Cambodian textile workers who supply UK clothing stores ‘starving’ and suffering ‘mass faintings’
By the time London Fashion Week comes to a close, 58 high-end designers will have shown their collections. Rail-thin models will have walked the runways. Debate will have raged over size zero. In Cambodia, meanwhile, garment workers stitching clothes that supply the UK high street are malnourished to the point of collapse. According to a study released on Monday, a third of Cambodian garment workers producing clothes sold in the UK by global brands, including clothing giant H&M, are not getting enough food. Some 25 per cent are so underweight they would be classified as anorexic were they diagnosed in the UK. The findings of the report by worker rights group Labour Behind the Label follow a spate of mass faintings over recent years, when groups of up to 300 at a time have passed out. … According to the report, Shop ‘Til They Drop, employees consumed around half the calories needed for garment factory work, while protein intake fell well below half the basic human need. The recommended 3,000-calorie diet alone would cost some $75 (£47) a month, leaving just $5 (£3) for all other costs. … One of its suggestions is that, in addition to increasing wages, factories should provide free, nutritious lunches. But Ken Loo, the general secretary of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia (GMAC), said that was not the employer’s job. …
