No sweat at primark?

THE CAMPAIGN group, No Sweat, last week staged a demonstration outside the London flagship shop of Primark, the high-street clothing chain, as part of a protest at sweatshop labour used in making the discount garments.
Models dressed in chains paraded on a catwalk outside the shop in Oxford Street, demanding “decent working conditions and a living wage” for garment workers. A Primark spokesperson insisted: “We obviously share and recognise many of the concerns raised.”
The company claims that it fired suppliers whom the BBC’s Panorama found used child labour. But the secretary of No Sweat, Mick Duncan, said this was not good enough. He said: “We don’t want them to walk away – we want them to take responsibility for their workers and make sure their conditions are improved.
“No Sweat isn’t calling on consumers to boycott chains like Primark, but instead to put pressure on them to clean up their act. These companies make huge profits and have a duty to ensure a fair wage.”
The protest was backed by comedian Mark Thomas, who said it was in the interest of British workers to campaign for better wages for their colleagues overseas. He said: “If workers abroad are being badly exploited, that means that the conditions of workers in the UK are also being undercut.
“It’s about raising the standard for everyone.”