Union Network International says jobs of 300 British workers are under threat as clothing maker Burberry plans to move production from the United Kingdom to China in March.
UNI says Burberry's image is founded on the idea of being British and if it closes its factory in Treorchy in March as planned then it "will have to trick customers worldwide into thinking that a product made in China is still the essence of Britishness."
Japan is one of Burberry's biggest markets and UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings said a Japanese shopworker will be asked to sell something on the promise that it is a traditional British product while knowing it is made in China.
"Burberry cannot expect our members, the sales staff in Japan, or anywhere else to lie or even to put their hearts into a selling a product under false pretences," Jennings said.
UNI's Japanese affiliates through the UNI Liaison Committee have written to the Burberry workers expressing their full support for the British workers and their union GMB, in the fight to retain their jobs. They warned Burberry that customers in Japan could feel cheated and betrayed which could do great damage to Burberry sales in Japan.
The fight to keep Burberry jobs in Wales has also reached Euro-MPs, who led by Wales MEPs Glenys Kinnock and Eluned Morgan sent a Valentine's message to company bosses to 'Stop Breaking Our Hearts'.
Speaking from Strasbourg, Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock said, "By moving production to China, Burberry is breaking the hearts of its loyal and hardworking Welsh workforce and devastating an already deprived community. The company has also failed to give guarantees that the factories in China, to where production is likely to be moved, will not employ child labour or use forced labour. At a time when consumers increasingly make choices according to company ethics, Burberry's actions are not only morally reprehensible but commercially unsound."
Eluned Morgan added, "Burberry's decision to move production to China is sheer corporate greed. The company's sales are booming and profits are healthy. There is absolutely no reason for the company to pull out of the Rhondda Valley. I and my European colleagues today urge Burberry to rediscover its sense of Corporate Social Responsibility and keep its Treorchy factory open."
