Last week I spoke to a nice young lady at Labour Behind The Label and she suggested I check out an organisation called Asia Floor Wage.

Stop Sweatshops

Asia Floor Wage

I’ve just read through their website and think the work they’re doing is fantastic. At present, when big retailers, including UK highstreet brands such as M&S, Gap and Debenhams place large orders for clothing to Asian suppliers, they want the cheapest price possible, in order to maximise their profit. Where one supplier, say in Vietnam, quotes a price that the retailer feels is too high, they will seek a supplier in Cambodia, who quotes a cheaper price. This pernicious practice, of profit maximisation at any cost and squeezing of suppliers  in the developing world, promotes undercutting of prices across borders and keeps the wages of the workers in the factories suppressed. In simple terms, the Asian supplier wants to win the contract, so will always offer a cheaper price. The people who suffer are the garment workers, who are therefore paid an inhumane salary.

Asia Floor Wage campaign to enforce a minimum salary (to the equivalent of $475 per month) for garment workers across Asia. This way, when a greedy, profit-maximising-at-any-cost retailer goes fishing for the cheapest price possible, there is a minimum level that an employee’s wage will not fall below.

What a fantastic idea – every citizen on this earth deserves a humane standard of living and this is a great way to achieve it.

Inevitably, there is resistance to this. When AFW called for Chinese garment exporters to comply, they were met with the response, “this isn’t possible”. One factory manager intimated that western retailers won’t be willing to pay any more than they currently do, which is based on workers receiving the equivalent of $250 per month.

“Why?”, I ask myself? The answer is clear. Greedy western retailers seek to place profit before people. Shareholders demand dividends, therefore retailers fight to maximise profit at every opportunity. Lowest cost, highest possible sale price. These very same retailers need only accept making a profit of, say, £250 million per year, instead of £280 million per year, to ensure the workers do not endure sweatshop like conditions and are paid a fair salary.

We as consumers must pressure retailers to stop their harmful and greedy practices and let them know it’s NOT ok to always put profit before people. To quote my good friends at hiSbe Food, the answer is, People Before Profit.