Primark is a fashion retail company owned by Associated British Foods and they are 50% of ABF sales.In
terms of the ethical concerns to do with Primark such as unauthorized subcontracting, living wage, safety in
factories, mistreatment of women and exhausting working hours ; Primark has sacked their three suppliers in
southern India due to finding out they were involved in child labour.The three suppliers were hiring children
and sub-contracting work to people who work from home, even though Primark may have not directly hired
the children, their suppliers did and Primark cancelled work with the factories and suppliers due to this and
removed their products from them. Primark is against child labour which is why they have banned it and is
stated in the code of conduct for suppliers and they do not allow their suppliers to sub contract without
Primark knowing. Due to Primark being found out in a documentary there is child labour is the factories
owned by their suppliers, Primark had a meeting with their suppliers to highlight the bank on sub-
contracting(Hall,2008).
In the Rana Plaza factory in India there was a fire ; this factory was hired by Primark however it was not
owned by Primark, 1,129 workers in the factory was killed and 2,500 were injured. Due to being in unsafe
conditions and fire exists not being checked often this could be the reason these people could not escape. In
2006 the BBC had a secret camera into a factory used by Primark in the south of India and young children
were seen by the camera in the factory working, however Primark denied acknowledgement that there were
children working there(Classnotes,2016).The building collapsed, however workers have been complaing than
the buliduing was cracking open many times however they were ignored and the building ended up
collapsing and many lives were lost(Elgot,2013).
Slavery like practices in the factories used by Primark; however Primark cover it by selling their clothes at
prices which people will not turn down. Workers are forced into work for long hours and very small amount
of pay, to work in terrible conditions in sweatshops, which is seen as modern day slavery. Primark paid out
$12m compensation after 1,129 workers died in the factory building where many brands use this factory for
their clothing, however Primark use this building too(Hartley-Brewer,2015).
A primark shopper found a label sewn into the dress she purchased from primark stating”forced to work
exhausting hours”.After this label was noticed many more have been found with similar messages.Many of
these messages have been sewn into primark clothing by helpless women in Bangladesh who have been
forced to work in terrible conditions and extremely long hours.The National Garment Workers Federation are
campaigning to stop long hours and overtime in the factories as the label stated that workers in the factories
in Bangladesh work very long hours and these factories are used by Primark.Even though there is a limit of
how much the workers should work which is eight hours and two hours overtime , workers are forced to
work 14 hours a day.There are also many issues in these factories such as bad working conditions , no
maternity leave,no child care centres, no living wage and adeqauete housing and there are campaigns
fighting for this.In the Bangladesh factories women are intimidated by factory managers and they are
sexually harassed, there is violence and many of them get sacked.The label sewn into the clothing shows
women in the factories are helpless and they receive poor pay and working in bad conditions(Hoskins,2014).
Workers in the factories which Primark use are in very poor conditions which workers are forced to work in
and it is also subcontracted work, women are poorly paid and they are doing the work in their home and
children working are also paid low and they are not meant to be working as it is child labour.A factory also
used by Primark women were working 66 hours a week which they forced to do in order to finish the work
due to tight dealines.Due to flim realsed by panorama where the poor conditions were reavled primark has
since stopped working with the three suppliers who were carrying out unauthorized subcontracting,poor
condtions and child labour.Due to the pressure on suppliers to meet tight dealines due to an high amount
clothing which needs to be made this leads to subcontracting where women are paid low and child labour is
involved (Nesta,2008).
1
terms of the ethical concerns to do with Primark such as unauthorized subcontracting, living wage, safety in
factories, mistreatment of women and exhausting working hours ; Primark has sacked their three suppliers in
southern India due to finding out they were involved in child labour.The three suppliers were hiring children
and sub-contracting work to people who work from home, even though Primark may have not directly hired
the children, their suppliers did and Primark cancelled work with the factories and suppliers due to this and
removed their products from them. Primark is against child labour which is why they have banned it and is
stated in the code of conduct for suppliers and they do not allow their suppliers to sub contract without
Primark knowing. Due to Primark being found out in a documentary there is child labour is the factories
owned by their suppliers, Primark had a meeting with their suppliers to highlight the bank on sub-
contracting(Hall,2008).
In the Rana Plaza factory in India there was a fire ; this factory was hired by Primark however it was not
owned by Primark, 1,129 workers in the factory was killed and 2,500 were injured. Due to being in unsafe
conditions and fire exists not being checked often this could be the reason these people could not escape. In
2006 the BBC had a secret camera into a factory used by Primark in the south of India and young children
were seen by the camera in the factory working, however Primark denied acknowledgement that there were
children working there(Classnotes,2016).The building collapsed, however workers have been complaing than
the buliduing was cracking open many times however they were ignored and the building ended up
collapsing and many lives were lost(Elgot,2013).
Slavery like practices in the factories used by Primark; however Primark cover it by selling their clothes at
prices which people will not turn down. Workers are forced into work for long hours and very small amount
of pay, to work in terrible conditions in sweatshops, which is seen as modern day slavery. Primark paid out
$12m compensation after 1,129 workers died in the factory building where many brands use this factory for
their clothing, however Primark use this building too(Hartley-Brewer,2015).
A primark shopper found a label sewn into the dress she purchased from primark stating”forced to work
exhausting hours”.After this label was noticed many more have been found with similar messages.Many of
these messages have been sewn into primark clothing by helpless women in Bangladesh who have been
forced to work in terrible conditions and extremely long hours.The National Garment Workers Federation are
campaigning to stop long hours and overtime in the factories as the label stated that workers in the factories
in Bangladesh work very long hours and these factories are used by Primark.Even though there is a limit of
how much the workers should work which is eight hours and two hours overtime , workers are forced to
work 14 hours a day.There are also many issues in these factories such as bad working conditions , no
maternity leave,no child care centres, no living wage and adeqauete housing and there are campaigns
fighting for this.In the Bangladesh factories women are intimidated by factory managers and they are
sexually harassed, there is violence and many of them get sacked.The label sewn into the clothing shows
women in the factories are helpless and they receive poor pay and working in bad conditions(Hoskins,2014).
Workers in the factories which Primark use are in very poor conditions which workers are forced to work in
and it is also subcontracted work, women are poorly paid and they are doing the work in their home and
children working are also paid low and they are not meant to be working as it is child labour.A factory also
used by Primark women were working 66 hours a week which they forced to do in order to finish the work
due to tight dealines.Due to flim realsed by panorama where the poor conditions were reavled primark has
since stopped working with the three suppliers who were carrying out unauthorized subcontracting,poor
condtions and child labour.Due to the pressure on suppliers to meet tight dealines due to an high amount
clothing which needs to be made this leads to subcontracting where women are paid low and child labour is
involved (Nesta,2008).
1
