Top buyers least focused on working conditions

---

Rescue workers carrying a body away after recovering it from under the debris of the collapsed Rana Plaza Friday. — FE Photo

Jasim Khan Top buyers' ignorance about garment factories' compliance standards is one of the main reasons behind the tragic incidents in the sector, sources said. The accidents, especially the Rana Plaza and Tazreen Fashions tragedies, claimed lives of hundreds of poor workers. The deaths could be averted, if the top buyers like the Danish H&M, the USA's Walmart and UK's Tesco also would have focused their attention on the working conditions, readymade garment (RMG) unit owners said. The buyers focus only on the profit margins, lead time and the quality of products, not on the working conditions, they added. "They pocketed 60 to 80 per cent of the profit margin on the products they sourced from Bangladesh. If they had spent 1.0 per cent of the profit in improving working conditions, the accidents could be averted," said Md. Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). Mr Atiqul Islam, also managing director of Islam Garments Ltd., said time has come for the global retailers to think about how much profit they want to make by taking the advantage of cheap labour. The BGMEA president appealed to all buyers to cut the profit, by, at least, US cent 25, on all products so that the garment manufacturers could spend the money for improving the working conditions and related infrastructural facilities. The production manager of a top garment factory in the country said sometimes buyers place more orders than the capacity of a unit. They also ask for shipment within a limited period of time. All these create an extra pressure on the factory owners and so they have to depend on sub-contractors, despite the latter's poor compliance standards, he added. The buyers are quite aware of the fact that the jobs are subcontracted to smaller companies. But they always ignore the issue, he said. About the profit margin, Ashraful Islam, a merchandising manager, said the global retail giant H&M is now offering denim shirts, short-sleeve shirts and basic shirts at the UK (United Kingdom) shops in the summer at £24.99, £14.99 and £12.99 a piece against their import purchases at £16.5, £8.99 and £6.99 respectively from the garment owners. A basic polo shirt, jogging pant or T-shirt at GAP, Levi's or Oliver is selling at about US$ 12.5, $ 8.5 and $ 6.5 respectively against $ 7.5, $ 4.5 and $ 3.2 paid to the Bangladeshi manufacturers. When asked, former BGMEA president and also president of the Exporters Association Abdus Salam Murshedy said the global apparel companies often depict their international supply-chains as tightly scrutinised systems. They do it to impress upon the American or European buyers before selling to them the apparel items, as having been produced in 'safe' and 'monitored' factories. Their inspectors also 'routinely check' the safety standards of the factories but not the capacity of the buildings. The companies often have little control over the subcontractors who do much of the work. They place buying orders like open tenders so that they can maximise their profit margin, he added. "We request the buyers to spend a portion of the profit for workers' welfare," Mr Murshedy said. About 3.5 million Bangladeshis work in the garment sector, which accounts for three-fourths of the country's annual aggregate export earnings. International companies like Wal-Mart, JC Penney, H&M, Zara, Tesco, Carrefour, GAP, Metro, Marks & Spencer, Kohl's, Levi Strauss and Tommy Hilfiger all import RMG products in bulk from Bangladesh. RMG exports nearly doubled in the last five years-from $ 6.4 billion in the fiscal year (FY), 2004-05, to $ 16 billion in fiscal 2011-12.