Wednesday, December 10, 2008

HIGH STREET BARGAINS

Beautifully coloured magazines with gorgeously gowned young women photographed in exotic locations will be used to advertise the wares of multi-millionaire chain stores, but behind this glossy facade lurks the realities of modern capitalism. "Workers producing clothes in Bangladesh for some of the UK's biggest retailers are being forced to work up to 80 hours a week for as little as 7p an hour, according to a report published today. The study from War on Want claims that conditions in six factories supplying Primark, Tesco and Asda are worse than they were two years ago when the charity carried out its first investigation. Based on interviews with 115 workers in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, today's report claims many were struggling to survive on meagre wages and some were subjected to physical and verbal abuse."
(Guardian, 5 December) RD

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