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1 ActionAid: who pays?
“All day I sit and make school uniforms for foreign children. It makes me feel
so sad that I can’t afford to send my own children to school, because I want
a better life for them than the one I have.”
Sirin Ankar, a 24-year-old garment worker and young mother, Dhaka, Bangladesh.1
SUMMARY
It’s ‘back to school’ time and UK supermarkets
are engaged in a fierce price war as they fight to
dominate the £450 million school uniform market.2
As prices drop as low as £9.96 for a complete
school uniform, an ActionAid investigation uncovers
the hidden cost that cheap schoolwear – made for
Asda and Tesco in Bangladesh and for Marks &
Spencer in Sri Lanka – is having on the lives of
thousands of women workers.
Despite assurances that school uniforms are
produced ethically, our investigation found:
IN BANGLADESH AND SRI LANKA
• Pressure on suppliers to deliver large orders of
school uniforms quickly and cheaply
“When a large order comes we are made to
work day after day of night shifts and then after
finishing at 5am we have to be back at our
machines by 8am. There is no choice, the
supervisors say it just has to be done.”
Sumiya Rahmen,* a 22-year-old machine operator
making school uniforms for Asda in Bangladesh.3
*Some names have been changed to protect identities
www.actionaid.org.uk
“When a big order comes in our supervisors
scream at us if we can’t increase our targets.
We don’t drink water because that would mean
having to go to the toilet and often we only have
a couple of bites of food at lunchtime because
otherwise we won’t finish our work in time.”
Chaturi Salman, a 22-year-old machine operator
making school uniforms for Marks & Spencer in
Colombo, Sri Lanka.4
“When Marks & Spencer cut their prices we had
no prior warning, even though most of us had
already completed orders before we were told the
payment was going to be 5.5% lower than we had
agreed.” Sri Lankan factory owner who supplies
Marks & Spencer, speaking to ActionAid on condition
of anonymity.5
• Threats to take business elsewhere
“Our costs are increasing year by year by about
30% but the buyers want to keep the same order
or even reduce the prices of orders. The buyers
tell us they are businessmen and if we can’t
manage they will go where the cheapest prices
are.” Bangladeshi factory owner supplying UK
retailers, Bangladesh.6
“There is always the threat that buyers will go
to cheaper markets. At the same time they are
expecting more from us in terms of ethical
compliance without paying more, so the pressure
is doubled.” Sri Lankan factory owner who supplies
children’s wear to Marks & Spencer, speaking on
condition of anonymity.7
2 ActionAid: who pays?
• School uniform workers paid poverty wages
“I’ve been working as a machine operator for
six years and I make 1,633 taka (£12)8 basic salary
a month. How can I live on this? Prices are rising
so much I’d need double to be able to properly
feed my family.” Anita Akbar, a migrant 20-year-old
machine helper and mother of three from Dhaka,
Bangladesh, making school uniforms for Asda.9
“It’s not fair the factory is making so much money
off us. We work all day and at the end of the
month I have nothing to show for it.” Anishka
Ratwatte, a 25-year-old factory operator who makes
school dresses for Marks & Spencer.10
IN BANGLADESH
• Negative impacts on the families of Bangladeshi
garment workers producing school uniforms for
the UK market
“I am a working parent so I spend my days
making school uniforms for other people’s
children, but I only see my own twice a year.
Sometimes they don’t even recognise me when
I visit.” Sirin Ankar, a 24-year-old migrant garment
worker and mother of three in Bangladesh who works
hundreds of miles from her family, making school
uniforms for Asda.11
www.actionaid.org.uk
£450 million
The value of the UK school uniform market
• Poor health
“I have to stand for 12 hours a day. When I get
home from work I am so exhausted my whole
body is numb. I get pains in my legs all day but
we’re beaten if supervisors find us sitting down
at all.” Amora Kbria, an 18-year-old factory helper
making school uniforms for Asda in Bangladesh.12
IN SRI LANKA
• Discrimination and stigma
“Garment women get called juki badu, meaning
they are slaves to the sewing machines. There is
an assumption because they get worked so hard
for so little money that they are worthless.”
Padmini Weerasuriya, ex-garment worker and director
of the Women’s Center, a Sri Lankan civil society
organisation.13
ACTION:
ActionAid is not calling for a boycott of school
uniforms made by UK supermarkets – that
could be counterproductive. We want the UK
government to establish an independent
regulator to monitor supermarkets’ supply
chain practices. Given sharp enough teeth,
it could relax the intense buying pressures
faced by overseas suppliers and open up
negotiating space for workers to improve their
pay and conditions.
3 ActionAid: who pays? www.actionaid.org.uk

“After finishing at 5am we have to

be back at our machines by 8am.”
Sumiya Rahmen, 22-year-old machine operator in a factory
making school uniforms for Asda, Bangladesh

1. THE GARMENT INDUSTRY IN Women make up more than 80% of the garment
workforce in both countries. Working in the sector is
BANGLADESH AND SRI LANKA a route into employment for many poor women with
few job opportunities and has the potential to pull
millions of workers and their families out of poverty.
