"H&M, Zara slammed over garment worker charges", 23 October 2024

Fashion brands including H&M, Zara and Next...are being accused of failing to work with suppliers to have charges dropped against 40,000 garment workers following last year's protests over the level of the minimum wage...

Campaigners have...launched an international campaign condemning the inaction of fashion brands and calling for 36 legal cases against worker groups and protesters to be dropped.

The cases are held against 40,000 ‘unnamed individuals’ which it is feared could be used as "blank arrest warrants" against any workers who raise concerns with factory bosses...

The campaigners have linked 45 fashion brands to suppliers which filed charges in 36 cases against garment workers in Bangladesh and have been pushing these brands to ensure the cases are dropped for the past year.

A 'brand tracker' links H&M with the most cases - with 10 of its supply factories filing charges against 94 named workers and 5,060 unnamed workers, none of which have so far been dropped.

Then comes Zara owner Inditex, with 58 named and 5,500 unnamed workers from eight supplier factories charged. UK brand Next was third in the list with 49 named and 8,950 unnamed workers at seven supply factories facing charges.

Other brands linked to factories which have filed charges against workers include Matalan, Lee, Aldi, Levi's, Calvin Klein, Primark, Lidl, Gap, Vans and Marks & Spencer, according to the campaigners.

They say that some brands have taken initial steps to ensure suppliers drop the allegations but that, a year on, all have failed to follow through and not a single case has been cleared...

An Inditex spokesperson commented: “As part of Inditex’s continuous due diligence process, where we have been made aware of charges against workers, we have asked those in our supply chain to remove those charges – this can take time due to legal timelines...

An H&M spokesperson said: "As a company present and committed to Bangladesh, we don't recognise the picture given in the latest reports from campaign organisations. According to the latest information we have, an agreement between local unions, garment factories owners and the Ministry of Labor and Employment in Bangladesh has been reached to meet a series of demands of the workers, including the withdrawal of political cases against the workers.

"We see freedom of association, collective bargaining and responsible purchasing practices as the cornerstones for improved working conditions and wages in our supply chains and we proactively advocate for that. Together with our teams on the ground, we are in close dialogue with our business partners and with Labour Behind the Label to get a better understanding of their findings."

Lidl said the campaigners had listed four unnamed suppliers. From previous exchanges with the Clean Clothes Campaign, it believed it had never had a business relationship with one of the four, had ended its relationship with another in 2018, while a third had been ended by a business partner more recently.

"This means that of the four factories we assume the press release is referring to, only one active business relationship with Lidl remains. Here, too, we have carefully investigated the allegations," said a Lidl spokesperson.

"We have obtained various pieces of credible evidence, including surveillance camera footage, which suggests that vandalism with destruction of factory property was committed. Therefore, filing charges seems to be justifiable."

However, the factory involved had subsequently submitted a request for the charges to be dropped: "Lidl takes its responsibility towards the employees in the countries where our suppliers produce very seriously and has been committed to compliance with minimum social standards throughout the entire supply chain for many years," it added.

VF Corp, which owns Vans, said it had worked with its supplier partners in Bangladesh to have charges dropped against workers when the issue was first raised last year and into the beginning of this year.

"To the best of our knowledge, no VF supplier in Bangladesh currently has existing charges filed against their own factory workers, with the suppliers applying for the cases to be withdrawn in March and April of this year," said a spokesperson.

Ecotextile News has also approached the other brands named for comment.