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Child labour allegation puts Zara & Inditex in bind
02 Jun '06
2 min read
The Spanish fashion chain Zara's parent company Inditex, had started an investigation into the “extremely grave” accusation that one of its sub-contractors is paying the children 20 cents to sew the interior of 50 pairs a day.
Zara has become the latest retailer to be dogged by child labour allegations, after reports that Portuguese children as young as 11 are being paid just £13.70 a day to make shoes.
United Left for Madrid, the left-wing Spanish party call for punishing companies that use child labour.
They view the Government should take every measure possible to guarantee that no Spanish company collaborates with or sub-contracts any company which uses child labour.
Children are being employed by the sub-contractor to make the shoes in Felgueiras, a depressed area where many textile factories have closed in recent years, stated a report.
The report stated that this 'miserable' pay was often the only money that families received.
International Labour Organisation in 2002 had stated that there could be as many as 200,000 child workers under the age of 14 that worked in the shoe industry in Spain.
Inditex stated in a statement on its website that it audited the sub-contractor last year with a 'favorable outcome,' but this was an extremely grave case, although they have a code of conduct, which bans the use of child labour in external companies.
In the past year it had stopped working with 400 companies that had violated code on child labour, freedom of association, health, security or the environment but denied recently having sold shoes made by the children through its stores.
Inditex had signed the international Ethical Trading Initiative on October last, to improve the conditions for its suppliers' workers.
The group reported a 26 per cent rise in net profits to €803 million for the year up to January 31.
Zara has become the latest retailer to be dogged by child labour allegations, after reports that Portuguese children as young as 11 are being paid just £13.70 a day to make shoes.
United Left for Madrid, the left-wing Spanish party call for punishing companies that use child labour.
They view the Government should take every measure possible to guarantee that no Spanish company collaborates with or sub-contracts any company which uses child labour.
Children are being employed by the sub-contractor to make the shoes in Felgueiras, a depressed area where many textile factories have closed in recent years, stated a report.
The report stated that this 'miserable' pay was often the only money that families received.
International Labour Organisation in 2002 had stated that there could be as many as 200,000 child workers under the age of 14 that worked in the shoe industry in Spain.
Inditex stated in a statement on its website that it audited the sub-contractor last year with a 'favorable outcome,' but this was an extremely grave case, although they have a code of conduct, which bans the use of child labour in external companies.
In the past year it had stopped working with 400 companies that had violated code on child labour, freedom of association, health, security or the environment but denied recently having sold shoes made by the children through its stores.
Inditex had signed the international Ethical Trading Initiative on October last, to improve the conditions for its suppliers' workers.
The group reported a 26 per cent rise in net profits to €803 million for the year up to January 31.
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