Interesting Facts

According to a report “Tailored Wages”, British high-street clothing labels Debenhams, Matalan and The North Face are among the worst high-street clothing shops at paying a fair wage to those who make their products. (The analysis of 40 top European clothing brands showed that many major chains are still doing very little to make sure that workers abroad, who produce their goods, are paid a living wage. The global fashion industry, worth more than £28bn across Europe alone, pays its workers so badly that many cannot afford to live with dignity; earning no more than £5 a day. The Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed on April 24, killing more than 1,100 people.)

powered by ODEO According to Prison Service Order 4460, all prisoners in the UK who participate in purposeful activity must be paid. (The current pay rate is not subject to the national minimum wage and the average pay is £9.60 for around a 32-hour week, which works out at around 30p an hour. Of course their bed and board is paid for.)

powered by ODEO In the USA the federal minimum wage is $5.85 / hr. (Some states have set a higher rate, but some have an even lower rate or no minimum wage at all. I do hope that any senators or public officials who set the minimum wage levels receive that wage.)

powered by ODEO According to a United Nations report called "State of the future", in 2007 25% of the world's population were living on less than $1 a day. (Thankfully this is down from 1980 when 40% of the population were doing so, but I'm afraid that that is probably more to do with inflation than philanthropy. My premise is that if you can't pay a living wage to someone, do the work yourself. Anything else is slavery.)

Germany has agreed to introduce a minimum wage for postal workers. The minimum wage, which will be introduced on Jan. 1, 2008, is expected to be €8.00 ($11.70) per hour in the states of the former East Germany and €9.80 ($14.35) per hour in western Germany. (Luxembourg-based Pin Group immediately announced that it will cut more than 1,000 jobs in Germany in response, they currently pay between €7 and €7.50 per hour on average.)