BANGLADESH
However, poverty pay and poor working conditions
The garment sector provides a huge proportion still characterise the lives of garment workers,
of exports from Bangladesh. The £5.5 billion whose family life, education prospects, health and
industry employs more than 2 million workers personal safety are being compromised by retailers’
and represents 68% of all product exports, a high demands for ever-cheaper school uniforms.
percentage of which are sold to the UK.14
Local factory owners bear much responsibility for
Bangladesh's garment industry is built on its ability poor employment conditions. They can be greedy,
to provide clothing cheaper than anywhere else, but unscrupulous and incompetent, often taking
in an increasingly liberalised industry, prices are advantage of vulnerable women who have little
falling around the world and its market share is choice but to accept poor quality work in order to
under pressure. Dismal pay and factory working feed themselves and their families.
conditions have been attacked by local unions and
campaign groups over the past decade. However, even in Sri Lanka, despite greater
regulatory capacity and a higher level of economic
development, commercial pressures from foreign
SRI LANKA buyers are making it harder to raise working
conditions.
In Sri Lanka, more than £50 million worth of clothing
is exported to the UK every year and the sector
represents 35% of overall employment.15 The
country has built a reputation for producing good
quality products and markets itself as a higher
wage, more ethical and skilled garment
manufacturer. Though working conditions in Sri
Lanka are still unacceptable, they are generally
better than in Bangladesh. Unions acknowledge
there have been improvements in factories
producing clothing – including school uniforms –
for the UK market; these include better working
conditions, enforced overtime limits, medical
facilities, fire escapes and transport services.
4 ActionAid: who pays?
Anita Akbar with
her one-year-old
son. She works
ten hours a day
making school
uniforms for Asda
SCHOOL UNIFORM PRICE WARS
The fight to produce the cheapest school
uniform has seen market leaders Asda and
Tesco consistently reduce prices on their
school uniforms by up to 50% year on year.16
In May this year Asda launched its new offer of
an entire school uniform, including shoes, for
£9.96. Its ‘George’ label is currently selling polo
shirts for 75p, trousers and skirts for £1.75 and
shoes for £4.50. Tesco is countering Asda’s
prices by offering a 3-for-2 deal on school
uniforms, while high street retailer Woolworths
is selling shirts and blouses for £1, jumpers
and cardigans for £2 and shoes for £8. Marks
& Spencer, a traditionally more expensive
brand, is currently selling school shirts from
£4 and school skirts at £7.
WIDER PRESSURES
Other factors combine to keep school uniform
garment workers trapped in poverty cycles.
These include:
• Inflation
Rising inflation in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has
seen the cost of living double in recent years,
with workers’ wages decreasing in real terms
month on month.17
• Union busting
Unions represent the best chance for workers to
negotiate for better pay and conditions in their
factories, but unions in both Bangladesh and Sri
Lanka report that their members are consistently
harassed and intimidated.18
www.actionaid.org.uk
Andrew Biraj/Panos Pictures/ActionAid
• Increased competition
Global markets are more competitive since trade
quotas were lifted and the world textile regime
was liberalised in 2005. China, India and Vietnam
have also stepped up competition.19
VOLUNTARY MEASURES AREN’T ENOUGH
Asda, Tesco and Marks & Spencer insist that their
low-cost school uniforms have been sourced
ethically and that cheap price tags are the result of
high volumes and low profit margins for retailers,
not cheap labour.20
All three supermarkets have signed the Ethical
Trading Initiative’s (ETI) voluntary code, which sets
out a series of rights for supplier employees, such
as payment of a ‘living wage’, a 48-hour working
week and overtime limited to 12 hours a week.21
All three supermarkets also cite regular independent
factory audits as demonstration of their
commitment to a fair deal for workers overseas.
However, the ETI code focuses on getting factory
bosses to improve working conditions, not the
buying practices of retailers that are a root cause
of poor conditions and undermine the very
labour standards that UK businesses claim to
be promoting.
To highlight the need for a new supermarket
regulator to monitor the relationship between
UK supermarkets and their overseas suppliers,
ActionAid worked with unions including the
SBGSKF in Bangladesh and the Free Trade Zone
and General Services Employees Union in
Sri Lanka.
5 ActionAid: who pays?
We interviewed ten workers at five factories and
three factory owners producing school uniforms for
Asda and Tesco in Bangladesh during two research
phases in December 2006 and July and August
2007. We also interviewed 12 workers from one
factory producing school uniforms, and two factory
owners producing clothes for Marks & Spencer in
Sri Lanka in July and August 2007. We interviewed
civil society and trade union representatives in both
countries in July and August 2007 and also
attempted to interview the owners of the factories
where we spoke to workers, but all declined to
meet us.
