The event organizing business owned by parents of Duchess Catherine, wife of Prince William, is among companies that sell products made in Mexico where workers are paid only 10 pence per hour, according to an article published by the British Daily Mail.
Party Pieces, the event planning business owned by Kate Middleton's parents, is slammed for alleged exploitation of workers in Mexico
Middleton family’s company, Party Pieces, is a business worth 30 million pounds, which is headquartered in Berkshire, UK, dealing with events, parties and weddings.
After calls from Daily Mail reporters, company representatives say they will soon investigate working conditions of the people who provide, among other things, decor material for parties.
Article authors claim they made a trip to Tijuana, a Mexican border town, famous among other things for drug trafficking. Reporters headed to a very poor neighborhood of Tijuana where they talked with members of several families dealing with decorative materials for parties and weddings, which are subsequently sold on the online store owned by Middleton family.
One woman says that in order to fulfill her assignments, she asks for help from her children. Furthermore she works ten hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes being paid only 10 pence per hour, while the Decorative objects she makes are sold with 12.99 pounds each.
Another woman said she gets 95 pence for each decorative object. She revealed that she chose this occupation because of not being able to find easily work. “However, if I complain, they will find someone else to replace me,” she added.
The authors explained that in Mexico, people who have this type of jobs can not claim the minimum wage per economy, i.e at least 49 pence per hour. Moreover, part of their earnings are spent on materials.
Before her marriage to Prince William, second in line to the British throne, Kate Middleton worked at her parents’ company, the sales department, having a job which, in some companies, involves meetings with suppliers and verification of working conditions at the factories, say the authors of the article, adding that they are confident that the Duchess and her parents were not aware of the harsh conditions begind the products they trade.
Party Pieces, was founded by Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton in 1981, when she was 26 year old, and has currently 30 employees – including Kate’s sister Pippa, who manades the online magazine The Party Times – that became very popular on the UK market.
Many companies use the cheap services of factories located in poor areas of Asia and America.
