Beyoncé has co-founded a new clothing range with Topshop’s Sir Philip Green.
We love Beyoncé. But we’re not such big fans of Sir Philip Green. He’s the billionaire tax dodger who pocketed hundreds of millions of pounds in BHS dividends while building up a huge pensions deficit for its workers.
Now BHS has collapsed and thousands of workers face losing great chunks of their retirement savings as well as their jobs. And while BHS managers give evidence to MPs about the collapse of the company, Sir Philip is awaiting the delivery of his third superyacht.
Philip Green thinks he can get away with anything. But there is a way to hold him to account. If we can get Beyoncé to cut her ties with Sir Philip, it will hit him where it really hurts -- in the pocket. Let’s tell Beyoncé she’s too good for Philip Green.
Let’s ask Beyoncé to cut her ties with Sir Philip now!
Beyoncé’s new clothing range, Ivy Park, was exclusively launched in TopShop -- part of Philip Green’s dodgy retail empire, Arcadia Group. We can see why Beyoncé partnered with Arcadia. It’s one of the biggest retail groups out there. But we think Beyoncé should think again about her decision, and cut her ties with Sir Philip.
Philip Green is a notorious tax dodger. He owned BHS for 15 years, underfunding the pension scheme while paying his wife £400 million in BHS dividends via a tax haven. When he sold the company for a nominal sum of £1 last year, it had a skyrocketing pensions problem. And now Sir Philip, who helped to create the deficit, is refusing to pay back BHS workers what he owes them, insulting them with a paltry offer instead.
As a community, SumOfUs has been fighting corporate exploitation of workers for years. Now we have a way to hold one of the worst corporate offenders to account.
Sign our petition asking Beyoncé to get Ivy Park out of TopShop, and out of Philip Green’s dodgy retail empire.
More information
Quartz. 16 May 2016.
BBC News. 3 June 2016.