UK SUPERMARKETS’ BUSINESS PRACTICES
KEEP WOMEN WORKERS IN POVERTY
ActionAid’s Who pays? report, published in April
2007, highlights how UK supermarkets use their
colossal buying power to pressurise farm and
factory suppliers into producing goods faster,
cheaper and more flexibly.22 Suppliers, in turn,
pass on these pressures to their workers – the
majority of them usually women – in the form of
dangerous working conditions, poverty pay and
job insecurity.
Our research found supermarkets forcing
suppliers’ prices down, demanding additional
payments from them and expecting higher
quality standards without increasing prices.
Faced with these extra cost pressures, suppliers
make savings by lowering workers’ pay, or
cutting corners on health and safety.
www.actionaid.org.uk
2. UNDER PRESSURE FROM UK
SUPERMARKETS: SCHOOL
UNIFORM FACTORIES IN
BANGLADESH AND SRI LANKA
As school uniform price wars escalate and the
demand for cheaper school uniforms grows, it is the
workers who ultimately bear the brunt of buyers’
demands for lower prices and shorter lead times.
ActionAid’s initial Who pays? report revealed the
impact of UK supermarkets’ buying practices on the
lives of poor workers across the globe (see
box below), and the school uniform market is
no exception.
We also showed that supermarkets often place
orders at the last minute, or make changes at
short notice. Pressured to meet tight turnaround
times, suppliers demand that workers put in
excessively long hours, and increasingly hire
women on temporary, insecure contracts that
prevent them from enjoying their basic rights.
“Buyers pressure factories to deliver quality
products with ever-shorter lead times,” says
Rosey Hurst, a business consultant who works
with retailers on labour rights issues. “Most
factories just don’t have the tools and expertise
to manage this effectively, so they put the
squeeze on the workers. It’s the only margin
they have to play with.”23
6 ActionAid: who pays?
BANGLADESH
While unscrupulous bosses bear much
responsibility for poor pay and conditions in
garment factories, corporate buyers’ demands for
larger orders with tighter deadlines at cheaper
prices add to the pressure on workers.
“CM [cutting and making] prices have reduced
about 5 to 10% compared to two years ago,” said
one Tesco supplier in Bangladesh who spoke on
condition of anonymity. “Tesco has reduced its
prices in the UK market so they offer us a lower
CM to maxmise the profit.”24
Another factory owner who started supplying
Tesco with school uniforms in 2001 says that buyers
also engage in price-reducing strategies such as
‘reverse bidding’ auctions, which force factories to
compete against each other to offer the lowest
price on an order.25
In an increasingly competitive marketplace,
factories are also threatened with buyers taking
their business to cheaper locations.
“Often now before placing the order buyers are
asking whether we can ship in 60 rather than 90
days and if we say no then threaten to take their
business to China,” says one garment factory
owner in Bangladesh who claims that some UK
buyers will cancel an order half-way through
completion or ask for discounts of up to 50%
once the order is finished.
Many of the Bangladeshi school uniform workers
we interviewed say their supervisors are under huge
pressure to get large orders completed in short
time periods.
www.actionaid.org.uk
“I get so tired but if I even put my
head on my machine to ease the
exhaustion I get badly scolded
or beaten.”
Sumiya Rahmen, 22-year-old machine operator in a factory
making school uniforms for Asda, Bangladesh
“The supervisors are afraid of making mistakes
because if they do their salaries are cut or they are
beaten themselves,” says Anita Akbar, a 20-year-old
school uniform worker for Asda in Dhaka. “They are
under so much pressure from higher authorities,
which is why they force us to work harder and they
discount our extra working hours.”26
When asked about its buying practices, Tesco
insisted that it has not threatened to take orders
away from factories in Bangladesh unfairly. The
company claims to work with suppliers to identify
opportunities for lowering costs.27
ActionAid wrote to Asda about allegations on unfair
buying practices, but received no reply.
SRI LANKA
The value of Sri Lankan apparel exports, including
school uniforms, has declined by 7% in the first half
of this year and prices to factories had dipped by
around 10%.28
Last year, for example, Marks & Spencer suddenly
cut all its suppliers’ payments by up to 5.5%. The
price reduction wasn’t negotiated with suppliers,
and applied to orders that had already been placed,
or even delivered.29
“When Marks & Spencer cut their prices we had no
prior warning – most of us had already completed
orders before we were told the payment was going
to be 5.5% lower than we had agreed,” said one
Marks & Spencer supplier in Sri Lanka who spoke
to ActionAid on condition of anonymity. “Such is the
power that foreign buyers have over us.”30
7 ActionAid: who pays?
70 hours
The weekly hours that Bangladeshi women garment
workers are routinely expected to work
Unions in Sri Lanka say that poor prices offered by
foreign buyers have a negative impact on the lives
and pay of women school uniform workers.
