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Our open invitation to Action Aid

You may have heard on the radio this morning that an NGO called Action Aid has released a critical report highlighting the payment of poverty wages to women clothing workers in Bangladesh and India.

The report refers to a survey by Asda that states that workers making our products are being paid wages that fall below a living wage.

We’re really disappointed by this report as it doesn’t do justice to all the hard work we’ve been doing behind the scenes. It also doesn’t reflect the positive conversations we’ve been having with Action Aid, the most recent of which was less than two weeks ago. That’s why we’re a little surprised to say the least that they’ve chosen to single us out for criticism.

When we met them we invited them to join us on a trip to Bangladesh so they could see first hand the positive impact we’re having there.

We remain ready and willing to work with them to resolve this complex issue as we believe it’s our actions, not words, that will help alleviate poverty.

The measures we’ve already put in place in Bangladesh are leading to improved working conditions, fewer working hours and most importantly a more highly skilled workforce that’s able to earn higher wages.‬ ‪

Our aim, and firm intention, is to roll out this innovative approach to all our suppliers in the coming months and years.

We are absolutely committed to bringing about genuine and sustainable change in the supply chain, but in a way that’s compatible with the requirements of all our stakeholders, both customers and NGOs alike.

In their report Action Aid stated that we were “falling well behind our closest competitors.”

However, in a recent letter from HomeWorkers Worldwide and the ETI (Ethical Trading Initiative) which I will share with you we have been classed as an achiever against ETI benchmarks and a leader on Ethical and Commercial practices.

The report also highlights areas in which we need to improve and we are actively working with our NGO partners and the ETI to address these issues.

As we said this morning, we’d love to take Action Aid out to Bangladesh to witness first hand all the work we’ve been doing over there. Why not help us encourage them to take us up on our offer? The invite remains open and we look forward to hearing from them.

Posted by Paul on 06 July 2010, 12:20

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Paul Wright


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10 Comments for "Our open invitation to Action Aid"


