"Stop Shein listing on the FTSE, workers’ rights campaigners urge", 9 June 2024

Workers rights campaigners have called for the UK’s next government to oppose...Shein joining the FTSE, arguing that a London listing would be “yet another betrayal to working people everywhere and the planet”.

Alena Ivanova, campaigns lead at Labour Behind the Label, said it had heard the news of senior British politicians courting Shein’s £50bn listing “with dismay” given what she claimed was a lack of transparency about its supply chain and ethical concerns.

She highlighted: an investigation last month...Public Eye, which found that workers producing garments for Shein routinely work more than 70-hour weeks; exposés alleging forced labour in the Uyghur region of China; and the company’s “cavalier approach to design appropriation”, which has led to a string oflawsuits relating to allegedly copied garments.

Mathias Bolton, head of commerce at UNI Global Union...said: “Shein shouldn’t be rewarded with the credibility of being listed in the City, or anywhere else, given the lack of transparency in their supply chain and shocking reports of severe labour violations.”...

However, reports...suggested it may not attempt to join the London market until September, after the election, when a Labour administration is expected to be in power...

A Shein spokesperson said it “has a zero-tolerance policy for forced labour, and we are committed to respecting human rights. We take visibility across our supply chain seriously and have invested millions of pounds in strengthening governance and compliance.”

The company said its supplier audits showed “a consistent improvement in performance and compliance”, including “improvements in ensuring that workers are compensated fairly for what they do”.

It said research carried out by third-party auditors at Shein supplier facilities in China has found that basic salaries were on average twice the local minimum wage.