“When we negotiate with the factory owners they
say they can’t increase salaries because they are
getting a very low price from the buyers,” says
Anton Marcus, president of the Free Trade Zone
and General Services Employees Union in Sri
Lanka. “The workers then get pressurised to hit
higher targets to make up the losses suffered by
the factory owner.”31
In response to ActionAid, Marks & Spencer stated
that the prices agreed with Sri Lankan suppliers had
not been cut without prior notification, but were
renegotiated with two months’ notice.
3. BANGLADESH: EXPLOITATION,
ABUSE AND NEGATIVE IMPACTS
ON FAMILY LIFE FOR SCHOOL
UNIFORM WORKERS
Our investigation found:
EXCESSIVE OVERTIME AND WAGE CUTS
Even though Tesco and Asda insist their factories
are audited to prevent worker exploitation,
ActionAid’s investigation found Bangladeshi women
garment makers in factories supplying school
uniforms to Asda and Tesco are routinely expected
to work up to 70 hours a week for around 5p
an hour.
www.actionaid.org.uk
5p an hour
The wage for which Bangladeshi women garment workers
are routinely expected to work
Sumiya Rahmen, a 22-year-old machine operator
in a factory making school uniforms for Asda in
Bangladesh, says that when the factory receives a
large school uniform order, she is often expected to
work 18-hour night shifts for up to 15 days in a row.
“Sometimes by the time I have walked home it
is 5.30am but I’m always expected back at my
machine at 8am,” she says. “I get so tired but if
I even put my head on my machine to ease the
exhaustion I get badly scolded or beaten.
I don’t want to work these night shifts but refusing
isn’t an option.”32
School uniform factory workers also say that
supervisors will try to find ways not to pay proper
overtime rates and that if workers fall sick, their
wages are cut.
“If we get sick we get marked as absent, not paid
for the day, and then we have to make up the work
we have missed the following day with no extra
payment,” says Anita Akbar, a 20-year-old machine
helper in Bangladesh. “If we complain or say we
don’t want to work then they tell us they don’t want
us as workers in their factory.”33
BANGLADESHI SCHOOL UNIFORM GARMENT
WORKERS PAID BELOW A LIVING WAGE
Women making school uniforms in factories
supplying Tesco and Asda are struggling to survive
on wages that fail to cover their basic living costs.
“In our factory workers are started on 930 taka (£7)34
a month for three months, which is considered a
trainee salary. I get a monthly wage of 2,500 taka
8 ActionAid: who pays?
Workers in a
garment factory in
Bangladesh
(£18), which is above the minimum wage but even
with overtime it only just pays for my food costs
and my rent,” says Sirin Ankar, a 24-year-old
factory worker making school uniforms for Asda
in Bangladesh.35
Following protests in 2006, Bangladesh’s minimum
wage was raised for the first time in 12 years from
930 to 1,663 taka (£12) a month. But unions
estimate that because of rapid inflation, workers
would need basic salaries of at least 4,500 taka
(£33) to be paid anything near a living wage.
“I work as a helper in a factory and my basic salary
of 1,600 taka (£12) is not enough to live on,” says
Bani Shaidur, a 22-year-old machine operator,
who works making school uniforms at a factory
supplying Tesco. “I am unable to help support my
family and don’t earn enough to live on myself.”36
In response to ActionAid, Tesco acknowledges that
issues around living wages and excessive overtime
remain a challenge for the company in Bangladesh
and other developing countries.
They cite wider social and economic factors
beyond their control as barriers to tackling these
issues. Tesco states its commitment to working
with local unions, NGOs and others “on the
methodology for defining the appropriate living
wage” in Bangladesh.37
Asda did not reply to ActionAid’s invitation to
respond to worker allegations on low wages and
excessive overtime.
www.actionaid.org.uk
Andrew Biraj/Panos Pictures/ActionAid
SCHOOL UNIFORM FACTORY WORKERS
UNABLE TO SEE THEIR CHILDREN OR PROVIDE
THEM WITH AN EDUCATION
Tacked to a wall of her one-room shack on the
outskirts of Dhaka in Bangladesh is a photo of
Sumiya Rahmen’s 18-month-old son. Since she
started working in a factory making school
uniforms for Asda six months ago, she has seen
him only once.
“Of course I miss him but what can I do?” she says.
“The factory won’t allow us to have our children
with us, there is no day care centre and costs are
too high to have him live with us.”40
Low wages and long hours mean that tens of
thousands of women garment workers are
WHAT’S A LIVING WAGE?
A living wage is defined as one that allows
workers to cover the costs of food, clean
water, housing, clothes, education, health and
transport for themselves and their dependants,
with a small amount of discretionary income.38
Workers on a living wage shouldn’t have to rely
on excessive overtime payment to supplement
a basic salary. Even though Asda, Tesco and
Marks & Spencer have all pledged to work
towards providing their workers with a living
wage under the Ethical Trading Initiative,39
none of the school uniform workers ActionAid
interviewed for this report is earning anything
close to one.
