Primark and child labour -- what do you think?

Anonymous User 17 June 2008 03:21pm

I try to avoid Primark as I can?t understand how any t-shirt can cost £2 unless someone has lost out, either on the environmental or fair labour side. I feel that Primark are also contributing to the huge amount (2 million tonnes) of textile waste, as the vast majority of their customers are conceding to throwaway fashion, rather than looking after their garments properly.

Primark has a responsibility to ensure proper thorough audits of their factories and maintain good, consistent dialogue with the factory managers to challenge this belief that it?s acceptable for children to work, however nimble their fingers are.

Although it?s clear that Primark are making a very important statement on their company values, I think you have to help make real, effective change from within. Their recently-sacked suppliers are only going to find more business through another brand ? or put the workers who depend on this revenue (however low) in a hugely detrimental situation. Exactly the same thing happened a few years ago when Disney retracted their contracts when they found kids making their clothing, only causing further heartache to the people who need income to eat and live. One fail swoop of a public ?clean up? action just won?t do the trick.

Jen Marsden

Anonymous User 17 June 2008 03:45pm

Regardless of whether it's ethical or not, I wouldn't shop at Primark simply because the clothes fall apart ridiculously fast. My wife buys stuff from there and it lasts 6 months at best

Anonymous User 17 June 2008 04:45pm

Our experience of labour standards in factories shows that child labour is increasing in parts of SE Asia. Surely the question should be what steps can companies take to respond to child labour; rather than pulling out, how can they support children to return to education? impacttlimited.com/blog

pulsimonium 20 June 2008 08:12pm

I was horrified the other day to see the Sainsbury's advert, selling fair trade cotton t-shirts for £3! I mean - the cotton may be fair trade, but what about the production? Nobody can produce a t-shirt for £3 whithout suing child labour or have sweatshop conditions along the line. The argument that the children's family needs the money from their work is utter nonsense: children should go to school and have a proper education, not slave away under appalling conditions in a factory! You wouldn't want your own children to wrok in a factory for £0.50 per day - aged 7 or 8, would you?

Anonymous User 23 June 2008 09:39pm

I am watching Panorama now and I think it is an absolute disgrace. Anyone out there who is buying anything from that store should stop as of this moment, what they are advocating in buying anything from there is child cruelty and expolatation. Its disgusting!!!!!!!

Anonymous User 24 June 2008 01:05am

Seeing the programme tonight has me 100% decided to avoid Primark. Those children should be having fun not sitting for hours sewing.

Adam Vaughan 24 June 2008 04:41pm

Hands-up: I missed the show last night because I'm moving from Sky to Virgin. What did other people think of it?

Anonymous User 24 June 2008 08:37pm

I think it's ridiculous that the Panaroma programme did not air in Scotland or Northern Ireland, when this is clearly an important issue, delving into the way we view our own lives in relations to others.
Holby City was the only option! We need to sort out regional BBC programming.

Anonymous User 24 June 2008 09:19pm

What hypocrites we are? This assumption that we should force our values on people living in a completely different country should do well not approaching this matter in such an ethnocentric way. When we go to India or Turkey or any other country why do we 'not' insist on paying in pounds rather than lire which is twice the value of the pound? Why no guilt? Because it is comparative! £1.00 per garment in India is the equivalent of appx £7.00 here. If each child/Adult is making 30 of these products in 3 hours that would be £10.00 per hour.

MacDonald?s and Tescos can employ 14 year olds legally. In addition 16 to 17 year olds get paid just over £3 per hour which is almost half that of adult wages.

Comparatively it has only been recently child labour was outlawed in the WEST

Yet we patronise countries where children up their value (especially girls) by contributing to the family purse. As an Indian I suspect what we are actually annoyed about is that we don't see starving children from India on our TV's again. That is the image we are comfortable with. If Primark clothes had *not* been outsourced and then subcontracted in India it is obvious that these children would be going to school, watching Disney channel and playing video games (or setting cars on fire and upsetting old ladies in the street). We would know this because we would ensure this is happening by going there and setting these things up!!!!!! REALLY!

The fact is these children would have been in a worse condition but would we have given two hoots I don't think so.

The fact that one of the girls from Sri Lanka was sent to India in such a poor location to prevent her from being kidnapped or killed should reflect on the Indian families? more pressing priorities. Let?s not even pretend we empathise how can we? We cannot imagine a day in such people lives we can just sit pack and tut.

The reporters may pat themselves on the back whilst living in their five star hotels. I can only worry about the factory that was closed down and the workers that were fired.

Would such wholesale firing happen in England (for those who can only see this from such a perspective) without due lengthy procedures to help safe guard workers rights. There would be an outcry even though here we would have the benefit of the welfare state to pick up the pieces.

Anonymous User 26 June 2008 11:41pm

I will continue buying from Primark. I think they are good value for money and they have done their best by sacking the suppliers. Why people has to find the fault if Primark is doing well. Talking about Indian child labour, I think all the high street retailers are guilty, why not try to check out M&S, ASDA, etc and see how ethical they are? Are people just jeoulous of Primark because they are doing so well? Are the so called ethical consumer make themselves feel better and above the rest of us because they don't shop at Primark but shop at Gap (who has been accused in using child labour too) & M&S, does money and where you shop determined what a person you are?! I don't think so!!!!

Anonymous User 01 July 2008 01:22pm

yes i will keep buying primark clothes because i like them.