Arcadia group

(Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Outfit, Topshop, Topman, Wallis)

Responded to survey: yes, updated summary based on comments

MSI involvement: no [what's this?]

Grade 2.5: Can offer concrete examples of steps to increase wages in the supplier base, but pilot projects are limited in scope and have significant omissions. [what's this?]

Summary

Two wage projects from last year continue, but with little evidence of learning being used to change wages on a broader scale.

Position on living wages

‘Arcadia Group supports the principle of a living wage... The difficulty continues to be how to measure it. Until there is a universally agreed alternative, we rely on a solid benchmark specified by the ILO convention, and that is the minimum wage set by law in the
appropriate country, or local industry benchmark standards.’

Position on freedom of association

Arcadia’s code includes the right to freedom of association. It has also worked in two factories where ‘factory management agreed to adopt a ‘Right to Organise’ guarantee. In one instance this has led to workers joining a local trade union which the factory management has recognised.’

Work so far on living wages

‘In the past twelve months Arcadia Group and Next plc have worked together on a living wages project focused on a shared factory in Bangladesh....'

Highlights were: On average, workers received 4,996 taka, or three times the minimum wage; 73% of workers received the War On Want living wage figure of 5,333 taka or above. In some cases this was only achieved by working overtime, however overtime was within legal limits.’

Workers were also interviewed in their homes and food prices were obtained from a local NGO. Arcadia plan to ‘extend the wage study to other Bangladesh factories’ and ‘continue our efforts over the long-term to achieve sustainable solutions to the findings from this study.’

In Mauritius, Arcadia and Next had researched wages through meetings with Government Ministers and the Mauritius Employer’s Federation (MEF).

Other work included a piece rate study and the production of supplier guidelines addressing additional costs charged to migrant workers.

‘Migrant Workers’ Guidelines have been built into [a case study supplier’s] HR policies. The employer now pays both the recruitment agents’ fees and air fares to and from Mauritius. This has resulted in significant direct financial improvement for Migrant workers at their
supplier.’

Plans on living wages

Other significant information

‘Arcadia Group launched a Purchasing Practices project in 2008... The project is under way and has key milestones. Recommendations must be deliverable with positive solutions for all stakeholders.’

Arcadia were keen to mention attendance of a number of bespoke seminars, one on purchasing practices, another on interviewing workers, and another run by Northumbria University addressing freedom of association. Various documentation was taken away to use with suppliers. While reviewing this profile, Arcadia commented that we had not given enough consideration to these seminars. On the contrary, we are delighted that they took place. Nonetheless, we will wait to see if they have a positive impact for workers in next year’s report.

Some work on code compliance monitoring was also mentioned including an alternative auditing programme to address gaps in factory policies and procedures, and ethical sourcing training for buying and merchandising staff.

Our comments

Arcadia know all the right things to say but it is difficult to ascertain whether this is a result of learning gained from supply chain work or good PR. Arcadia appear to be working in all the right ways: close brand partnerships, collaborations with industry officials and government in Mauritius, willingness to attend ethical trade events and obvious attention paid to various NGO reports. Purchasing practices seem to be on the agenda, although what this entails was not specified, and mention of work in Mauritius leading to worker union membership is encouraging.

A large proportion of its work appears to focus on one supplier in Mauritius, which we assume is a factory featured in a Sunday Times exposé in 2007. We are glad to see that much needed improvements are being made there, that attempts are being made
to tackle what were and are very difficult migrant worker issues and that Arcadia seems committed to staying with this factory and working with them for long term sustainable change.

However, the failure to develop policies beyond one or two factories is one of the most obvious gaps in the submission. Overall, it offers no clear strategy for implementation of a living wage across the supplier base. Both wage projects made little or no reference to learning being used to bring about change on a larger scale, and no details have been submitted indicating future plans for the pilots.

Compare this submission to that of Next, their partner in both projects, and its easy to see a clear difference in depth of engagement and willingness to implement learning on a larger scale, perhaps due to Next’s experience of work with various ETI groups. If Arcadia joined this multi-stakeholder initiative it might have more chance of developing a strategic and systematic approach and suddenly find it has a lot more to say.