9 ActionAid: who pays?
separated from their children or only manage to see
them for a few hours a day.
Sirin Ankar, a 24-year-old garment worker making
school uniform trousers and shirts for a factory
supplying Asda, has three young children who live
with her mother in her home village, two day’s travel
from Dhaka. She rarely sees them for more than two
days a year. “My husband and I are working
parents, and there is no alternative but for our
children to live with my mother,” she says.41
None of the Bangladeshi school uniform workers
interviewed for this report could afford to send
their children to school. Those who had their
children living with them said they couldn’t afford
to feed them properly and that many suffered from
health problems, including malnutrition and
breathing difficulties.
Contrary to International Labour Organization
maternity standards, pregnant women in the
factories featured in this report were given no
maternity benefits other than three months unpaid
leave, and many pregnant workers were expected
to stand for 12-hour shifts while up to eight
months pregnant. 42
www.actionaid.org.uk
HIGH RENTS AND DEBT
Inflation and rising rents are exacerbating the
financial problems of many Bangladeshi women
workers struggling to cover basic living costs and
support their families. Rent for a single room is
roughly half the household income for a school
uniform garment worker in Bangladesh.
Like many other women workers in garment
factories in Bangladesh, Shoma Kalpur, who works
at a factory supplying school uniforms to Tesco, is
heavily indebted and forced to borrow money from
her landlord to cover costs.
“Lots of the women in my factory are in debt,”
she says. “For every 1,000 taka we borrow we have
to pay 100 taka a month until we can pay it back.
If we don’t pay after six months the landlord comes
and takes all of our things and we get thrown out
on the street.”46
10 ActionAid: who pays?
“They use foul language and slap us
in front of everyone if they don’t think
we’re working hard enough.”
Shoma Kalpur, Bangladeshi garment factory worker
supplying school uniforms to Tesco
CASE STUDY: BANGLADESHI SCHOOL
UNIFORM WORKER
It takes Sirin Ankar a day and night to travel from
Dhaka to her home village of Kumilla to visit her
three young children. Aged one, eight and ten,
her young family lives with her mother and
sisters. If she’s lucky she sees them three or four
times a year. Often it’s only once or twice.
“It takes us a day to get there, then we have one
day with our children and then we have to spend
another day travelling back,” she says. “It’s
difficult because don’t get paid for the time we
take off so we can never stay longer.”43
Both Sirin and her husband, who also works in
garment factories, work 12-hour days making
clothing, including school uniforms, for UK
supermarkets. Half of their household income is
spent renting a one-room shack that costs 2,500
taka (£18) a month. They try to send as much
BANGLADESHI SCHOOL UNIFORM WORKERS
FACING PHYSICAL ABUSE AND SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
On top of poor pay, long hours, poor working
conditions and dismal housing, workers such as
Shoma who make school uniforms for Tesco also
say they suffer physical assault and sexual
harassment from their male supervisors.
“It’s not so bad during the day but if you have to
work nights when a big order comes in there are
always problems,” says Shoma. “If it happens to
you it’s best to keep quiet.”47
www.actionaid.org.uk
money home as possible to buy food for their
children.
“We’re working parents so we can’t afford to look
after our children here in Dhaka,” she says. “It
just isn’t possible for us to have our children here
because there are no childcare facilities at my
place of work and we can’t afford to run a family
of five on garment worker salaries.”44
She hopes one of them will get a promotion so
they will be able to send at least one of their
children to school.
“Even though neither of the eldest are in school
at the moment, at least in my village they have a
chance of being educated. I don’t want them to
have to live in the conditions we live in,” she
says. “It’s hard because every day I feel bad for
my children. I spend my days making school
uniforms for other families but I can’t afford to
give my own children clothes or an education.”45
“They use foul language and slap us in front of
everyone if they don’t think we’re working hard
enough,” she says. “It’s shameful but you can’t say
anything because the beatings get worse if you
talk back.” 48
Garment workers in two factories supplying
school uniforms to Asda said that workers are
routinely beaten for not working fast enough or
for making mistakes.
Asda did not reply to ActionAid’s invitation to
respond to worker allegations on the issue
of harassment.
11 ActionAid: who pays?
13,000
The number of audits carried out by Asda globally
in 2006
INADEQUATE AUDITS
When challenged on their business practices and
workers’ conditions, supermarkets including Tesco
and Asda cite their use of factory audits. Asda
says it carried out more than 13,000 audits last
year alone.49
But evidence suggests that factory audits simply
aren’t enough to ensure that decent working
conditions are met. Bangladeshi school uniform
workers interviewed by ActionAid say that factory
owners often fake factory audits, and that some
workers are given two time cards: one that registers
how many hours they work, and the other to give to
the auditors to make it appear they are working
fewer hours.
“Buyers never see the reality because in my factory,
owners always know when the audits are going to
happen,” says Nazma Apman, a school uniform
garment worker from Dhaka.50
Factory owners claim incomplete or failed audits
are also not always a barrier to orders.
