"I have found no issues which give me cause for concern" - Green shrugs off workers' rights abuses
Sunday, 23 April 2006 12:44
Clothing tycoon Philip Green has said that a factory in which union leaders are being persecuted, health and safety conditions are concerning and wages are at poverty level presents "no cause for concern".
Fortune Garments, highlighted in an LBL campaign targetting last year, is the subject of an exposé in The Observer newspaper . An Observer journalist was told by workers at the factory, which supplies Green's Wallis, Topman and Bhs companies, that they are paid as little as $50-60 per month, and work in unpleasant, crowded and dangerous conditions. Meanwhile, the evidence of trade union rights violations continues to mount.
"We are given masks but they are not good enough, and we often suffer the effects of chemical inhalation," said a worker at Fortune Garments. "When the buyers come to inspect the factory the managers bring out the best equipment, like good gloves. They also open the doors and increase the ventilation. But no one is allowed to talk to visitors and after the buyers leave they close the doors and take away the [new] safety equipment."
The Observer investigation found that workers claimed to be paid as low as $50-60 per day, much less than the local average and just below the international poverty indicator of $2 per day.
Meanwhile, workers trying to organise to improve their lot have been persecuted:
"[This is] the worst factory we've come across...The [union] crackdown began in late 2004 and so far 200 people have been dismissed," said Poeun Kao, secretary-general of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers.
The company responses in the article are instructive. Philip Green denies that anything is wrong in the factory, saying instead that:
I have received extensive paperwork from my supplier and other parties, which I have studied to discover if there are any issues of substance and, if there are reasons why BHS and Arcadia should not do business with Fortune. I must tell you that I have found no issues which give me cause for concern.
This is in flat contradiction of Next and Debenhams, both also sourcing from Fortune and members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), who rightly point out that they have previously taken steps to improve conditions in the factory, and take the new allegations seriously:
Debenhams says that for the past year it has been working with other big retailers to improve conditions at the factory. It audited the site in December and thought issues were resolved. It was aware last month of new problems and was now working to resolve them.
In a statement, Next said: 'We started using this factory in June 2003 and were first made aware in June 2005 of ... allegations ... and have actively worked with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and other retailers in investigating these and setting about improving working conditions in the factory. Audits have been carried out by our Code of Practice team in August 2005 and ... recommendations were made and we understand that the majority of those have been implemented.
'We are now in receipt of a letter from Labour Behind the Label with further allegations and in the light of this we are sending our Code of Practice team to Cambodia next week and have instigated further collaboration with the ETI.'
Green's dismissal of the problems and apparent reliance on paperwork and audits demonstrates that his companies are stuck in a 'damage limitation' model designed to safeguard their public image, rather than displaying any commitment to improve working conditions in their supply chains. It further shows that Green's standards for what constitutes "grounds for concern" are much lower than those of his high street rivals.
