Monday 6 July 2020

Bosses £150m bonus; workers, £3 /hour pay: is that a fair world?

In your Business news section on 27 June, you reported that fashion retailer Boohoo bosses were being massively financially incentivized to make even more profits for a company with a group market capitalization of  £7.55 billion ("Boohoo bosses try  £150m bonus incentives for size, June 27).

Today (July 6)  you report on line that "fast-fashion business Boohoo is under growing pressure to investigate its supply chain after bosses admitted the firm had no idea some of its clothes were made in a "sweatshop" factory in Leicester." ("Boohoo shares sink after Leicester factory revelations", https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/07/06/boohoo-denies-knowing-poor-conditions-leicester-factory/ )


The company is reported to have  said it was" not aware" that it was using the facility {…} it is alleged was paying staff illegally low wages and flouting safety measures.


If this is so, what were theses directors actually doing? Does Boohoo not deploy anyone on their  board to be responsible for sustainability  matters? Does the Boohoo head of procurement never visit the factories that make the products it sells? If not, why not?


Far from paying Boohoo senior management obscene multi-multi-million pound  bonuses, these bosses should be removed, fined and  banned from serving  on any board for a decade. They are a disgrace.


We have had a public debate over slavery two centuries ago  in far way Caribbean or the tobacco field of the Southern US.


The way these workers have been treated in Leicester, we seem to have the  equivalent of  modern day slavery right under out  contemporary noses.

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