UK business not too keen on child labour

Ethical shopping is all the rage nowadays, with literally every self-respecting middle-class Stoke Newington resident bundling their dog into a jacket and heading down to Fresh 'N' Wild to grab a bag of Grandma Earth's Ultra-Organic Purity Lentils (Now With 10% Added Smugness).

Quite easy to be sceptical about all that kind of nonsense, of course, but it would take a pretty psychopathic shopping addict who'd continue to buy stuff if the establishment in question was linked to child labour practices. Hence why giant clothing firm Primark has immediately severed all ties with three Indian suppliers who were using kids to finish off their embroidery work.

Following evidence being uncovered by BBC show Panorama, Primark have stated the following:

“As soon as Primark was made aware of the facts the company acted immediately, cancelling all new orders with the factories concerned and withdrawing from sale the embroidered garments involved.”

A swift and morally sound move, we're sure you'll agree ... but also a very business-savvy one too. Primark wouldn't want to lose out on any of their profits - last year valued at a staggering £899 million.

£899 million? Christ. To paraphrase dear dead Bill Hicks, is there really that much babysitting money fuelling the economy?

Written by C J Davies on 17 Jun 2008 11:09 PM. There are 1 comments so far. Permalink