Zara is a Spanish fashion chain that has expanded so rapidly in recent years also the world’s largest fashion group (available in 78 countries, with 5,154 stores worldwide). Owned by the world's clothing retail giant, Inditex SA (ITX.MC), currently under investigation by Brazil's labor ministry after a supplier was accused of slave labor.
The case was made public late on Tuesday by Brazilian television network Band, whose reporters accompanied Labor Ministry personnel when they rescued 15 people working in degrading conditions in two clandestine workshops in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They were working for the firm AHA, a supplier to Zara.
All workers had been recruited in their home countries with promises of a better life in Brazil. Once in Sao Paulo, they were made to work up to 12 - 14 hour days for wages below Brazil's legal minimum (about 340 dollars a month). They could not leave the apartment without the consent of the supervisor and didn't had hot water for taking showers or food for the lunch. Employers also deducted from wages the cost of traveling to Brazil and living costs, which according to the Labor Ministry constitutes enslavement to pay off debt. The analogous slavery condition was verified by the fact of they had debited from their earnings the rent of the apartment in which they were locked and the illegal transport from Bolivia to Brazil.
Last August 17, 2011 Inditex released a statement saying that the case represents a “serious breach in accordance with the Code of Conduct for External Manufacturers and Workshops of Inditex,” and that “the Inditex group, along with Brazil’s Ministry of Work, will strengthen the supervision of the production system of all its suppliers in the country to ensure that such cases do not occur again.”
While the consumer is bombarded by media with how to find cheaper prices for all goods whether it be at the departments stores or on the net, so as the majority of manufacturers / producers - now wanting cheaper cost of labor. Maybe next time I buy an article of clothing, I must think about where it may have come from.
TO VIEW PHOTOS OF WORKER'S POOR CONDITIONS CLICK HERE.
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