Minister joins P&P in saying 'Pants to Topshop'!
In January, Gareth Thomas, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development, joined school and university students from the People & Planet network in demanding Topshop and the rest of the Arcadia Group transform their poor record on workers' rights.
Gareth Thomas ‘hung out Topshop’s dirty laundry’ as part of the a washing line petition asking the group of high-street chain to take a tougher stance on ethical trading by joining the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The Arcadia Group are the largest high street retailer not to have signed up to the scheme.
Gareth Thomas met with students from Cheney School, Oxford Brookes and Oxford University while visiting local East Oxford MP Andrew Smith.
Gareth Thomas and Andrew Smith say ‘pants to Topshop’!
Gareth Thomas, who has previously criticised Arcadia’s refusal to join the ETI, backed People & Planet’s demand that the company’s billionaire CEO Philip Green make a serious commitment to improving labour conditions for workers producing the store’s clothing:
“I was very glad to come to People & Planet with Andrew Smith to hear about their campaign to get Arcadia to join the Ethical Trading Initiative. I am very keen to see companies like Arcadia, B&Q and John Lewis join the Ethical Trading Initiative to drive up standards and pay in developing countries”
He joined Andrew Smith in signing a large pair of pink pants to hang on a washing line of Topshop’s ‘dirty laundry’.
P&Pers welcomed the fact that Gareth Thomas was trying to encourage companies like the Arcadia Group to join the ETI, but pressed him on what else the government was doing to hold companies to account for the impact their practices have around the world.
What lovely pants!
P&P is calling on the Arcadia Group to join the ETI as a vital first step towards meeting their ethical commitments, because achieving change in the garment industry requires concerted action, and movement by the industry as a whole, and because the ETI introduces a level of transparency and accountability. Companies who are not members of the ETI tend to be much weaker in terms of both their ethical policies and their implementation.
But it is only the most basic step. A company’s membership of the ETI is no guarantee that conditions for its workers are acceptable. Retailers do not have to meet minimum standards to be members - they just have to commit to working towards these standards. Ultimately, the impact of the ETI is determined by the activities of its members. Unfortunately they’re not doing enough: a 2006 evaluation of the ETI found that it had so far had only a limited impact on supply chain conditions. In some areas such as health and safety there had been a marked impact, but in crucial areas such as a living wage and the right to organise, the picture was very poor. The evaluation highlighted that the promotion of ethical trade was undermined by their other business practices. This means membership of the ETI is only the start of any efforts to improve conditions — not the final point.
Gareth Thomas responds to P&P’s questions
Campaigners urged Gareth Thomas to recognise the weaknesses of the ETI, and the limits of the recent (2006) Companies Act, which came into force on 1 October 2007. While the UK’s reformed companies legislation now includes provisions designed to make companies consider their impact on people and the environment (a world first!), it does not go far enough in holding companies to account for their social and environmental impacts.
Gaby Sibley, of Oxford Brookes People & Planet said:
“We asked what Gareth Thomas planned to do about the Arcadia group not joining the ETI and we also asked whether there should be government legislation to ensure companies join it. It’s been a good opportunity to talk to someone about these issues and we’re glad that Arcadia are getting publicly shamed.”
David Amos of Oxford People & Planet said
“It’s great that a local advocacy organisation can speak face to face with a minister; that is democracy in action — that people who care about the issues get to talk about the issues”