Boohoo profits ‘risk precedent’ that it pays to mistreat workers’ says Leicester MP Claudia Webbe
SOARING profits for fast-fashion brand Boohoo set the dangerous precedent that it pays to exploit workers, MP Claudia Webbe has warned.
This week the online retailer reported a surge in sales of 41 per cent during lockdown, bringing its profits to £1.7 billion up from £1.2bn a year earlier.
Profits soared despite the firm facing criticism last year after it emerged that workers in its supply chain were being paid less than the minimum wage and were working in poor conditions. Sub-par safety standards in garment factories in Leicester were linked to the high number cases of Covid-19 in the city, which remained under a local lockdown for months while the rest of the country reopened.
Leicester East MP Ms Webbe said that Boohoo’s increased revenue is a “sad indictment of our rigged economic system, in which companies that exploit workers are rewarded with ever-increasing revenues.”
“This sets a dangerous precedent for other businesses — that not only will you not be punished for mass-scale human rights abuses, but that you will get rich quick by doing so,” she said.
“Boohoo was aware of endemic exploitation in Leicester’s garment industry. Yet they chose to ignore the plight of workers to seek ever-higher profits. Now the exploited labour of Leicester residents is helping to finance extravagant corporate salaries.” The firm told shareholders on Wednesday that its pre-tax profits had been lifted by 35 per cent to £124.7 million. It said this was thanks to the online shopping boom and people’s switch to more casual clothing during lockdown.
Ms Webbe said it is up to the government to hold Boohoo to account.
The firm set up an investigation into its supply chain following the scandal. It cut ties with two suppliers and laid out plans to set up its own “model” factory in Leicester.
Claudia Webbe MP is the member of Parliament for Leicester East. You can follow her at www.facebook.com/claudiaforLE and twitter.com/ClaudiaWebbe
