Detail on Workers Rights 

↑ Wages

Arcadia told us that it,

continues to support the principle of a living wage. Until practical industry guidance is established we rely on solid benchmarks specified by ILO conventions, the prevailing industry wage and the minimum wage set by law in the country from which we source.

It further continued that,

the “living wage” is beyond the influence of one single Brand or Company...[Topshop and Topman] will also continue to support and participate in multi-stakeholder initiatives, which endeavour to find a solution to the sustainable implementation of the “living wage”.

It didn’t tell us which multi-stakeholder initiatives, or what it was doing itself to find a sustainable solution.  We note once again that Arcadia is not part of the ETI.

→ Freedom of Association

Arcadia reminded us that its code states,

Workers have the right to join or form unions of their choice and to bargain collectively. The employer should adopt an open attitude to unions.

It also told us that,

The Arcadia Group supports the implementation of parallel means of worker representation in countries where freedom of association is restricted by law.

It didn’t mention worker training.

↑ Monitoring & verification

Arcadia said that,

The factory audit programme has been developed over the last twelve months and extended to bring it into line with current industry practice...At this stage in the audit programme, all audits are conducted on an announced basis.  We recognise the value of unannounced audits and it is our intention to build into the programme a percentage of audits on an unannounced basis. We reserve the right to visit any of our factories at any time on an unannounced basis.

Audits include worker interviews in a ‘private place’.  Arcadia continued that,

We understand the limitations of audits and as such we are investigating an alternative to audits, we are currently trailing factory assessments within two of our Brands....[This is] a new assessment, remediation and capacity building approach taking into account lessons learned from the vast experience residing within the industry and its stakeholders. As the pilot is in its earliest stages, it is too early to report the projected changes it will bring to those two Brands and the influence it will have on the rest of the Arcadia Group.

It is not clear which stakeholders’ experience is being used to inform these assessments, and they do not seem to involve local trade unions and labour rights groups: essentially they seem like audits with a different name, all be it with a more ‘sophisticated’ approach.

In August 2007, the Sunday Times published allegations of ‘slave labour’ at two Mauritian factories supplying Arcadia’s Topshop brand.  It reported that migrant workers earn as little as 22p per hour, 40% of the average local wage.  Arcadia’s press statement at the time demonstrated why it needs a more robust system of monitoring and verification:

CMT [one factory] had an inspection in early May [2007] by an independent assessor accompanied by a member of the in-house technical team.   STAR [the other factory] were independently audited on 6th April 06 and visited in March 07 by the in-house technical team...We are not aware based on our inspections that any code of conduct have been violated.

Our conclusion

In 2006, Arcadia said that,

[a]s circumstances change we adapt to them, and I outlined in my reply a number of areas which we want to develop further, in association with different stakeholders. Your latest proposals are interesting and will be included in our research.

We are disappointed that its interest into our proposals does not seem to have translated into any efforts to pay a living wage, train workers or involve local trade unions and labour rights groups in its monitoring and verification. Essentially, it seems to be embarking down the well-trodden path that other companies have followed and that has not benefited workers in the way it should have.  Despite having largely ignored our recommendations in 2006, it stated again in 2007 that,

[w]e realise that our programme will need to continue to evolve and as such we welcome any further dialogue with you and other stakeholders on how our programme can be improved.

If Arcadia really took on board the views of stakeholders such as us, it would be building an ambitious ethical trading programme that avoids the wrong turns others have made, rather than simply emulating them with a weak auditing system.  Our overriding recommendation must be that it join a multi-stakeholder initiative such as the ETI.