This article from the Guardian newspaper describes the latest problems faced by Primark.Primark is an Irish owned fashion store that has been incredibly successful - especially in the UK - by charging very low prices for reasonable quality clothes. It currently has 140 stores and employs 25,000 workers in the UK, and is planning to expand into other Euripean countries.
Primark have been very controversial - pressure groups believe that it can only offer such low prices by exploiting the local and overseas workers who make its clothes. If you are interested in business ethics, you should bookmark this site to track the behaviour of the business http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/primark
The business is in trouble in the UK because 2 of its subcontractors - TNS Knitwear, and Fashion Waves - have been accused of breaking UK employment and immigration laws. These companies have been accused of
· Paying workers just over half the minimum wage of £5.73 - for 12-hour days, seven days a week,
· Employing workers who admit that they are illegal immigrants in the UK
· Providing cold, cramped working conditions (against UK Occupational Health and Safety laws)
Primark has tried to counter this bad publicity by
· Stating that it has started its own investigation into the accusations
· Handing over evidence to the relevant enforcement agencies in the UK
· Removing references from its stores and website to the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) - a trade body that monitors Britain's top UK retailers.
· Restating its ‘official’ position on its website http://www.blogger.com/www.ethicalprimark.com that does everything it can to make sure that it acts legally and that it only uses subcontractors that act legally
The ETI has started to investigate the accusations. Specifically, they have
· Met with Primark and demanded that it provides a honest response to the allegations.
· Started a formal inquiry to establish whether or not there is a major failure by Primark's to follow the ETI’s code.
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