Fionnuala Murphy from Newcastle, County Down says:
Projects that take two years to reach a small number of people in one country are all well and good. Asda and I wish you luck with them. But what's really needed is a decent wage in all your factories across Asia, so get real and cough up! Surely your shareholders can afford an extra 2p per shirt! I know I can.
Jul 29, 2010 at 10:43 AM
Nomana Adima from London says:
Hi Paul, I am happy your Job at George takes you round the world...have you being to Bangladesh and India were our clothes are made??? what do you think about the living conditions of these people who work hard to produce this clothes??? I really think Asda should listen to the cry from different actionaid and different people and try to improve the living conditions of these individuals.... I hope you would do a good job of passing my message across to the necessary individuals and we would all hear a favourable response from you guys ASAP... Thanks Nomana......Actionaid Volunteer
Jul 28, 2010 at 10:02 PM
James Taylor from Midsomer Norton says:
Hi, Glad to hear that you are now following up on your trumpeted 'open invitation' and are now engaging with ActionAid. This issue of a living wage for those who make our clothes is morally critical - we want to see Asda leading the way with this, not trailing behind. Best wishes, James
Jul 28, 2010 at 06:13 PM
Jess Day from Penarth says:
I have sometimes bought some of my kids' school uniform at ASDA, but I want to know that kids in Bangladesh will be able to go to school too, because their parents are paid enough to allow that to happen. I'm glad to hear that you're working with the Ethical Trading Initiative, but it seems pretty shabby to brush aside criticism by repeating an invitation to visit ONE factory (an invitation which ActionAid have said they haven't actually received other than via your press releases!) I'm realising that it is not possible to deliver the kind of prices UK consumers are coming to expect while paying a living wage to the people the other end. By selling clothing this cheap you're conning the British public too into believing that this is good business.
Jul 28, 2010 at 01:50 PM
Wilma McEwan from Alexandria, Scotland says:
It is now 3 weeks since Action Aid accepted your invitation to visit Bangladesh yet you haven't been in touch with them to make arrangements. All it will take to give these workers a living wage is 2p per T-shirt - not a lot is it? I daresay you're working to make improvements in SOME factories but you have to pay attention to ALL your factories whether sub-contracted or not. Can you not see that your reputation will be considerably enhanced if you do this and damaged if you don't. Nobody in this country is so poor that they'll miss another 2p. In any case your profits are so huge that you can easily absorb such an increase
Jul 27, 2010 at 08:33 PM
Zahir from Dhaka says:
Mr.Paul is working hard for poor worker. I know that his feeling to workers. He wants to do something for worker. Not make a report like NGO. I invite to all NGO, pls come to our factory and see that how worker is happy after change tradition system by Mr.paul . Many times Mr. Paul visit us and give him valuable time so that poor worker can happy . All worker pray to Mr.paul we produce 5% to 10 % George product of our capacity through importer.If Mr.paul done this job in factory, I am sure that he do good job which factory is working with George product only. I would like invite NGO, please come to visit and see worker feeling to Mr.paul Thanks Zahir, Dhaka-bangladesh
Jul 10, 2010 at 04:35 PM
Emily Armistead from London says:
As I said on 5 Live this morning, we'd love to come and visit your factories. To keep our independence we can't accept your offer to pay for flights etc but we can make arrangements to meet up in Bangladesh nonetheless. Thought your readers might be interested in my latest blog post http://www.actionaid.org.uk/100621/blog.html?article=2003 Look forward to getting a firm commitment from Asda to pay a living wage across the whole of Asia.
Jul 06, 2010 at 06:31 PM
Dominic Eagleton (ActionAid policy team) from London says:
Paul, We'd be delighted to visit your project in Bangladesh, but that doesn't really address the key issues we've raised in our report. You can read a quick response to your post on the ActionAid campaigns blog: http://www.actionaid.org.uk/100621/blog.html?article=2001
Jul 06, 2010 at 05:46 PM
Paul from Asda says:
Hi Joe, Homeworkers Worldwide are our NGO contact within the ETI forum. We are active participants of the ETI Wages project and Buying practices within the ETI. Their role is to ensure that we play our part within these forums, and challenge us on areas they feel we are not addressing and hold us to account. Their input has been invaluable and really helped us develop our Ethical Strategy. Our factory project ran for 12 months. We believe that we have now developed a sustainable method that will allow our suppliers to improve pay and working conditions, reduce working hours and with the added benefit of improved quality and productivity. These factories are not exclusive to Asda. In fact in one of the factories we are only 10% of their production. But workers enjoyed the improved benefits regardless of which retailers orders they were making. The project allowed us to re-train workers that were carrying out non value adding tasks, which in turn means that once skilled they moved up the pay grades. We are currently working on the role out of the project which will include HR and People management and will probably take between 18 months to 2 years. We will also invite an NGO to monitor the progress of this project. We've made a start, but we have a long way to go. All 4 factories have seen a huge reduction on Labour turnover and absenteeism which is the real measure of success for this project. I have 17 years manufacturing experience and this project surpassed my expectations and will only improve in the second phase.
Jul 06, 2010 at 04:37 PM
joe (@gentlemandad) from Coventry says:
OK, a few things: 1) Homeworkers Worldwide is a campaign organisation about homeworker rights. It is wrong to suggest that this commendation of your actions on behalf of the most exploited workers in the garment supply chain is a validation of the rest of the supply chain. It isn't, that is nonsense, the homeworkers don't even work in the factories in question. 2) The letter is not even totally positive and supportive. 3) The Actionaid report is about factories in Sri Lanka and India as well as Bangladesh. Have you even read it? 4. The issue about a living wage is a real one. It cannot just be swept aside by suggesting that an international campaign organisation has failed to visit your pet project. How about you actually address the issue at hand rather than continuing to post this type of flannel. If Actionaid is wrong, let us see an alternative independent report proving the wages that the people who make your clothing is above the living wage. Otherwise, it is reasonable to suppose that they are more likely to be telling the truth than you are.
Jul 06, 2010 at 01:59 PM