Birmingham, Aston and Warwick Uni People & Planet groups will be demonstrating outside the New Street branch of Primark today from 11AM onwards. The protest is against unethical labour practices in Primark's supply chain - yes, sweatshops still exist. Primark's demand for the latest fashions at the cheapest prices creates a race to the bottom in which factory owners have to reduce costs in order to keep lucrative contracts - this leads to ridiculously low wages, child labour, the crushing of trade union activity, and a complete lack of adherance to health and safety regulations.

Further back in the chain, these production processes require incredibly cheap cotton, leading to the use of some truly toxic industrial chemicals, including pesticides so strong that a teaspoon can kill an adult human. The vast use of water, particularly around the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan, creates ecological problems too - droughts, increasing salinity of water, and pollution of drinking supplies.

More info can be found at  http://peopleandplanet.org/tradejustice/highcost

To repeat: today (Saturday 10th March), 11AM onwards, New Street branch of Primark. Dress in your finest hippy rags, 'cause ITV News might be coming down...