Unit 37 Understanding Business Ethics
M3
123 Assignment Lane
AB1 2CD
Zara
89 New Bond Street
London
W1S 1DA
Dear Zara,
I am contacting you regarding the ethical communities in which you operate, additionally, I
will be providing you with suggestions as to measures that should be taken to improve
corporate responsibility.
Child labour is defined as the exploitation of children through any form of work that
deprives children of their childhood, in addition to hindering their ability to attend school
regularly. While also being mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful. In the past, Zara
has been associated with Child labour and recent reports have claimed it has continued.
However, it continues to affect people in local, national and global communities.
Children in local communities subjected to child labour regularly miss education. This means
they are unable to attain the knowledge they require to progress onto the next stage of
education. This can have long term effects on the child themselves and the community as a
whole, mainly due to the fact that child labour causes a continuous cycle. When children are
unable to go to school they cant gain the qualifications needed to get a higher paying job,
therefore they are stuck working in clothing factories for companies such as Zara. Especially,
due to the fact that child labour pays very little. In 2010 workers in Turkey reported they
were not being paid for the work they produced for Zara. Furthermore, this means there is
very little money circulating the local community hindering the growth of the economy.
The national effect of child labour includes the fact that it limits the economic growth of
countries such as Pakistan, India and Turkey. This is due to the fact that businesses such as
Zara go to countries where they can get cheap labour. However, this negatively affects the
economy in the long run because it means the primary source of employment for the
country is in the primary sector. Similarly to local communities when child employees are
paid small wages and are missing education it means they are not able to progress into
secondary or tertiary roles such as teachers, doctors or lawyers. Therefore, they are forced
to work for a small wage just to get by not to advance and move up in the world.
Consequently, minimal amounts of money are circulating the economy which means no
sector is able to progress and grow.
Child labour affects around 150 million children across the globe. Although many children
are sent to work young, especially in developing countries businesses such as Zara need to
make the decision as to whether they are going to turn a blind eye to the situation to take
active steps to disassociate your brand from child labour. Due to the fact that each country
has a different set of legislation regarding the working age of children. For example,
whereas the legal full time working age in the UK is 16 in Pakistan the age is 14 years.
