take action accordingly. The sub-contracting involved home working and in some instances children were also found to be working at home. We take this lapse in standards very seriously indeed.” The spokesperson then added, “Under no circumstances would Primark ever knowingly permit such activities, whether directly through its suppliers or through third party sub-contractors.”
According to Primark, the garments affected by this crisis accounted for just 0.04% of their sales. However, the store still says that it will stop working with the suppliers that were guilty of sub-contracting this work, as well as those who were unwilling to make changes to their employment practices.
Primark does not allow the use of child labour in its manufacturing chain under the terms and conditions of its code of practice for suppliers. Many European retailers have decided to begin including this clause after coming under increasing pressure to ensure that their supply chain workers, particularly those in India and China, are not exploited.
Source:
BBC