alberr needed some new shorts. As some of you know he is a bit rotund so i was pleased to spot some for very rotund people in tescos.

i picked up a couple of pairs and looked at the price.

3 squid.. with the special offer thingy that made them. 2.97 at the checkout.


it just isn't right that very large people (who clearly have more to eat than they need) in the UK, should be able to buy stuff made by people who must barely afford to eat at the wages that allow those prices

i bought them anyway as alberr needs to cover his bits and his current shorts are v. delapitated.

but it just isn't right.

All thanks to those communists in China Beryl.

*sigh*

Tis true, those prices really are wrong. The Chinese textile workforce needs to be organised. What can we do about that?

i've just checked and these particular shorts were made in bangladesh.

they had run out of the posh eight squid made in china ones.

btw.. we are not talking boys knickers shorts here but proper trouser shorts .. ( short pants ? )

what saddens me is that one of my mentors in the CP, when i was little, was active in China in 1949, the year i was born. He was also active in the wobblies and knew joe hill.


I am glad those comrades aren't around to see what's happened.

you're not allowed to organise under communism beryl.

remember what happened with solidarity......



stop buying chinese

tis better for the environment too...

don't start me on that!

I know. But like with the CO2 debate: we're not going to convince every Tom Dick and Harry, or Janine, Meryl and Angela
that they should boycott cheap textiles because they are made under such poor circumstances.

So, I know that I shouldn't buy chinese, bangladeshi clothes (which leaves very little, but we can try....) but that won't help the chines exploited worker one bit, because there'll be zillions that will buy their stuff.

So question remains: what can we do to help that chinese worker to get organised...

hmmm
- H&M: my blouse is from Bangladesh
- My bike leathers: indonesia
- 90% of Iris' clothes: China I guess, they don't say
- My jeans: unknown
- The Ikea fabric: Bangladesh
I'm not doing really well...

Realistically - very little. At least in China.

Within the EU we need laws that make sure that companies operating here are not allowed to sell sweatshop goods. Laws that set down minimum working conditions and wages for anyone producing goods that are sold within the EU.

If retailers were made legally responsible for ensuring that their goods were ethically and sustainably sourced then they would have to do so.

Let's face it - the reason manufacturing has left Europe is because workers in the EU have much better rights and wages than they do in the third world - we have priced ourselves out of the market.

Of course that $1 a day job for the 14 year old girl making Alberr's shorts might be the one thing keeping her family going...

None of this is easy....

New protectionism eh...

I've been working for a company that tried to help the EU promote the "green flower" eco production label. see here for an article http://glwww.mst.dk/publica/projects/2001/11200000_.htm

But I don't believe labels will draw people to a product, price will. Besides this label focusses on the environment, not on the people in the production process.

So I'd have to agree with you. Like the employees that come from Poland to work in the UK and Holland are obliged to obey by Dutch labour laws (and minimum wage), the EU could impose restrictions on imports too.

Of course the other side of this medal is that this new protectionism shuts out most 3rd world countries who are dependend on us buying their products. No Aid but Trade, right?

Can I ask why, based on the first post, it seems morally indefensible for fat people to buy cheap clothes? Is it somehow okay for thin people to exploit the third world because they use less fabric?

absolutely.

I shop at Tesco and like Beryl have bought incredibly cheap shorts etc, basically all my clothes are cheap, it's all I can afford and pay the council tax, mortgage etc.

I dislike the chinese government and the conditions that the goods are manufactured in but as I have a working class income, I cannot make middle class life style choices and buy my clothes from that nice Hawkshead catalogue, I wish I could, I'm aware of the issues but I'm stuffed really.

I just don't buy anything with a logo so at least I don't advertise the bastards.

what i said was ...



implying that the rotund person buying the shorts clearly has enough money to put enough food on their plate, unlike the person who got less than a dollar a day for making them.

and there must have been a lot of cotton picked to supply the fabric too!

I have no idea what a Hawskhead catalogue is...
I'm not telling you off for buying cheap clothes though. It's not about the poor against the poor. It's about skimming the fat cats in China that get rich over the backs of their employees. If the chinese workforce could get organised, with a little help from the EU if we can help it, they wouldn't have to work under such deplorable circumstances.

i think it was seeing the new super tripleX size in a garment that was so ridiculously cheap that made me more than usually concious of the unfairness of it all.

hawkshead stuff probably comes from the same place.. you just pay more for it. and they don't do XXXL... yet.

Speaking as a "larger" member of the species, I should say that:
1. It's actually quite hard to find larger clothes in the more expensive brands.
2. Size isn't necessarily purely the result of how much you eat or how much you spend on food.
3. I try to buy fairtrade cotton tshirts when I can... but the biggest size you can get tends to be XL....

I have to wholeheartedly agree with all points JBoyd made. Thankfully I still fit in high street sizes (only JUST, excluding not the fashion brands because they don't DO a size 16), but mr. L needs xxxL shirts (he's broadshouldered you know )
I am disappointed he only buys crappy shirts in muted colours, but he has very little choice. Everything I ever bought for him was too small.

Tesco has to play fair on wages for farmworkers ...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2113101,00.html

There are £3 T-shirts in Sainsburys that don't have a 'Made In' sticker, so I'm guessing they're not ethical!

As much as I need some t's, I'm glad to say they haven't come from Sainsburys.

That does suck, doesn't it. My SP shirts don't have that either, but they're made in Europe, according to the party. Why don't they just say that? It should be obligatory...

Albania probably. v cheap labour.

yee of little faith...

Usually Poland these days, or Turkey...

should I feel happier that I've found some T's from Mauritius that cost £8?

Not really, they'll be sweatshop too...

For once the Australians have someting to teach us. When we were there we noticed most shops sold 2 ranges. The dearer range was clearly marked Made In Australia (or in Perth, Made In Western Australia) whilst at the back there were cheaper goods madein China (etc). This was less so in Melbourne/Sydney.

Aussie SweatShops

Made In Australia doesn't necessarily mean that the items of clothes aren't from sweatshops, they could quite easily have been made by homeworkers or similar.

i bought a plastic garden bucket thingy in argos yesterday. Didn't check it's origins 'til i put it in the van and noticed the label said 'made in Israel'. Didn't expect that at all!




no, i didn't take it back

Black plastic crates 97p in Tesco and 99p buckets in B&Q, Beryl I'm glad you didn't take it back, buy some bagels next time your in Tesco as well!

oh well

good try

Aah, that's a lovely picture of Jeremy - he's a lovely man!

there was a major item with pictures in the grauniad on Monday.