To think that 62p an hour is NOT what feminism looks like...

[TheBogQueen]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2817191/62p-HOUR-s-women-sleeping-16-room-paid-make-Ed-Harriet-s-45-Feminist-Looks-Like-T-shirts.html

It's a daily mail so find your smelling salts.

But these t shirts are made by women sleeping 16 to a room paid 62 p an hour.

And then sold in Whistles.

This is (as we say at work) a WTF moment. It is possible to have a logo printed on Fair Trade T Shirts - we managed it fur our primary school polo shirts. You'd think that if the school PTA can manage this then the highly paid executives at Whistkes and the Fawcett society might manage that too.

[TheBogQueen]

The women – who we could not talk to – work 45 hours a week basic and can earn more if they work overtime.

After the tour and without the company’s senior staff, we visited another of the company’s factories, in Curepipe.

Outside we spoke to one 30-year-old worker. She told us: ‘I have worked here for four years and I have not been able to see my son or husband in Bangladesh during all that time. We work very hard, sometimes 12 hour days, for not much money. I send all my money home and could not afford to fly back and see my family.

[TheBogQueen]

Ach well

No ones bothered

[SqueezyCheeseWeasel]

Somewhat fucking ironic.

[LumpySpacedPrincess]

They are investigating to see if this is true. What a shame if it is as it completely undermines the whole campaign which I'm sure isn't what the daily mail intended to do.

[Chippednailvarnish]

You might want to give more than 14 minutes in which to respond OP before deciding no ones bothered!

[SqueezyCheeseWeasel]

(The story, not your posts, bog queen)

[LittleBearPad]

If it's true then the Fawcett Society and Whistles have really dropped the ball.

[DownByTheRiverside]

You are right with saying 'No one's bothered' but not about posters on MN.
The highly-paid executives saw a marketing opportunity and a chance for a gimick and jumped at it, without bothering to probe deeper.
It's how so many human rights infringements happen, because a boss takes a boss's word for it.
I do intend to see what's uncovered and what the consequences are, other than politicians and Important People being shocked and outraged for 5 minutes.

[TheBogQueen]

With a corporate head on - surely this is marketing 101? If you are fronting feminism then make sure the people making the t shirts are fairly paid?

[generaltilney]

Yes it's completely shit and I believe the Mail on Sunday.

Would like to know where the breakdown came, particularly as everyone knows that this is a huge live problem. By the sound of it, people believed verbal assurances without checking further [head in hands] and charity/magazine PRs should know better.

I'm not tbh giving the PM credit for this (it's not why he didn't wear it) but am definitely feeling that as a bleeding heart chattering class person myself you can be verbally assured that I'm kicking myself in the arse right now.

[ElleMcFearsome]

The Fawcett Society is clear that they are investigating this. Link here

[mazlou3]

I'm more bothered that a charity t shirt costs 45 quid. I buy most of mine from primark for 2.5 and they are reasonably OK with ethics.

[Pumpkinpositive]

It depends. If the average hourly rate in said country is actually £0.20 p/he then £0.62 p/he looks rather good.

In this case though, I gather it's not.

[DownByTheRiverside]

www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/2014/11/feminist-looks-like-t-shirt-fawcett-society-response/

Charity trusted the retailer and accepted their word at face value. The least they can do is launch an independent investigation and publicise the results.

[TheBogQueen]

I used to work in this area and I think manufacture of clothing can very hard to control - even if you give the contract to someone who appears to be reputable there us always a chance they will subcontract to someone cheaper - ie who pays slave wages.

I think this is certainly something the Fawcett Society should get behind as it's usually women working in these slave conditions fur the fashion industry, because they have the skills.

[TheBogQueen]

And then you think - maybe this us just real life fir the rest of the world and at least the women can provide for their families

[WidowWadman]

I can't really get upset that a T-shirt designed to raise funds for a charity costs £45 when that seems to be in the normal price range for that particular retailer.
Yes, the manufacturer and the auditors need to be investigated, but the attack on the Fawcett Society seem hypocritical and opportunist.

Wonder how many sweatshop manufactured clothes were advertised in the very same Mail edition that broke this story, and how ethically sourced the clothes are of those who currently wring rub their hands in glee

[ArthurShappey]

Hmmm David Cameron isn't looking so bad now for not wearing it.

If this is true them the Fawcett Society and Whistles should be ashamed of themselves. Apparently they are investigating but I don't believe for a second that someone in both wasn't aware of this.

[WidowWadman]

DC doesn't look any different - it's not as if he refused to wear it because he was uncomfortable with the manufacturing conditions.

[Nancy66]

I saw that coming a mile off!

[Achooblessyou]

Aren't most clothes that we buy in the west made by people being paid shit wages?

[Nancy66]

yep, pretty much. Very little is made here

[TheBogQueen]

I think we all accept that the clothes we wear come at a high cost to the people who work in the factories.

The funny thing is that the manufacturer seemed very proud of his operation and that makes you wonder if these conditions are better than usual.

[ghostyslovesheep]

DC doesn't look any different - it's not as if he refused to wear it because he was uncomfortable with the manufacturing conditions

this ^^ and I love how the fail focuses in on the party politics

it's a huge error of judgement and of course feminists CARE about the exploitation of labour

Hopefully it will be sorted

but unless you carefully source every item you wear you probably own sweat shop produced tat

[HappyAgainOneDay]

62p per hour might seem like slave wages to us but how much is a loaf of bread or pint of milk there? I could pay 48p for a sliced loaf here but does it cost the equivalent of 1/2p or 20p in Mauritius? the cost of living there could well be a lot less than ours.

If the workers send their money 'home' it's their fault that they have little on which to live or fly home to visit their families.