Cleaning up the streets: P&P groups target Primark
People & Planet groups organised a series of coordinated protests at Primark stores around the country on Saturday 10 March. Armed with banners and ironing boards they withstood counter-flyering attacks from Primark and collected hundreds of petitions.
A Primark customer signs the petition
SLW/P&P
An ironing board was used as a stall on Oxford’s high street
SLW/P&P
Shoppers stop to read P&P’s flyers and find out more
SLW/P&P
Cambridge P&P hit the shops!
Outside Primark in Manchester
We told you so!
Groups collected hundreds of signatures for a petition calling on Primark to ensure that basic rights were respected throughout its supply chain, and to provide information about where, and under what conditions, its clothes are made.
They spoke to shoppers about how Primark’s demand for fast fashion at rock-bottom prices was driving a ‘race to the bottom’ in standards, as factory owners were forced to cut costs to keep contracts.
Read more about the campaign issues
Primark don’t seem to have any answers…
In some towns, Primark responded to the action by counter-flyering, with details of its ‘Ethical Trading’ policy. However, this approach seemed to generate more interest from shoppers, not less! Unfortunately, the ‘ethical policy’ they circulated didn’t contain anything that answered the campaign’s concerns. Most worrying is that, according to the policy, Primark’s answer to the uncovering of low standards still seems to be to just shift supplier, rather than addressing how its own purchasing practices keep standards low.
On the morning of the action P&P was interviewed on Radio 5 Live’s breakfast show. Silje Vold from the support office explained why we were targeting Primark, and what changes we were asking them to make. Primark were unavailable for comment.
Action across the country
In Oxford, campaigners used an ironing board as a stall, and wore tee-shirts decorated with slogans such as “Vacancy: 5p/hour; 80 hours/week”. Many Primark customers were among those that stopped to find out more and sign the petitions.
Manchester’s Primark was visited by students from universities across the region, who spent the day talking to shoppers.
Beth Taylor, of Warwick Uni P&P, reports from Birmingham City Centre:
“Members of Warwick, Worcester, Birmingham and Aston University P&P groups descended on Birmingham on Saturday with colourful banners, petitions and leaflets galore. Dressed in slogan tee-shirts and determined to make a strong visual presence after two days of police negotiations, the West Midlands P&Pers fought off chilly winds to take on Birmingham Primark with vigour! Even under the strict police enforced guidelines the day was a resounding success with media coverage and 388 signatures!
“Primark responded to petitioning with their own lacklustre performance which consisted of the handing out of copies of their ethical policy. This actually worked to P&P’s benefit as quite a lot of interest was stirred up as the police moved in and so the debate could really start rolling. In all what was noticeable was the public’s avid interest in, and impassioned response to, the campaign and especially a lot of questioning of the campaigners by youths whose curiosity was sparked by the banners and information leaflets. Even Primark employees themselves couldn’t help but be intrigued by the campaign. It was a tiring but rewarding day’s campaigning and a small triumph in the face of police and corporate pressure. The real value of freedom of speech was ignited and for many, grasped very tightly yesterday, and rightly so.”
Cambridge and Essex P&P groups ended their regional training day with a visit to Cambridge’s high street, where they talked to hundreds of shoppers and gave out flyers. Although they don’t have a local Primark they collected lots of signatures for the petition, which they plan to hand in at the Norwich store. In addition, they stopped to question the managers of a number of other high street stores about their companies’ sourcing policies.
Nottingham ran a week long stall in their student union, which aimed to make people aware of their purchasing power as consumers and give students the opportunity to sign a petition demanding that Primark secure their production methods and develop an effective product labelling system to guarantee that neither child nor forced labour is used at any stage of their production process. Read more