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Primark fallout - a lesson to learn!
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Bikky Khosla | 24 Jun, 2008
Yet again the issue of alleged child labour in Indian textile factories has come to the forefront after low-price fashion retailer Primark severed contracts with three Indian suppliers in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu.
Already high input costs and other existing market uncertainties have eroded the profits of the industry, and incidents like this can be a big blow to India's global image.
Although industry observers say that the incident will not affect the future prospects of Indian Inc, in actuality it might have long-lasting implications. The aftershocks may be more devastating than we would like to think.
With overseas companies, especially high-street fashion chains, not wanting to get into any kind of controversy that can tarnish their corporate image and with cheaper sourcing options in countries like Thailand, Bangladesh and Vietnam existing, they might slowly pull out in search of greener pastures.
However, Primark's conscience vis-a-vis this incident is not clean either, to say the least. I know I'm being strong by saying this, but by pulling out, they have actually acted irresponsibly and hastily.
Firstly, before signing the contracts, Primark should have done a thorough verification of the contractors and their sub-contractors.
Secondly, Primark's modus operandi of selling cheap garments requires production of large amounts of clothes quickly and cheaply. This results in illegal subcontracting by exporters to keep up with the pressure of meeting targets set by the likes of Primark.
Moreover, a socially responsible company (don't forget Primark is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative!) would ideally stay with the factories and work with them to improve conditions if any workers' rights are violated on the premises. Here Primark has punished the workers - who had the courage to face the consequences and came before the camera to speak the truth - by stripping them of their livelihood.
A billion-dollar company which thrives on products manufactured by cheap labour could have shown Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in this case.
However notwithstanding the role of Primark, I think we need to be very careful that these kind of incidents are not repeated again. It's really sad that despite the government's initiatives to root out child labour, these ugly incidents keep cropping up. And most importantly we need to show some social responsibility. Let's not wait for cheap Primark for succour at the time of crisis!
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The Primark Story
Lester | Mon Jun 30 21:41:27 2008
The editorial mentions three anonymous Indian companies once, and Primark ten times. Those three companies are the bad guys in this story. They are the ones exploiting their own people. They are the ones trading the health and welfare of Indian children for a few dollars. And where are the parents of these abused children in this story? Where are they when their children go to work? And what about the government that allows the exploitation of its children? Primark is not altogether innocent in this sad story, but the editorial is off target.
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Re: The Primark Story
Taer | Wed Jul 2 12:11:49 2008
We are a garment exporter from Mumbai, We do not employ any child labour and nor do our contractors, We have a strict code of conduct and ensure that this is strictly followed,
We recently lost a big US brand after 5 years of business only because the competing factory , also from India offered an unrealisticly low price ,
The customer moved only for the price, I seriously doubt if they did their homework before they moved their business from us,
What I am trying to say here is that YES the factories are responsible , but the buying companies also need to do their homework and select their factories not only based on the lowest price, If they do not do their homework they will face the music,
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child labour
kailash chander | Fri Jun 27 09:08:10 2008
Before blaming primark,we should definitely know our moral duty not to involve/engage child labour and it'll help to decrease/discourage childbirth also as while using child labour we encourage the parents to give birth to more children as they(children) are the income source for them/parents.
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Re: child labour
Shaukat Islam | Sun Jun 29 07:59:04 2008
While I am against employing child labour in factories, I cannot help but say that Primark has been irresponsible to some extent.
Not only Primark, many other big international names sometimes go out of the way to on social compliance and put factories under tremendous pressure to deliver goods at unthinkable prices.
Now one may argue why accept an order in the first place? But the reality is different and big buyers know this fully and exploit the situation to the hilt by extorting an unrealistic price from the sellers. Such is the hypocracy.....
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