Primark - BBC1 tonight

[Sherlock]

Anyone else watching this at 9pm. Or on iPlayer later.

About child labour making their clothes.

I try to shop ethically so avoid the stote. Even if it means passing up on cheap bargins.

I shall watch the TV programme with interest.

Wonder if Tesco, Asda and others are watching. And what their practices are

 

[charlie84]

Yep watching it now.
My OH went to school with the blonde girl called Gemma.

Must admit i do shop at primark. I once actually went for a job there and in the group interview we were shown a video with the emphisis on how they dont use cheap labour

 

[1sttimemum]

Im recording it.

 

[Tara & Liam]

Anyone else watching this at 9pm. Or on iPlayer later.

About child labour making their clothes.

I try to shop ethically so avoid the stote. Even if it means passing up on cheap bargins.

I shall watch the TV programme with interest.

Wonder if Tesco, Asda and others are watching. And what their practices are

Gap was in the papers a few months ago about child labour too.

I think that child labour is disgusting and as i said on another post, there is a lot of it here too. i have just read a book called "hidden" which is partially about child labour in East London now.

But what would these children do if they werent doing that. would they be given an education and then a promise of good jobs. thats the sad thing isnt it. We will steam roll in, stop all this child labour, which by the way i think would be a good thing, but then what happens to the children. our government and their government would say we are going to do all this and that, and then two years down the line the same children are either doing the same job or prostitution. It's just awful for these poor children, they are in a no win situation.

 

[zebrastripes]

I'd still rather not buy something made by a 7 year old in Delhi mind you

 

[chickadee1976]

I'd still rather not buy something made by a 7 year old in Delhi mind you

In an ideal world id feel the same but id rather they were sewing for a living and not selling themselves.

I have to wonder what will happen once primark cuts ties with them, how do these children earn a living for there family then.

 

[Tara & Liam]

definitely but i was speaking to some ladies at work, and they sort of agree with me about what would happen to them if they were not allowed to this work. But would it be better for them if they were paid a decent wage and they abolished their cruel way of punishing the children. i mean tying them to trees is absolutley disgusting.

 

[MrsBrightside]

There was another series on BBC3 did anyone watch that?? they were in a sweat shop and they were making shirts for Calvin Klein!! so its not just primark. I dont agree with child labor what so every but like its been said I would rather they did what they did then had to sell their body etc

 

[Tara & Liam]

i didnt watch the primark documentary but apparently a little 7 year old got the pattern wrong or something like that, so his boss tied him to a tree, poured honey over his face so that the mosquitos all bit him. this is what has to stop. plus if they are working an adult job then they should be paid as an adult. thats what would be better for them. Better working conditions.

and i have heard that a lot of the top designers use child labour. the children dont get paid more because they are working for a designer fashion house.

 

[abcd1234]

I watched it and shared a lot of the thoughts that have been expressed already.

I did think it was unfair to single out primark when it's obviously not just them, its lots of companies. And the gap one stated how gap didnt know they were sub-contracting out to people using child labour, the programme seemed to suggest the same was true of pri-mark, the child labour was in the beading etc sub-contracted by the people in india without pri-marks express permission, yet it's never stated.

I've also wondered what going to happen to all those children they take out of work, someone on the programme said they should be out playing, but thats just not how it is over there, they also make comments about the houses being shit, but again thats how they are.

I also found that whatever primark had said or done in response to the programme they'd have someone on there saying they should have done hte opposite.

There's no point not shoping there cos (again as they said on the programme) there's no guarantee in any shop that theres no child labour used

And i agree with Sherlocks comment, Tesco and Asda are similar prices to primark, i was suprised they didnt pick on other cheap shops too.

Something needs to be done about whats going on in india with people being paid so low and children feeling thety have to work to help their parents, its by no means right that i can walk around with my full wardrope and spare cash yet these people struggle and make pannies a day, however i dont think picking on primark is the way to sort it.

 

[poochielove]

This pissed me off. Its not the stores, its the greedy people who hire kiddies to do the work because they are cheap. The only reason this was found is because a tv show went digging. Primark stated they say in the contract that they cannot sub out work so when they investigate they will see the factories they agreed to give the work to, not the kids they actually give half of it to. If they cant finish on the deadline they shouldnt do it! I also noticed how the greedy men who run these factorys all had mobile phones. Cant be that poverty stricken.

 

[SarahH]

I was itown yesterday and nipped into New Look and there was some random questioning the manager if their clothes came from sweat shops too.

 

[MrsBrightside]

The sad thing is that the way things are going with prices at the min that buyers will still shop in primark cause thats all they can afford...

 

[beanie]

This p*ssed me off. Its not the stores, its the greedy people who hire kiddies to do the work because they are cheap. The only reason this was found is because a tv show went digging. Primark stated they say in the contract that they cannot sub out work so when they investigate they will see the factories they agreed to give the work to, not the kids they actually give half of it to. If they cant finish on the deadline they shouldnt do it! I also noticed how the greedy men who run these factorys all had mobile phones. Cant be that poverty stricken.

but surely the stores have an ethical responsibility to make these enquiries, I really don't think any store is that niaive.

 

[Tara & Liam]

I think that what needs to be done is that the children need proper working conditions. in an ideal world they would be outside, playing, having fun and a good education but it just isnt a reality.

what do they consider a good wage in India. i know that you used to be able to buy a decent house there for around ten thousand so what would be a proper wage considering that the average house here for a two bedroom is around £150k and the minimum wage is £5.70 an hour, so what should be the minimum wage there.

 

[zebrastripes]

The reason why Primark was singled out was because they made false claims as to the ethics of their clothing production. if you had watched the documentary you would have seen that Primark actually signed up to the ethical trading standards. Ergo the revelation that they are using child labour was obviously a breach of this

Also, the long and short of it is, if there was no demand for cheap bulk clothing OR if consumers came out in force to say, hang on, we will not accept this, then companies such a Primark,Gap and the rest would be forced to change their policies.

Of course Primark knew child labour was being used. They may not have outwardly sad "hey, hire some 7 year olds" but they are a large TNC not innocents abroad, and I would be extremely suprised if they did not know this was going on, especially as it was in India where this sort of thing is prolific.

If these children are able to stop sewing, they will not be forced to turn to prostitution. Nobody would be suggesting they simply lose their jobs- Perhaps the answer would be that the companies who employ these people pay the older workers more- meaning they do not have to more or less sell their children into sweatshop slavery, but that instead they can afford to keep them at school.There are already movements in india working along these lines

By shrugging our shoulders and saying "rather that than the alternative" no changes will ever be made, and we are, indirectly, condemning these children to a life of endless toil, mistreatment and low pay.

edit just remembered that in Nike's case, when they too were discovered to be using children as young as 3 to make trainers (it was John Pilger who brought this to light I believe) they had a moral obligation to provide an alternative for the children once they stopped them working. What actually happened was that they paid the children to go to school until they were of such an age where they were allowed to work part time. They also compensated them for loss of earnings.