Here's a little top ten list of sweatshop abusing companies...

1) Primark – Cheap clothes from cheap labour…
In 2008 Primark were exposed employing people in sweatshop conditions in Bangladesh, long hours, hazardous and unhealthy conditions for very low wages. In 2009 Primark were exposed by the BBC for employing people in similar conditions in the UK. Meanwhile, with amid the onset of a recession, Primark recently announced record profits!

2) Topshop – They’ve done it before they’ll do it again…
In 2002 No Sweat and the GMB Union exposed Topshop using sweatshops in the East End of London. Topshops response was to shut down the factories and burn the clothes, ruining lives and the environment. In 2007 The Times found out that Topshop boss, Philip Green, had simply moved his sweatshop conditions abroad, employing hundreds of Sri Lankan, Indian and Bangladeshi workers in Mauritius where they labour for up to 12 hours a day for 30 pence an hour

3) Asda/Walmart - Slave drivers of China & Bangladesh…
As part of the same report into Primark, Asda were also exposed for using some of the same Bangladeshi factories. In 2007 Hong Kong based group SACOM published a report detailing the sweatshop conditions workers that make toys for Asda’s parent company, Walmart. Late last year Walmart decreed that its Chinese suppliers have to respect workers' rights, including the right to organsie. Unfortunately Walmart palmed the cost of better wages and conditions on to the factory owners themselves, leading to mass factory closures and further impoverishment for workers

4) Tesco – Every little help, except in sweatshops…
In 2006 and again in 2008 the charity War on Want exposed Tesco for exploiting people in Bangladesh. In WoW’s report Fashion Victims they reported bullying by managers in factories and intimidation by employed thugs, awful working conditions and long hours. All the while Tesco reported record profits and opened stores across the globe!

5) Nike – Nasty old Nike, always exploiting their workers…
Nike are the experts at exploitation, ever since the anti sweatshop movement emerged, Nike have always been in the top ten of sweatshop abusing companies. Reports from 1996 were describing conditions where workers have to meet a quota before you can go home, no matter how long they’ve been there and without extra pay. In 2007 reports came through that little had changed in Nike sweatshops and workers were forced in to the desperate situation of striking for better pay, striking in countries where such actions can get you beaten or killed.

6) Adidas – Sweatshop made, Olympics specials…
The company that won the contract to be official sports brand behind the Olympics 08 use sweatshop labour to produce the Olympic gear. The money they earned from that contract never came anywhere near the workers at the bottom. A football stitcher in India would have to sew over 12 million balls/year to earn as much as Adidas CEO Herbert Heiner did in 2007 (that’s 100 balls per minute for a 48 hour work week)!!


7) Disney – Magic for some, hell for others…
2007 saw workers at a factory producing toys in Shenzhen, China fighting for their rights. Workers had been forced workers to sign one-sided ‘contracts’in which wages, work hours and benefits were left blank. Wages had been withheld, overtime unpaid, working hours excessive and living conditions in the dormitories atrocious. In addition, Tianyu management falsified contracts and concealed labour violations from social auditors. The workers fought back while Disney ignored their demands.

8) Burberry – Off to China for cheap workforce & fat profits…
In 2007 Burberry shut down its unionised South Wales factory to move garment production to Chinese sweatshops. Burberry moves to factories in Shenzhen in the Guangdong province of China where production is likely to involve employing child labour or use forced, prison labour. Workers in Britain lose their jobs while workers in China are signed up for exploited labour, all the while Burberry gets fat on the profits.

9) Starbucks – Crap coffee, crap employers…
Coffee growers receive little more than $1.10 (50p) for a pound of coffee, which is then sold for $160 (£80). Oxfam launched a campaign against Starbucks in October 2006 after it effectively blocked Ethiopia's attempts to trademark its coffee beans in the United States. Meanwhile, Starbucks workers in the US earn as little $6-$8 per hour depending on the location. Every single barista in the US is part-time and not guaranteed any work hours per week. For example, a Starbucks worker can get 35 hours of work one week, 22 hours the week after, and 10 hours the following week. In Britain baristas get a little over the minimum wage – in other words poverty pay.


10) Planet Earth Inc – Sweatshop labour across the globe…
Sweatshop labour isn’t confined to just a few companies in a few countries, it exists all over the world with factories ignoring basic right to decent conditions and pay while producing products for a whole variety of companies. Big companies make big profits from contracting their production out to middle men with the proviso to produce as cheap as possible to a certain standard. To reach that standard workers bear the brunt of long hours, low wages and terrible conditions. To keep the workers in line bullying and intimidation are commonplace.Sweatshop labour is modern, global capitalism striped bare.

No Sweat exists to make solidarity with sweatshop workers and their organisations, help them organise themselves, publicise, expose and help stamp out sweatshop exploitation.