“Most of the suppliers do not have an ETP (effluent
treatment plant), which is a compliance issue but
Tesco gives them the orders anyway,” says a
factory owner who has been supplying school
uniforms to Tesco since 2001.51
Another supplier who produces school shirts for
Asda says that although most factories are asked
to conduct annual audits, the buyer does not take
them seriously.
www.actionaid.org.uk
“The identification of a factory for an order by
Asda does not depend on a compliance audit.
A compliance audit is only conducted by a factory
just as a procedure.”52
When buyers do demand higher standards of
ethical compliance, factories are expected to
cover the total cost of improving facilities and
worker conditions.
“If we say we need to raise our prices to meet
these standards they tell us they need to go where
the cheapest labour is,” says one factory owner in
Bangladesh supplying clothes to major UK
retailers.53
When asked by ActionAid, Tesco said that the
company strives to ensure they get as accurate a
picture as possible of conditions in the factories
that supply them around the world.
Tesco said it had completed unannounced audits at
59 of its garment factories in Bangladesh since April
2007, and in addition says it has interviewed 1,252
garment workers on an anonymous basis in
Bangladesh to understand their working conditions.
Tesco told ActionAid that its audits had revealed
only one instance of garment workers from supplier
factories in Bangladesh being paid below the
minimum wage.54
ActionAid invited Asda to respond to claims that
their audits in Bangladesh may be giving a
misleading or distorted picture of current factory
conditions, but received no response.
12 ActionAid: who pays?
Garment worker,
Bangladesh
4. SRI LANKA: SCHOOL UNIFORM
WORKERS TRAPPED IN POVERTY
CYCLE
ActionAid’s interviews with workers in Sri Lankan
factories producing school uniforms for Marks &
Spencer revealed that even though pay and
conditions are better than those in Bangladesh,
young women workers making school dresses for
UK children are still working long hours for poverty
pay, forced to live in poor housing and face stigma
and discrimination.
Our investigation found:
LARGE SCHOOL UNIFORM ORDERS LEADING
TO HEAVY PRESSURE AND INCREASED
TARGETS FOR SCHOOL UNIFORM WORKERS
Workers at a factory making school uniforms in
Sri Lanka say that their daily targets increase when
a large order comes in.
“When a big order comes in our supervisors scream
at us if we can’t increase our targets,” says Chaturi
Salman, a 22-year-old machine operator who works
in a factory in Colombo. “We don’t drink water
because that would mean having to go to the toilet
and often we only have a couple of bites of food at
lunchtime because otherwise we won’t finish our
work in time.”55
Although the women workers said that extra
overtime to complete large orders is not
compulsory, it is a de facto requirement because
they feel pressurised to do the extra work needed
to meet order deadlines.
www.actionaid.org.uk
Andrew Biraj/Panos Pictures/ActionAid
“When it gets really busy many of us are crying at
work because we can’t handle the pressure,” says
Chaturi. “If we are behind schedule then the
workers who do the ironing and packing have to
work through the night to get the orders done.”
SCHOOL UNIFORM WORKERS BEING PAID LESS
THAN A LIVING WAGE
Women making school uniforms for Marks &
Spencer are struggling to survive on their
monthly wages.
School uniform workers interviewed by ActionAid
for this report receive around only 2% of the retail
price for a £6 school uniform dress sold at Marks &
Spencer outlets in the UK.56
At one factory that supplies Marks & Spencer with
school dresses, workers claimed that inexperienced
workers started on a basic salary of 3,650 rupees
(£16) a month, well below what unions consider
enough to cover basic living costs. 57
“Trainees start on 3,650 rupees (£16) and after six
months if they meet their targets their wages are
increased 500 rupees (£2) every six months,” says
Anishka Ratwatte, a 25-year-old factory operator
who makes school dresses for Marks & Spencer.58
Anishka says that even though she has eight years
experience, her wage – including attendance bonus
and 60 hours of overtime a month – is usually only
around 11,000 rupees (£48).
13 ActionAid: who pays?
10p
The amount of the retail price received by school uniform
workers from a £6 Marks & Spencer school uniform dress
“Almost daily our living costs are increasing and our
wages are not enough for us to have a decent life.
We work all week and yet we can’t afford the basic
things that we need on our salaries.”
Unions in Sri Lanka argue that with the rapidly
increasing cost of living, garment workers should be
paid a basic salary of at least 11,000 rupees (£48)
per month to cover basic living costs.
When asked by ActionAid, Marks & Spencer said
that their recent audits had not highlighted any
particular issues regarding unfair overtime.
They also confirmed that all their suppliers are
expected to pay their workers at least the legal
minimum wage.
SCHOOL UNIFORM WORKERS TRAPPED IN
A POVERTY CYCLE
All of the women workers we interviewed who make
school uniforms for Marks & Spencer were living
five or six to a room in run-down boarding houses
close to their factories.
