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Coles suspends Bangladesh brand
Coles suspends Bangladesh brand
April 7, 2012
With great fanfare, Coles announced last year it would be the first supermarket chain in Australia to bring men's and women's fashions to the grocery aisles. But six months after the Mix clothing label went on sale, Coles has suspended buying from a textile factory in Bangladesh after revelations workers have been beaten, fired and imprisoned in a battle over wages and other rights.
The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, a US-based organisation, wrote to Coles managing director Ian McLeod last month, outlining the workers' allegations of gross abuses.
These included below minimum pay rates of 16c to 22c an hour, unpaid overtime and holiday leave, and being forced to work up to 84 hours a week. As well, workers were subjected to ''routine sexual harassment, beatings, mass firing, corporal punishment and imprisonment on false charges.''
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The ''cheap chic'' Mix clothing line, with most items priced under $25, is on sale in 60 of 700 Coles supermarkets.
The institute's director, Charles Kernaghan, told Fairfax the workers were treated like slaves. For example, workers who arrived late could be forced to stand at attention with their arms at their sides for four hours.
Speaking from Bangladesh this week, he said: ''Every single labour law in Bangladesh is being violated. It seems the Chinese owners are trying to implement Chinese labour practices in Bangladesh but the workers wouldn't allow it.''
Trouble flared at the end of January after 50 workers were fired, workers called a sit-down strike, and the head of the Workers' Welfare Association, Helal Uddin, and other leaders were allegedly beaten after they presented a list of 22 demands to the company; two were hospitalised.
Mr Kernaghan said when workers responded by damaging property, one hundred police ''stormed'' the factories. Mr Uddin and other leaders were imprisoned for up to 15 days, hundreds faced false charges, and 291 workers were fired. Further trouble erupted on March 25 after workers were told their piece rates were to be cut; they called a sit down strike, and police clubbed them and used tear gas. Many workers went into hiding.
Coles spokesman Jon Church said the Rosita plant supplied a ''small number''of lines. A third-party auditor had independently audited the supplier before Coles had placed orders with it and ''no significant concerns were identified''. After the institute raised its concerns, Coles arranged for a further audit but had been stymied because management had temporarily closed the factory.
''Coles is not sourcing any further clothing from Rosita and we will not do so until we have completed an independent ethical audit to confirm the status of allegations made about employment standards at that site,'' Mr Church said.
Read more: Coles suspends Bangladesh brand
Coles suspends Bangladesh brand
April 7, 2012
With great fanfare, Coles announced last year it would be the first supermarket chain in Australia to bring men's and women's fashions to the grocery aisles. But six months after the Mix clothing label went on sale, Coles has suspended buying from a textile factory in Bangladesh after revelations workers have been beaten, fired and imprisoned in a battle over wages and other rights.
The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, a US-based organisation, wrote to Coles managing director Ian McLeod last month, outlining the workers' allegations of gross abuses.
These included below minimum pay rates of 16c to 22c an hour, unpaid overtime and holiday leave, and being forced to work up to 84 hours a week. As well, workers were subjected to ''routine sexual harassment, beatings, mass firing, corporal punishment and imprisonment on false charges.''
Advertisement: Story continues below
The ''cheap chic'' Mix clothing line, with most items priced under $25, is on sale in 60 of 700 Coles supermarkets.
The institute's director, Charles Kernaghan, told Fairfax the workers were treated like slaves. For example, workers who arrived late could be forced to stand at attention with their arms at their sides for four hours.
Speaking from Bangladesh this week, he said: ''Every single labour law in Bangladesh is being violated. It seems the Chinese owners are trying to implement Chinese labour practices in Bangladesh but the workers wouldn't allow it.''
Trouble flared at the end of January after 50 workers were fired, workers called a sit-down strike, and the head of the Workers' Welfare Association, Helal Uddin, and other leaders were allegedly beaten after they presented a list of 22 demands to the company; two were hospitalised.
Mr Kernaghan said when workers responded by damaging property, one hundred police ''stormed'' the factories. Mr Uddin and other leaders were imprisoned for up to 15 days, hundreds faced false charges, and 291 workers were fired. Further trouble erupted on March 25 after workers were told their piece rates were to be cut; they called a sit down strike, and police clubbed them and used tear gas. Many workers went into hiding.
Coles spokesman Jon Church said the Rosita plant supplied a ''small number''of lines. A third-party auditor had independently audited the supplier before Coles had placed orders with it and ''no significant concerns were identified''. After the institute raised its concerns, Coles arranged for a further audit but had been stymied because management had temporarily closed the factory.
''Coles is not sourcing any further clothing from Rosita and we will not do so until we have completed an independent ethical audit to confirm the status of allegations made about employment standards at that site,'' Mr Church said.
Read more: Coles suspends Bangladesh brand
sounds like bollocks to me. Workers have good rights in Bangladesh, especially garment workers in Bangladesh. Even if this story is true, i would like to know the name of the factory, the article didn't publish the name; there is no way a garment owner would do such a thing....sounds like a propaganda!
