By Sonia Elks
LONDON, March 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Fashion brand
Boohoo should link bosses' hefty bonuses to improved workers'
rights instead of simply chasing growth, British lawmakers said
on Friday, following reports of low pay and dire conditions
among workers in its supply chains.
Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) wrote to
chairman Mahmud Kamani about plans to pay up to 150 million
pounds ($209 million) to Boohoo's founders and top executives if
the online firm's share price rises 66% over three years.
"We are asking Boohoo to put its money where its mouth is
and link the multi-million pound bonuses it has lined up for its
bosses to the achievement of its ethical and environmental
pledges," said committee chairman Philip Dunne in a statement.
Boohoo, which sells own-brand clothing, accessories and
beauty products targeted at 16- to 40-year-olds, did not
immediately reply to requests for comment.
The advent of fast fashion, with consumers constantly buying
and discarding clothing, has fuelled the risk of worker abuses
in global supply chains as factories come under greater pressure
from leading brands, labour activists say.
Boohoo came under fire after a media report in July said
factory workers in Leicester in central England, who were making
clothes destined for Boohoo, were paid as little as 3.50 pounds
($4.39) an hour, well below the legal minimum wage.
The group quickly commissioned an independent review of its
supply chain and in September accepted all of its
recommendations, and appointed retired judge Brian Leveson to
oversee reforms.
Boohoo had to defend its supplier practices again on Tuesday
after a Sky News report said the 4 billion pound company faced
the possibility of a U.S. import ban due to allegations over the
use of slave labour in English supplier factories.
Friday's letter follows Kamani's appearance before the
British committee in December, when he vowed to fix failings
which he said occurred because Boohoo had not developed
processes quickly enough to keep up with its rapid growth.
The EAC launched a new inquiry seeking to end the era of
throwaway fashion in October, citing concerns about its
environmental impact and factory conditions after the government
in 2019 rejected its recommendations from an earlier probe.
The EAC's letter said that, despite "positive steps",
Kamani's comments in December "did little to dispel the
impression that the company has been focused on rapid growth
regardless of the social or environmental costs".
"A move to link growth incentives to measurable ... criteria
- such as the environmental sustainability of your products and
the welfare of workers - would demonstrate genuine commitment to
environmental and social responsibility," it added.
($1 = 0.7157 pounds)
(Reporting by Sonia Elks @soniaelks; Editing by Katy Migiro.
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