Would you buy cheap child-sweatshop made clothes? Poll results/discussion

Sarahsaver

Exploitation happens close to home too. Some major retailers do not 'allow' their staff to be ill and their contracts are worded as such that illness can be a sackable offence.
A 'sweatshop' was outed on watchdog a few years back, only down the road from me, where mainly women, many illegals, were employed at £1 per hour.
Wherever money can be made exploitation will happen. Not that I am excusing it of course.

leonie08

mshappy wrote: »

I think people are forgetting that the factorys where the children were working were subcontracted.

Most ethical companies don't allow work to be contracted to other factories

example : http://www.gossypium.co.uk/catalog/ethicalandeco.php

Brandon_2-2

You can't impose UK situations on other countries. India has a totally different lifestyle than here and people start work much earlier and help to support their families. The wages paid there have to be viewed in line with local earnings and not with UK earnings. All input to the local economy is of value and viewed against local India / China / far east economic status rather than the UK status throws a different light on the issue than that sensationalised by UK television.

Cloudane

Sarahsaver wrote: »

Exploitation happens close to home too. Some major retailers do not 'allow' their staff to be ill and their contracts are worded as such that illness can be a sackable offence.

My employer tried that for a little while too. Their reasoning was that too many people were taking the !!!! out of sick leave - taking it in turns to have a "sick day", phoning in after a binge the night before etc. (Fair point, too many people abuse the system... but they should discipline those who do abuse it rather than punishing those who don't!)

So they said we would no longer get paid for sick leave - except of course the legal statutory requirement which gives you a pittance to tide you over a couple of weeks of long term sickness and then stops again.

Once about 30% of the workforce had decided this was the final straw and flocked elsewhere, they realised it might be a good idea to reinstate it.

fred_quimby

I worked in Tanzania for a year and I can tell you the best way to help people in countries like that is to buy Fair Trade. So write to your favourite shops and insist that they get more fair trade products in stock. I know it is a pain to write but it does work. The more people that write in the quicker they will change their policy.

Stopping buying things from that shop will not help. All that happens in the end if no body buys things is that the factories close and then these people have no income at all. Support those people working in the area like 'War on Want', 'Save the Children' and 'Oxfam' to name but a few. Things are changing beleive it or not and life is improving slowly for the poor. But it is action being taken by people like you and I that are making the changes happen.

halia

I have to agree with the other posters who point out that even at what we call sweat shop wages those kids are in a job rather than begging on the streets. Sure If I honestly thought that there was a viable alternative I'd think about changing but there isn't. Apart from the odd few 'ethical' clothing lines you cna't guarentee the conditions your clothes are made in no matter who you buy from, likewise even if you boycott primark that doesn't mean that conditions will change in the country of production.

I buy from tesco, la redoute and primark with the odd charity shop or ebay addition. Yes I know that i 'should' buy everything from charity shops to be green but when its £3 for a second hand top from oxfam or £2 for something brand new from primark I'm afraid I prefer brand new. And round here its likely to be tescobrand in the charity shop anyway!

Charity begins at home, I'll make sure my own son has a decent life, I'll make sure we stay out of debt, I'll work towards a Phd in poltiics and economics to contribute to research into ways to balance civil rights with economics, I'll work in the not-for-profit sector and give up evenings to do youth work with my local teenagers and in the long term I might foster or adopt. I prefer to see direct results from any changes or sacrifices I make.

halia

leonie08 wrote: »

We "did" send children down coal mines. We don't anymore.

We wouldn't send our children to mine for us today - just because these children are not in the UK, if we're buying the products we should have the same regard for their safety

How far back do you want to go? we used to chop peoples heads off.. would this be acceptable if it meant producing cheap clothes ?

and because of the industrial period (and so at elast partly because of child labour, cheap labour, sweatshop cinditions etc) we became a rich industrialised country. We chopped down trees, polluted the sky and cleared the highlands (to name but a few), we now decide from our lofty pinnacle of civilised behaviuor and legislation that we won't allow/don't like doing this and that other people shouldn't do this either so denying other countries the chance to follow a simialr development path.

Please note I am NOT saying thats the right or the only way to develop as a country, nor am I saying our standard and way of life is more desirable. I am how ever pointing out that the industrial revolution and the british empire is how we got to where we are now, if we stop other countries from doing similar things we are blocking at least ONE way for them to grow to a similar standard of living etc. I'm not sure we have that right.

softuk

I wonder what all the children who work in India etc will do when there isn't any work coming into the factories they work in?
Starve?
I've been unfortunate enough to have seen the street children in South America, scavenging around rubbish tips to try to find enough food to survice.
I don't see public outrage about that.

leonie08

halia wrote: »

and because of the industrial period (and so at elast partly because of child labour, cheap labour, sweatshop cinditions etc) we became a rich industrialised country. We chopped down trees, polluted the sky and cleared the highlands (to name but a few), we now decide from our lofty pinnacle of civilised behaviuor and legislation that we won't allow/don't like doing this and that other people shouldn't do this either so denying other countries the chance to follow a simialr development path.

Please note I am NOT saying thats the right or the only way to develop as a country, nor am I saying our standard and way of life is more desirable. I am how ever pointing out that the industrial revolution and the british empire is how we got to where we are now, if we stop other countries from doing similar things we are blocking at least ONE way for them to grow to a similar standard of living etc. I'm not sure we have that right.

Oh ok then, let's carry on taking advantage if it means cheap clothes who cares ? :mad:

silvercar

"this dress costs £3" obviously equates to "the workers weren't paid much to make it".

Why all the fuss now?