Banana Massacre and Banana Republic (or Gap)

When we were talking about the banana massacre the other day, one aspect mentioned was what are called “banana republics.”  I was kind of surprised anyone would name a store after what seemed like such a toxic system, so I decided to do some research on Banana Republic, which is owned by Gap Inc.:


Gap Inc. went through some reform efforts in 2003, including that it stopped working with 136 companies due to its concern over their breaks with Gap Inc.’s “Code of Vendor Conduct.”

http://www.ehstoday.com/news/ehs_imp_36988

Sadly, that didn’t seem to work, because in 2007, it was found that Gap’s factories were employing children in “bond labor” in illegal sweatshops in India.

 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/oct/28/ethicalbusiness.india

While several prominent European brands signed the 2013 (?) plan to help pay for worker safety in Bangladesh, Gap Inc. (along with many other big-name U.S. retailers) refused.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/05/23/at-gap-inc-shareholder-value-still-trumps-worker-safety/#1c034b921d8f

Like many other retailers, Gap had a problem with “one-call scheduling,” which mandates that employees have to be ready to take on last-minute shifts.  However, in 2015, Gap decided to move away from that practice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/business/gap-says-it-will-phase-out-on-call-scheduling-of-employees.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FGap%2C%20The%2C%20Inc.&action=click&contentCollection=business&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=12&pgtype=collection

Only three years ago, 2.8% of Gap Inc.’s factories broke child labor laws.
Over 25% had 7-day working weeks (which was one thing the people in Colombia were protesting).

https://projectjust.com/brand_bananarepublic/

Of course, Gap Inc. (again, which owns Banana Republic) isn’t the only company that has some work to do.  Still, above is just some research on Banana Republic that point to its ethical practices being as questionable as its name.