![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() H&M said: “It is of utmost importance to us that our products are made under good working conditions and with consideration to safety, health and the environment. Tesco said only that it did not allow child labour. They all said they did not use the factories highlighted by Modeslaver. New Look and Primark said workers in its factories had to be over 16, and all this was checked through regular visits and other measures. Marks & Spencer, which works with three factories in Myanmar, said its suppliers were only allowed to employ over-18s. Last year, the Myanmar government set a minimum wage of 3,600 kyat (£2.30) for an eight-hour day, one of the lowest in the world.Īll of the British retailers contacted by the Guardian said they had policies in place which banned their suppliers from using child labour – classed as 14 in developing countries under International Labour Organisation (ILO) recommendations, although it says children aged 13 to 15 may do light work, as long as it does not threaten their health and safety, or hinder their education. “I am not hugely surprised these problems are happening given the scale of disempowerment of workers in Myanmar,” Sahan said. The revelations raise new fears about conditions in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where British retailers including Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Primark and New Look who have joined H&M, C&A, Aldi and Gap in recent years.Įrinch Sahan, from Oxfam, which carried out research into working conditions in Myanmar factories last year, said the charity had not looked into child labour but had found a high prevalence of forced overtime and low pay. H&M does of course not tolerate child labour in any form.” ILO instead stresses the importance of not excluding this age group from work in Myanmar. However, it said in a statement: “When 14– to 18-year-olds are working it is therefore not a case of child labour, according to international labour laws.
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