LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Sir Philip Green, the billionaire retailer, has rejected allegations made by The Sunday Times that clothes sold in his Topshop to Miss Selfridge Arcadia empire were made by sweatshop labour in Mauritian factories.
The newspaper had claimed that workers from Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh were being paid less than 5 stg a day for working shifts of up to 12 hours.
In a statement, Green said he ‘personally undertook’ to investigate the have ry serious allegations’.
‘Having investigated, I provided yesterday to the newspaper a copy of Arcadia’s most recently completed independent audit report undertaken a few months ago together with a further audit report from another [unnamed] major retailer dated July 2007. Both these reports found the factories generally compliant with relevant Codes of Practice,’ he said.
He also provided a document from another unnamed major international retailer confirming that its most recent audit report undertaken under the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) was satisfactory.
He said letters from Compagnie Mauricienne de Textile (CMT) and Star Knitwear, the two factories mentioned in the Sunday Times article, were also provided confirming that they have complied with the Arcadia code of conduct and that they both pay their workforce above the rates set down by the Mauritian government under the 2007 law.
Green is awaiting the Sunday Times’ response.
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com
jdd
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