Body Shop U-Turn on Workfare Participation

Fearing an ‘ethical’-consumer backlash, The Body Shop have hightailed out of a potential nightmare scenario that would have seen their stores nationwide bare the brunt of anti-workfare protests.

In a swift U-turn The Body Shop UK —recently exposed by Boycott Workfare as using unpaid workers in their high-street stores— have released a short Facebook statement withdrawing their participation in the exploitative practice:

“It’s not The Body Shop policy to support Workfare, but a few isolated incidents of store participation has come to light this week. The stores will be brought back in line with our national approach shortly and there will be no further participation from The Body Shop.”

This bodes well for the Boycott Workfare Campaign, but a question still remains over why they were using unpaid workers in the first place. For a company, founded by Human Rights Activist Anita Roddick, that specifically champions the “vulnerable and the disadvantaged”, it is concerning that, not only have they been using unpaid workers, but they would brush it off as a “few isolated incidents”. Surely a company such as The Body Shop would make a company decision to participate (or not participate) in Workfare schemes on a national level in line with their ethical values policy?

Only a full statement from The Body Shop will reveal the true extent of their participation and subsequent withdrawal.

You can demand a full statement regarding The Body Shop’s use of unpaid workers in their UK stores via their twitter @TheBodyShopUK or their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TheBodyShopInternational

Read The Body Shop statement on Workfare at:

https://www.facebook.com/TheBodyShopInternational/posts/247913885314754?notif_t=share_comment

For more info on the Boycott Workfare campaign visit: http://www.boycottworkfare.org/