Consumers Shop ’til They Drop- While Workers stitch till they DROP- Fainting and Malntrition New Research shows clothing factory workers seriously malnourished More than 20% of Cambodian workers shown to have BMI used to diagnose anorexia As London Fashion Week continues to showcase size zero models, research released today reveals that workers at the other end of the supply chain making clothes sold on the UK highstreet are seriously malnourished and at risk. The Shop ’til They Drop report, published by the workers’ rights campaign group Labour Behind the Label, shows that factory workers in Cambodia consume just 1598 calories a day on average – around half the recommended amount. BMI figures indicate that 33% of Cambodian garment workers are medically underweight and at risk, and 25% seriously so, displaying figures that would be used to diagnose Anorexia over here. The study states that workers earn just £51 a month as a minimum wage. The recommended 3000 calorie diet suitable for a woman doing a 10 hour day of industrial work, would cost £48 a month, which would leave just £3 for all other costs – a completely impossible task. A monthly living wage which could support a family, the report indicates, is more like £287. These findings follow a continuing spate of factory faintings which have plagued the Cambodian garment industry in recent years, where up to 300 workers have been seen to collapse at one time. Researchers feel the findings of this new study underline the fact that there is a baseline of malnutrition across the board, which makes workers weak and prone to collapse. One worker from a factory near Phnom Penh said: “We are constantly at the point of fainting all the time. We are tired and we are weak. It takes only a few small things to make us faint.” Labour Behind the Label, through a campaign for a living wage for workers in Cambodia, is calling on brands to take this issue seriously. As part of the solution, it is pushing for talks to start about providing free canteen lunches for workers each day to combat the immediate malnutrition issue. “The downward spiral of cheap clothing has led to a situation where the people who make our clothes are paid starvation wages and can’t afford to eat or to feed their children. This has to end.” said Anna McMullen, the report’s author. “The solution is for a living wage to be paid, but in the mean time, brands and factory owners must look to provide other benefits such as free lunches.” Tola Mouen, from Community Legal Education Centre in Phnom Penh, who collaborated on the report, said: “Workers are living in conditions of modern-day slavery – handcuffed to the demands of their employers and international clothing giants through poverty wage. Profits continue to increase for brands and manufacturers but each day workers find it more and more difficult to satisfy basic needs. Workers need real and immediate solutions – not more empty promises.”
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 07:50:55 +0000
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