Don’t mention the Poor

If there is one childhood memory that stands out from all the others, it is this from my teenage years: I had just got a new (very dishy) boyfriend who’s father was Indian, mother Caucasian Brit. I myself was white middle-class, living in a very white middle class UK Home County (just to set the scene, you may have guessed what’s coming..). People who had been friends for years and never expressed an opinion on the subject before, began to call me abusive names and came up with all sorts of opinions about why ‘these people’ were OK but each should stick to his/her ‘own’. That didn’t hurt me per se, but racism is something I have never been able to stomach in any form (to put it extremely mildly), and now I saw a whole new side of people that I had previously been completely oblivious to, which devastated & shocked me to the core.

Why mention this now? Well I feel like I have this week had a very similar experience, but this time the ‘boyfriend’ was my introducing into conversation the idea that one might want to think twice before spending money with a company who were known to support oppressive labour regimes in their supply chains. At first it was laughed off and I was told I was ‘funny’ & ‘unique’, but when, with one eyebrow raised, I questioned why it was funny, those in the group started to shift uncomfortably, I was told I was entitled to my own opinion, and when I offered to show documentation to support what I had suggested, I was told very forthrightly – “No thanks!“

Well! Why do these concepts evoke such a powerful response? I am particularly interested in this group of people because they do not live selfish lives and very often go out of their way to help those around them both financially and with their time. They are intelligent, have religious backgrounds and profess to care about welfare and the poor. They are also not short of money themselves. I still live in a white, middle class UK (albeit different) Home County.

Firstly, there is the “No thanks!”, fingers in ears, ‘la-la-la’, I don’t want to know what is going on, because if I don’t know, I’m not doing anything wrong. There is a fundamental underlying thought pattern that says: ‘What I do doesn’t hurt anybody else. What I do in my own life is my business.‘ This is a concept known as ‘privatisation’, and is utterly flawed. We live in society, and society is more interconnected now than it ever has been. Every action has a consequence. In this instance, the decision to ignore the facts laid down in front of you and continue to do business with companies who deliberately turn a blind eye to

• the Worst Forms of Child Labour,
• to health and safety hazzards which are life threatening and maiming,
• to labour conditions and pay which force whole communities to live in abject squalor, without adequate housing and well, well below the bread line,
• and even to ‘bonded labour’ (in other words slavery),

supports these companies and ensures that these appalling living (and sometimes dying) conditions perpetuate. In our society there is a malaise which is the complete failure to think things through. As a society in general, we must start to recognise the responsibility we have for our actions.

Then there is the complete lack of comprehension of the power of consumption. ‘I am only spending 75p on this Tshirt. What possible difference can that make to anybody?’ That Tshirt would not be up for sale if it did not make a difference. That retailer is making a profit out of it, hard as it may seem to believe. And that profit is at the expense of a good many people involved in the supply chain. You too, are profiting from their labours, and in so doing condeming them to the conditions outlined above, if you think it through. Your consumer power is the most powerful weapon you have to combat these evils, and you can use it on a daily basis. Your money is the loudest voice these retailers hear, and at the moment all they hear is ‘the public want their Tshirts cheap, and lots of them. And they dont care how they get them.’ They are not hearing – we are holding you accountable for what happens in your supply chains. In short – People Matter!

I would also like to see an examination of the view that: ‘I have a right to cheap clothing* {*insert here any other product of dubious origins which is freely available on the market}. Do we? Yes, I have four children to clothe; and yes they trash and grow out of their clothing at a rate of knots; and yes I resent spending my hard-earned cash on these things that don’t last and are not appreciated; and yes, I do not have a lot of disposable income after the mortgage and bills are paid. But I have a mortgage, I have access to all the utilities, I have a disposable income for goodness sake! I’m rich! What right do I have to demand that someone else should lay down their life to supply me with items which, when compared, are luxuries. They are items that will never be afforded in these communities in Bangladesh, or Western Africa, or vast vast swaithes of communities across the globe. Why do I have the right, at the expense of others basic rights, and in some cases Human Rights?

Phew! I am aware that what I have written this evening is very emotive, but I hope it is also provoking. I have heard it said that we are a generation who are very well schooled but completley uneducated. Socrates said: the unexamined life is not worth living. Let us continue to examine, adjust, learn, and avoid at all costs getting our ears full of sand!

Clean Clothes from the Clean Clothes Campaign

Today I have begun to fill the gaps in my knowledge regarding the clothing industry, given my disquiet regarding Tshirts at my son’s nursery yesterday. To this end I have found the Clean Clothes Campaign’s website very useful as a starting point, to bring me up to speed with some of the issues regarding manufacturing in the garments industry, principally in Bangladesh (this is currently where labour is cheapest), but also China, India, Sri Lanka and others. The main issues, as to be expected, are rates of pay, hours worked, working conditions, freedom of association, and the monitoring of conditions by the brands that have commissioned the orders.

Incidentally, a note regarding the Spanish address on all Primark goods. I’ve seen a number of people look at this and assume manufacture occurs within the EU and is therefore OK. A friend who lives at that address assured me today that it is just some offices on the second floor of that building, opposite the American Embassy in Madrid. I do wonder if it is there to be deliberately misleading as you would normally expect to see ‘Made in ..xx..’ in that position on the label. Primark source their manufacturing labour in the same way as the other cheap chic retailers.

Anyway, turning back to CCC: Each of the campaigns seems to have similar circumstances. Retailers have squeezed the factories for lower and lower prices, and shorter and shorter lead times, in some cases it must be said also stipulating at least the minimum wages for workers and maximum overtimes. Monitoring of conditions by the brands is however often unsatisfactory, sometimes with advance notice of a visit give in time for time sheets to be mocked up and workers to be primed in what they should say. Those workers who summon up enough courage to form a union are at best bullied, in some cases shot, imprisoned, or gagged by a court order. Factories with unions are frequently shut down and the work moved elsewhere. In order to meet the short deadlines required by the brands, long overtime hours are inevitable. And the monthly minimum wage in Bangladesh which was set 12 years ago does not now cover basic food requirements for one person, let alone accommodation and clothing costs, or the costs for many with dependants. Not a pretty picture is it?

It does seem though that increasing consumer pressure has been having a positive effect – some of these campaigns are progressing or have had successful solutions. The group has done a lot of donkey work for the consumer, particularly in terms of pinpointing the correct person within each organisation to contact with concerns and petitions, along with their contact details.

They don’t always get it right though, as mentioned in our Not Easy post on ResponsAble last week. I am disappointed to see the Pentland Group mentioned in one of the campaigns, and so I will be following this up specifically with them in the light of their comprehensive policies, and will post any response I get.

Besides the campaigns, there are some useful documents on the site, outlining for example discussions with some of the retailers and multiples and giving a picture of where they currently stand, and assessing some of the new companies who claim to trade ethically and reviewing their practices and policies. After having had a good long read I do feel a lot more informed now as I am walking down my High Street – I will outline some of these findings in the companies section of our blog.

This particular group however only focuses on the manufacturing section of this industry. The production of the fabrics themselves is another story and I would also like to know more in particular about cotton farming.