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Press
release
Poverty
pay and dangerous conditions: the secrets of supermarket success
New Delhi,
23
April 2007:
The way UK supermarkets do business
with developing countries is locking women workers into appallingly low pay
and dangerous conditions, ActionAid reveals today.
Workers
are being trapped into a cycle of poverty and insecurity as a result of UK
supermarkets’ demands for lower prices and constantly changing to orders,
according to the report, Who
Pays?
“The
big four supermarkets are increasingly eager to prove their ethical
credentials to their customers. In reality the supermarkets’ ever-growing
profits are boosted by the scandalously low wages and appalling conditions
suffered by the women who produce the food and clothes we buy every day,” said
Claire Melamed, head of trade and corporates at ActionAid.
ActionAid
researchers found that:
In
Costa Rica: banana
price wars between UK supermarkets have meant that women working on
plantations that supply Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s are forced out of
regular work into casual piece-rate jobs for lower wages. Wages are so low
– as little as 33 pence an hour - that women have told ActionAid they
cannot afford to take time off when planes spray dangerous pesticides onto
the plantations.
In
Bangladesh: young
women work for as little as five pence an hour to make clothes
for Asda and Tesco while being forced to work long hours, up to 14 hours a
day for weeks on end.
In
India: pressure from UK
supermarkets to drive down prices has led to an explosion in black
market cashew nut processing plants where women earn as little as 25.2
rupees (30 UK pence) a day and suffer permanent damage to their hands from
corrosive acids. ActionAid is calling for the UK Government to introduce an
independent watchdog that would hold supermarkets to account for their
actions overseas. Even the industry’s most effective voluntary code, the
Ethical Trading Initiative, has not delivered the sweeping changes needed.
Claire
Melamed said: “The supermarket giants
have proved unwilling or unable to police themselves effectively. The
government needs to think very hard about the kind of corporate image UK PLC
wants to portray – and if it isn’t one of exploitation and hardship then
it must step in now.”
ActionAid
is also asking the Competition Commission to recommend an independent
supermarket regulator as part of its ongoing inquiry into the UK grocery
market.
Comment
from Babu Mathew, country director, ActionAid India:
“Women
workers the world over are amongst the lowest paid and most exploited.
Pressure to cut costs has led to an explosion in black market cashew
processing in India. Women in Kanyakumari have shown us permanent scars on
their hands from the corrosive acid produced by the nuts when shelled. For
this dangerous work they are paid less than half the minimum wage.”
“Securing
a minimum wage and decent working conditions is already a big challenge for
women and other vulnerable workers. Pressure from big retailers to cut costs
makes their struggle all the more difficult. Foreign investment has to come
with human rights standards attached.”
“Core
labour standards are clearly being flouted. The government is obliged to
ensure that these are met. Workers also need to know their rights. In
Kanyakumari ActionAid is supporting a local group in educating women and
children on labour standards and encouraging them to come together to demand
minimum wages and decent working conditions.”
The
core labour standards are 1. Freedom of association (the right to form a
trade union). 2. No forced labour. 3. No discrimination (in pay and
conditions). 4. No child labour. "When you try to cut prices you are
encouraging the reemergence of all of these things,” Babu Mathew adds.
Facts:
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More
than £7 out of every £10 spent on groceries in Britain goes into
supermarket tills
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Poor
countries earn £7 million a day from food and clothes bought by UK
shoppers in supermarkets
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Women
make up 60% to 90% of the clothing and fresh produce workforce in
developing countries
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