Lets Clean Up Fashion

 

by Deborah Miarkowska

The report, Let’s Clean Up Fashion: the state of pay behind the UK high street, published by sweatshop campaigning group, ‘Labour Behind the Label, criticised UK retailers for having “no coherent strategy” to ensure that hundreds of thousands of workers receive a decent wage.

A “living” wage is the accepted term for pay and conditions above the legal requirement of a basic minimum wage which enable workers to properly feed, clothe, house and educate their families - but anti-poverty groups say garment-exporting countries are setting their minimum wage significantly below a living wage, in order to help attract British retailers’ push for cheap fashion.

The report said: “No brand or retailer is paying its workers a living wage, or has yet put together a systematic programme of work that is likely to raise wages to acceptable levels in the near future. A number of brands have started working on projects that fulfil many, if not all, of our recommendations, while others have done nothing beyond vague paper commitments.

“The scandalous truth is that the majority of workers in the global fashion industry rarely earn more than two dollars a day in an industry worth more than £36bn a year in the UK alone. Many have to work excessive hours just to get this meagre amount and have no possibility to earn wages needed to properly feed, clothe, house and educate their families.”

The report surveyed 25 major high street brands and graded them between zero and five for their commitment to a living wage principle (with zero signifying no principle in place).

Supermarkets offering cheap clothing brands also scored particularly low grades.

Extract taken from the Guardian.co.uk. Written by Rebecca Smithers & Huma Querishi.

Image Courtesy of BiBi.

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