More than 70% of women garment workers in Sri
Lanka are single and childless.59 Many we spoke to
say they are too poor to start a family of their own.
www.actionaid.org.uk
“When I first became a garment worker I thought
that in five years I’d be able to save enough to go
home and start a family of my own,” says Renuka
Sulman, a 26-year-old garment worker from
Colombo who makes school uniforms for Marks &
Spencer. “I’ve been working here for nearly ten
years now and every month I am getting poorer.”60
WOMEN GARMENT WORKERS FACING
DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMA
Women garment workers in Sri Lanka also face
considerable social stigma and discrimination.
Over 60% of women garment workers are under
25 and the majority migrate from rural villages to
find work. They live away from their families in
shared accommodation, which contributes to
their vulnerability.61
According to the Women’s Center, a Sri Lankan
NGO, low wages and long hours for women
garment workers are a significant contributing
factor to this.
“Garment women get called juki badu, meaning
they are slaves to the sewing machines,” says
Padmini Weerasuriya, an ex-garment worker and
director of the Women’s Center. “There is an
assumption because they get worked so hard for
so little money that they are worthless.”62
14 ActionAid: who pays?
5. PARENTS IN THE UK
The price of school uniforms has long been a thorny
issue in the UK retail market. A recent Which? report
revealed that many parents were being overcharged
for school uniforms from specialist shops that were
of comparable quality to those sold at much lower
cost by high-street retailers.63
But providing a better deal for workers doesn’t
automatically mean higher prices for UK parents.
School uniforms are standard items of clothing,
which, unlike fashion ranges, are not subject to
seasonal changes and consumer trends. This
should mean that unethical purchasing practices
on school uniforms could be tackled more easily by
buyers such as Tesco, Asda and Marks & Spencer.
They should be able to set longer lead-times and
reduce the pressure on workers to work long hours
in tough conditions.
www.actionaid.org.uk
“I spend my days making school
uniforms for other families but I can’t
afford to give my own children clothes
or an education.”
Sirin Ankar, 24-year-old Bangladeshi garment worker
making school uniform trousers and shirts for a factory
supplying Asda
Labour costs are a tiny percentage of the overall
retail price and large supermarkets such as Tesco,
Asda and Marks & Spencer can afford to absorb
the cost of increasing wages. Last year Tesco
announced profits of £2.6 billion, Marks & Spencer
made £965 million and Asda made £572 million.
Even if costs to consumers did increase, the large
volumes of school uniforms sold in the UK would
mean that even a tiny increase on each item of
uniform sold could transform the lives of countless
women garment workers and their children. If an
extra 10p for each £6 school dress sold by Marks &
Spencer went back to the Sri Lankan women who
produced them, their wages would double.
15 ActionAid: who pays?
RECOMMENDATIONS
UK GOVERNMENT:
• Establish an independent regulator to end UK
supermarket buying practices that undermine
the rights of workers and damage producer
businesses in developing countries. The regulator
should:
pro-actively monitor relationships between
supermarkets and their suppliers of both food
and non-food goods
enforce a set of principles aimed at ensuring
contracts are fair and reasonable
find remedies for breaches of those principles,
and have the power to enforce its rulings
have the flexibility to address issues as they
arise, and to review the principles on a
regular basis
operate a strictly confidential complaints
procedure for suppliers
operate a legally enforceable dispute
procedure.
• Work towards establishing independent,
binding mechanisms to regulate UK business
purchasing practices outside the supermarket
sector in industries of export importance to
developing countries, such as food, textiles,
electronics and toys.
UK SUPERMARKETS:
• Publicly acknowledge the harmful impact of
purchasing practices on workers and suppliers,
and take concrete steps to address them.
• Through the ETI, with other clothing industry
players, come up with a plan to:
develop working estimates of living wages in
key sourcing countries
www.actionaid.org.uk
identify factories where they have the
combined leverage to influence wages
factor the living wage into the prices they pay
to these factories
ensure the benefits are passed on to workers
by involving local trade unions and NGOs, for
example by facilitating collective bargaining
agreements.
• Do not respond to the exposure of poor working
conditions in supply chains by ‘cutting and
running’. Work with other retailers, suppliers,
trade unions, local civil society groups and
governments to improve conditions.
• Do not engage in price wars that squeeze supply
chains to unsustainable levels.
BANGLADESHI AND SRI LANKAN
GOVERNMENTS:
• Ensure that all workers’ rights, including the right
to a living wage, freedom of association and
humane working hours are enshrined in law, and
strengthen regulatory capacity to enforce labour
laws. Legal protections should be extended to
cover temporary and informal workers.
• Strengthen women workers’ rights by enforcing
laws and policies concerning discrimination,
sexual harassment, maternity benefits and
childcare provision to reflect women workers’
needs.
CONSUMERS:
• We are not asking people to boycott
supermarkets.
