In the search of ever increasing profits Asda, Tesco and Primark won’t stop at anything.

Workers producing clothes in Bangladesh for some of the UK’s biggest retailers are being forced to work up to 80 hours a week for as little as 7p an hour, according to a report published today.

The study from War on Want claims that conditions in six factories supplying Primark, Tesco and Asda are worse than they were two years ago when the charity carried out its first investigation. Based on interviews with 115 workers in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, today’s report claims many were struggling to survive on meagre wages and some were subjected to physical and verbal abuse.

Some said that they had been forced to work hours of unpaid overtime, adding that factory owners were “fiercely opposed” to trade unions.

“Primark, Asda and Tesco promise a living wage for their garment makers,” said Ruth Tanner, campaigns and policy director at War on Want. “But workers are actually worse off than when we exposed their exploitation two years ago. Source: The Guardian.

Still you can guess their response.

Last night Primark said it was committed to ethical sourcing of its clothes and continually audited its suppliers. A spokesman for Asda said it was committed to “doing the right thing” for suppliers. Tesco said it took working conditions in its supply chain “extremely seriously” but criticised War on Want which refused to name the factories in order to protect the workers. Source

“The allegations are unsubstantiated and, as War on Want have again decided not to engage with us on them, we question whether their approach is the best way to tackle the complex issues surrounding the Bangladeshi garment industry,” the Tesco spokesman said. “We have no history of cut and running from suppliers, and make clear we would work with any suppliers facing problems to help them improve worker conditions and ensure that the interests of workers are protected.

“Therefore, claims workers are protected by withholding evidence are invalid, and without producing evidence we can neither know whether there is any truth to them nor go about putting right any possible concerns. We take the issue of working conditions throughout our supply chain extremely seriously and insist on high standards, going to great lengths to ensure our suppliers meet them.” Source: The Guardian

I can hear the sound of hand washing – how difficult is it for Tesco to check their supply chain? In fact if they stand by their promises of a living wage was anything but lip service they’d have the evidence to refute War on Want’s claims. We all should really stop shopping from these places.

Download War on Want’s report Fashion Vitims II.