The Mail On Sunday
was congratulated by other journalists for its
lead story last weekend, as it thundered “62p An Hour”, describing in the most unflattering terms the factory
where the “This is what a feminist looks like” T-shirts were manufactured. It
was supported by a
typically scathing editorial, pouring scorn on Mil The Younger and Corporal
Clegg for wearing the garments.
What's so f***ing wrong with kicking politicians I don't like, c***?!? Er, with the greatest of respect, Mr Jay
That this was an organised Mail smear was
confirmed the following day by Daily
Mail Comment, the authentic voice of the Vagina Monologue, which called the
factory a “sweatshop” and, after
tarring Miliband with another broadside of abuse, declared “The T-shirts are now being withdrawn from
sale but the damage is well and truly done”, thus letting slip that this
was a pre-planned hit.
However, and here we encounter a significantly sized
however, all was not as the Mail
titles had painted it. Yes, the wages paid in the Mauritius factory that made
the T-shirts was a fraction of the UK’s minimum wage, but it is higher than the
statutory minimum in the country where it is located. And the factory is
clearly not a sweatshop, being well laid out and equipped.
It gets worse for the Dacre doggies: management willingly
showed the MoS round, because their
factory, as
the Fawcett Society said, meets a high level of ethical standards. Workers
come from Bangladesh because they are paid a lot more, and treated rather
better. Moreover, the Mauritius factory is
a far safer and better organised proposition than what they would find at
home.
The claims that workers have to put in twelve hour shifts
every day are not true – otherwise, the standard working week would be a lot
longer than the 45 hours which the MoS
concedes. Many work longer hours voluntarily, and “workers are compensated (at a higher rate of pay) for any overtime
worked”. They are able to join a trade union, which has representation on
site.
The Fawcett Society noted that “An audit into the CMT factory was carried out in October 2014 by an
independent not-for-profit organisation and this did not reveal any material
concerns on the working conditions, the welfare or the health and safety of
workers”. It would be interesting to see the full text of what workers said
to the MoS, so that the context could
be analysed. We won’t be seeing that, though.
This story is, like so much that comes out of the Mail titles, carefully fashioned to fit
the agenda, which is, let us not drive this one around the houses for too long,
crude character assassination of Miliband, Clegg, Harriet Harman, and anyone
else that might stand in the way of a Tory majority next May.
One can only guess at the prize Young Dave dangled before
Paul Dacre at that recent Downing Street lunch. Arise, Lord Dacre of Effingham Blindingham!
It'd be interesting to know where the 'Help for Heroes' wristband which David Cameron made such a show of wearing (but presumably only wore for a photo-op, surely HYPOCRISY) was originally made.
ReplyDeleteWhat do we expect from the guy who doesn't understand what is meant by "mendacious smear" even when given every helpful advice to understanding of the words from a judge?
ReplyDeleteSit down Mr Caplan please!!