Although Primark are being targeted in this show, our research shows that poor labour standards, including poor health and safety, excessive overtime, poor wages, discrimination and even child labour are common place in many workplaces across the world.  These issues are persistent and systemic across all sectors and all countries.  The causes are complex, and include the failure of governments to enforce laws, as well as lack of good management in factories, and problems caused by the pressures which retailers and brands can put on their suppliers.

Whilst Channel 4 blame ‘editorial reasons‘, we suspect that Channel 4 is dealing with some legal challenges from Primark. Hopefully these issues will be resolved and the programme can be shown at a later date.  Whilst it’s a shame that the show has been pulled, we welcome the spotlight that Alexa Chung’s involvement has brought to the subject of labour standards and hope that this is the start of a challenging and informed debate.

Like ‘Blood Sweat and T-Shirts’ the shows concerns the working conditions of Indian workers making clothes for Britain’s low cost fashion industry. These include poor health and safety, low wages, excessive overtime, discrimination, physical abuse and even child labour.

The format is expected to be similar to the BBC3 show. The programme makers use undercover footage from factories which are allegedly producing for Primark, combined with interviews with workers and former workers. In a new twist on the ‘reality sweatshop’ theme, the programme will show host Alexa Chung’s sweatshop which was set up in London’s West End staffed by 15 volunteer members of the public.

With the increasing downward pressure on prices of clothing, Primark is an easy target for criticism. In December 2006 the War on Want report ‘Fashion Victims‘ found workers making clothes for Primark working eighty-hour weeks for 5p an hour, forced overtime and potentially deadly working conditions in Bangladesh. A 2007 update with Labour behind the Label found very little improvement. Primark is the leading low-cost fashion retailer and as such has become synonymous with the argument that low cost at the point of purchase means poor wages in the factory. There is some evidence that Primark are moving to improve this image, joining the Ethical Trading Initiative in 2006 and developing a new strategy for ethical trade.

On balance we thought that the Blood Sweat and T-shirts programme, whilst including a large dose of ‘reality TV’ drama, raised some relevant issues, and dealt with them sensitively. We eagerly await the results of Channel 4′s effort.

For those who want to catch a glimpse of the programme, the BBC has posted some interesting clips on You Tube:

• Richard discusses wages and the barriers to education with a factory worker.
• Georgina discusses the conditions for migrant workers with a factory manager.

It is testament to the growing interest in ethical trade that the programme has been made at all, but it is far from the only ethical trade project in media at the moment. Alexa Chung is planning a similar experiment in her own sweat shop in Covent Garden, while the BBC has recently launched a website about ethical trade in the fashion industry. This new interest in ethical trade, and the BBC TV programme in particular, has created quite a stir in the blogosphere and have been the subject of several blogs.

New interest in ethical trade is always warmly received, and if media projects such as these can help change consumer attitudes to working conditions abroad, then companies will feel even more pressure to control standards in their supply chains.