Labour Behind The Label

Ongoing talks between Viva Global management and the GAWU union have broken down after five union members employed at the factory were dismissed and then beaten by a security guard employed by the company.

The battle to obtain wages high enough to ensure a dignified and decent life is being fought by hundreds of thousands of mainly women garment workers in some of the poorest countries in the world.

Below is the statement given by Anwar Ansari to police following is release by kidnappers. He describes how he was taken and claims that he was taken by PND labour contracts and that phonecalls between PND and Viva Global staff took place during his detention.This is a signed, legal affidavit given to police and translated by the union.

In the evening of August 25th, over 12 hours since he was snatched from outside the Viva Global factory in India, Anwar Ansari was dropped by his kidnappers on a street near his home. Badly beaten and warned to immediatly leave the state, Anwar has now returned to join his fellow workers at an ongoing demonstration outside the Viva Global factory.

Take action now to condemn the kidnapping of a trade union leader at a M&S supplier factory in India and to call for his attackers to be brought to justice. The kidnapping is part of a brutal attack against 60 workers, which took place as they arrived for work at the Viva Global factory in Gurgaon, India on August 25th 2010.

Marks and Spencer, one of the UK companies most often lauded for its ethical commitments, has become embroiled in a new "sweatshop" scandal following an expose by the Observer yesterday. The investigation also found a supplier for NEXT and GAP employing workers under conditions that fail to match either Indian law or the ethical standards of the brands themselves.

Report into conditions of football stitches in China, India, Pakistan and Thailand. Released in June 2010, this report, produced by US labour rights group ILRF, shows that little has improved for workers in this notoriously exploitative indistry. Covering 7 factories producing for some of the biggest sportswear brands including Nike, Umbro and adidas the research showed that child labour is stil being used, that most of the workers are on temprary contracts and over half were not earning the living wage.