Speaking in Montreal, Neil Kearney, General Secretary of Textiles Global Union, The International Textile, Garment and Leather Worker's Federation, said the Hudson's Bay Company was assisting China's policy setting watchdog, the China National Textile and Apparel Council, in creating and implementing a watered-down code.

The code insists that workers belong to the All China Federation of Trade Unions which is controlled by the State and the Communist Party, which does not provide for the payment of a living wage, which does not control excessive working hours and which would permit discrimination on the grounds of political affiliation or sexual orientation.