Anti-poverty wristbands produced in sweatshops
Mon 30 May 2005
 http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=588782005
JAMES REYNOLDS

FASHIONABLE wristbands worn by pop stars, actors, top athletes and celebrities to publicise the Make Poverty History campaign are produced in appalling "slave labour" conditions, damning evidence has revealed.

Chinese factory workers producing the white rubber bracelets are forced to toil in conditions that violate Chinese law and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) set up to establish international standards for working conditions.

The revelations are laid bare in sensitive "ethical audits" of factories that make the must-have fashion accessories for the national Make Poverty History campaign begun by a partnership of over 400 charities.

Hearing of the news yesterday, Sir Bob Geldof, called for immediate measures to improve the terms and conditions of the workers with the threat of all business being withdrawn if the response is unsatisfactory.

He said: "The charities should pull out of the deals with those companies immediately or set a firm deadline for improvements and pull out if the improvements are not met."

A leading executive in one British charity also condemned the revelations as "deeply shocking". He went on to blame Oxfam, Christian Aid and Cafod of "rank hypocrisy" for dealing with sweat shops while calling for fair and ethical trade.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and First Minister Jack McConnell have been photographed wearing the bands, as well as celebrities including model Claudia Schiffer, actress Sienna Miller, the band Travis, and football managers Alex McLeish and Martin O'Neill.

A host of Scottish celebrities also posed for a Sunday Mail campaign to end world poverty wearing the bands yesterday, including Gaby Logan, David Coulthard, Kirsty Gallacher and Jenni Falconer, although they were not aware of the conditions of manufacture.

Hundreds of thousands of the bands have been sold in the UK for £1, which includes a 70p donation to charitable causes.

According to a report on the Tat Shing Rubber Manufacturing Company in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, dated 12 April 2005, the company uses "forced labour" by accepting "financial deposits" from new workers - against both Chinese law and the ETI.

The report also revealed a category of weaknesses including inadequate health and safety provision, lengthy hours, seven-day weeks, employees cheated of their pay, inadequate insurance, no annual holidays and no right to freedom of association.

Another audit at the Fuzhou Xing Chun Trade Company in Fujian province found workers were paid at below the local minimum hourly wage of 2.39 yuan (under 16p) and some as little as 1.39 yuan (9p).

The revelations have now caused infighting between the various charities, with Christian Aid claiming Oxfam failed to tell other charities that it had decided to stop ordering from the Shenzhen company.

A spokesman said: "If Oxfam had concerns about ethical standards it did not pass them on for a considerable time."

An Oxfam spokeswoman responded that they informed their coalition partners in January, but added: "We could have perhaps put it in writing to make it absolutely clear. We bought an initial 10,000 wrist bands from the Shenzhen company in November. We now see that purchasing this before we saw a full audit was a mistake."

Instead, it sourced 1.5 million of the bands - made from silicon rubber or woven fabric - from the Fujian factory, but only after assurances that concerns over ethical problems were being addressed. Christian Aid and Cafod continue to source the bands from the Shenzhen factory as part of a "constructive engagement" policy.

A Christian Aid spokesman added: "We realise there is a problem but we have taken action to minimise it."