Just Group is the owner of Australian brands including Just Jeans, Jacqui E, Jay Jays, Portmans and Peter Alexander. Unfortunately, Just Group’s major overseas sourcing agent, Li & Fung, has a poor record on transparency and audit reporting—which are both essential to the protection of workers’ rights.
Li & Fung refuses to release information about the way that monitoring is done, whether any labour violations are found, and if steps are taken to correct problems. Li & Fung does not make public the names and addresses of its supplier factories, which makes it impossible to verify workers’ conditions.
Last month Oxfam Australia delivered more than 700 letters asking Just Group to work with Li & Fung to support the rights of workers making its brands.
One supporter wrote: “Australians do not want to buy products produced by laborers whose rights are not respected and protected. I would rather pay more for a product and know that workers have fair conditions.”
The letters call on Just Group to become accredited to Ethical Clothing Australia for their garments made in Australia (30%). For its overseas suppliers, the letters urge the Just Group to ensure better transparency, improve labour rights compliance and ensure a living wage for workers.
Write to Just Group: Ask the company to improve conditions for Australian and overseas workers
Photo credit: Ally Riches/OxfamAUS