• Join ActionAid’s Who pays? campaign and
take regular action to make supermarkets
play fair in developing countries. Sign up at
www.actionaid.org.uk/whopays or call
01460 238047.
16 ActionAid: who pays? www.actionaid.org.uk

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
AUTHOR
Annie Kelly

EDITOR
Alex Wijeratna

RESEARCH
Dipankar Aich, Santanu Dey, Dominic Eagleton, Martin Hearson, Anton
Marcus, Andrew Martin, Shamima Nasrin, Julian Oram, Jacobo Quintanilla,
Jenny Ricks, Shahidur Rahman, Prodip Kumar Roy, Laura Turquet, Patrick
Watt.

ENDNOTES
1 ActionAid interview, 25 July 2007 33 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007
2 Office of Fair Trading figures. Also see: Daily Telegraph (online) ‘Why 34 Calculated on a rate of 137 taka to £1 as of 14 August 2007
are uniforms so expensive?’, 7 July 2006 35 ActionAid interview, 25 July 2007
3 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007 36 ActionAid interview 26 July 2007
4 ActionAid interview 1 August 2007 37 Tesco letter to ActionAid, 22 August 2007
5 ActionAid interview, 3 August 2007 38 Labour Behind the Label (2001) Wearing thin: the state of pay in the
6 ActionAid interview 27 July 2007 fashion industry 2000-2001, Norwich: Labour Behind the Label
7 ActionAid interview 2 August 2007 39 The Independent, ‘Ethical Trading Initiative has had little impact’, 19
8 Based on an exchange rate of 137 taka to £1 on 14 August 2007 October 2006
9 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007 40 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007
10 ActionAid interview, 1 August 2007 41 ActionAid interview, 25 July 2007
11 ActionAid interview, 25 July 2007 42 See: www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/family/
12 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007 maternity/standards.htm
13 ActionAid interview, 2 August 2007 43 ActionAid interview, 25 July 2007
14 Ethical Trading Initiative figures. See: www.ethicaltrade.org 44 ibid
15 Figures provided by the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF). 45 ibid
See: www.jaafsl.com 46 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007
16 The Guardian (online) ‘There’s no such thing as cheap clothing’, 31 47 ibid
August 2005 48 ibid
17 Based on workers’ testimony in interviews conducted by ActionAid 49 Hearson, M (2006) Let’s clean up fashion: the state of pay behind the
in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, July and August 2007 UK high street, Norwich: Labour Behind the Label
18 ITUC (2006) Annual survey of trade union rights violations 2006, 50 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007
Brussels, ITUC. See: 51 ActionAid interview, 26 December 2006
http://www.icftu.org/survey2006.asp?language=EN 52 ActionAid interview, 2 March 2007
19 ILO (2005), The end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement and its 53 ActionAid interview, 28 July 2007
implication for trade and employment, Geneva, International Labour 54 Tesco letter to ActionAid, 21 August 2007
Organization 55 ActionAid interview, August 2007
20 The Guardian (online): ‘There’s no such thing as cheap clothing,’ 56 According to ActionAid interviews conducted on 1 August 2007, a
August 31 2005 production line of 55 workers earning an average of 10,000 rupees a
21 See: www.ethicaltrade.org month will make 1,000 school dresses a day for Marks & Spencer,
22 ActionAid (2007) Who pays? How British supermarkets are keeping retailing at £6 each. Daily wage is calculated at £2 (416 rupees) per
women workers in poverty, London: ActionAid day per worker and £110 for the whole production line, or 1.8% of
23 Cited in Raworth, K (2004) Trading away our rights: women working the £6,000 retail price.
in global supply chains, Oxford: Oxfam International 57 ActionAid interview, 1 August 2007
24 ActionAid (2007), ibid 58 ibid
25 ActionAid interview, 26 December 2006 59 Arai, E (2006) ‘Readymade garment workers in Sri Lanka: strategy to
26 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007 survive in competition, in Mayumi Murayama ed., Employment in
27 Tesco letter to ActionAid, 22 August 2007 Readymade Garment Industry in Post-MFA Era: The Case of India,
28 Financial Times (Sri Lanka) ‘Workers unrest hurts productivity at Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Chiba: Institute of Developing Economies
three Star garments factories’, July 22 2007 60 ActionAid interview, 1 August 2007
29 ActionAid interview with Sri Lanka factory owner, August 2007. See 61 ‘Apparel manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka & some characteristics
also Just-Style (online) ‘UK: M&S cuts supplier payments by 5.5%’, 3 of its workforce’, Social Dialogue and Workplace Cooperation Unit,
March 2006 Department of Labour, Sri Lanka, 2006
30 ActionAid interview with Sri Lanka factory owner, August 2007 62 ActionAid interview, 2 August 2007
31 ActionAid interview, 31 July 2007 63 Which?, ‘School uniforms prices taxing parents’, 14 September 2006
32 ActionAid interview, 26 July 2007
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