French Connection

Download French Connection's submission (pdf)

Responded to survey: yes

MSI involvement: no [what's this?]

Grade 1: Accepts the principle of a living wage, but applies legal minimum/industry benchmark. [what's this?]

Summary

Nothing of relevance to show; reasons for lack of action on this issue fail to convince.

Position on living wages

In 2008:

"While we consider that our suppliers should pay their employees a fair wage and that we recognise that local statutory minimum wages do not necessarily represent a living wage, we believe that our ability to directly influence the management of the facilities which manufacture our garments is limited by the relative size of our business, by the limitations of our own resources, and by the local conditions."

In 2007:

"Our policies include that our suppliers should pay their employees a fair wage and we recognise that local statutory minimum wages do not necessarily represent a living wage while also recognising that assessment of a “living wage” presents significant issues."

Work so far on living wages

None mentioned

Plans on living wages

None mentioned

Other significant information

None

Our comments

We suggested last year that French Connection might be “clutching at straws”, a view that seems to have been confirmed by this year's response. No activity on living wages, and a different set of excuses from last year. All of these issues could be resolved by participating in a multi-stakeholder initiative such as the Ethical Trade Initiative.