Primark linked to UK sweatshops

Factory workers making clothes destined for fashion chain Primark work up to 12 hours a day for £3.50 an hour, an undercover BBC investigation has found. Supplier TNS Knitwear was also found to be employing illegal workers in poor conditions at its Manchester factory.

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Primark says it is "extremely concerned" and is carrying out its own investigation. Primark is best known for its cheap fashion clothing and bucked the trend on Britain's high street last year to make a £233m profit.

A previous BBC investigation found Primark contractors were employing children in slum workshops in India.

While working, she discovered an intense work culture where employees admitted to being under pressure to meet orders, two-thirds of them for Primark. Many in her section were putting in 12-hour days, seven days a week, for just over half the minimum wage. By law, workers should be paid £5.73 an hour and Primark's own code of conduct promises workers a living wage. But Zahid Sarwar, the co-owner of TNS Knitwear, is filmed on a secret camera telling our reporter she would get £3.50 an hour. Our reporter also found there was no heating in that area, and staff worked in their coats in bitterly cold temperatures. An unrepaired toilet meant workers of both sexes were sharing one set of toilets.

There's no such thing as cheap clothing, somebody has to pay and in this case it's the workers in Manchester who pay.

Britain's high street fashion giant Primark was at the centre of a storm last night over allegations that illegal immigrants paid just over half the minimum wage had been employed to make fashionable knitwear for one of the firm's bestselling ranges. Primark announced yesterday that it had launched an inquiry after an investigation by the Observer and the BBC revealed that Manchester-based garment firm TNS Knitwear may have breached key employment and immigration laws. Breaches of the legislation could lead to fines of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker and potential prosecution for tax evasion and employment law abuses.