'Tears in the Fabric,' 'Meet the Makers,' 'Labour behind the Label,' 'The Human Cost the Cloths you Wear on," are the few headlines of many events, programmes or articles that have been observed or published throughout the world including Bangladesh. These mark the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse near Dhaka that claimed over 1,100 lives and injured thousands more. This is the worst industrial disaster in the history of the garment industry. Calling April 24 as 'Fashion Revolution Day,' organised by www.fashionrevolution.org, consumers in different parts of the world including New York and London were requested to wear their clothes that display slogan: 'Who made your clothes?'
On April 24 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-storey commercial building, collapsed in Savar, a sub-district in the greater Dhaka area. The search for the dead ended on May 13 with the death toll of 1,129. Approximately 2,515 injured people were rescued alive from the debris of the building. Several other major garment factory accidents occurred in Bangladesh before or after the Rana Plaza tragedy. The collapse of the Spectrum sweater factory in 2005 killed 64 workers or the Tazreen Fashions fire, which killed 112 workers. But the Savar tragedy has triggered widespread discussions about safety, security and the living standard of the workers, their wages, the responsibilities of the Bangladesh government to its main earning source, corporate social responsibility of the global supply chains and so on.
We mourned tragic deaths of the victims and observed April 24, now the symbol of significant and unnecessary risks that many garment workers in Bangladesh are forced to undertake in order to earn a living and support their families. The question now is to be raised as to what actions or attempts we have collectively taken so far so that tragedies like Rana Plaza and Tazreen never happen again. Or what have we done for the survivors and the families of those who died in those accidents? According to research by the advocacy group International Labour Rights Forum, at least 1,800 garment workers were killed in factory fires and building collapses in Bangladesh since 2005.
Despite the Rana Plaza tragedy and months of election-related violence that disrupted communication and prompted global retailers to shift orders, exports of Bangladeshi ready-made garments (RMG) increased by 15.15 per cent to US$ 18.052 billion during the first three quarters of the ongoing fiscal year 2013-14. The figure is as against exports of $15.676 billion made during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, as per the latest data released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh. In 2006, Bangladesh was the sixth largest exporter of apparel in the world after China, the EU, Hong Kong, Turkey and India.
But with the presence of more than 5,000 garment factories that together employ nearly 4.2 million workers, Bangladesh is now second only to China in the 'cut, make, and trim' (CMT) cloth-making process with cheap (mainly female) labour. According to a 2011 report by international consulting firm McKinsey & Company, 80 per cent of American and European clothing companies have planned to move their outsourcing from China to Bangladesh because of cheap labour and quality of products. So the market is too much competitive and the pressure is extremely high and is shouldered by the most vulnerable and exploited.
As Bangladesh's garments industry is a lucrative sector, there would be some groups or people who would always try to point out the negative and bad sides of this sector for their own benefit or for others. Since exports garments have increased by 15.15 per cent despite the Rana Plaza tragedy and other adverse situations and attempts including negative propaganda, how much it is important to hunt 'who is spreading negative propaganda' or 'who is actually responsible for these tragedies' rather focusing on how the challenges should be addressed. On April 23, 2014, the Prime Minister's Office of Bangladesh issued a warning that if anyone is found guilty of spreading negative propaganda against the country's garment sector, she or he will face stern actions as per the existing law of Bangladesh. The warning came when the government learnt some local NGOs and labour groups would organise demonstrations in foreign lands and would encourage people to boycott Bangladeshi RMG products. If campaigns like 'Fashion Revolution Day' send wrong message to consumers, workers will be the worst victims at the end and we strictly oppose this kind of activities.
But after one year of Rana Plaza tragedy, we need to know how many promises have been kept so far by the government of Bangladesh, the owners of the RMG factories, or by the buyers, who have corporate social responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the workers.
According to Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar, the government spent Tk 235.5 million for the victims of the Rana Plaza collapse from the Prime Minister's relief fund. Different organisations and companies at home and abroad have donated Tk 1,270 million to the fund for the victims. A study of Dhaka-based Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) says only 41 out of 332 critically injured and amputated victims have so far received compensation money. It means that around 88 per cent of them are yet to receive any financial assistance from the PM's fund. The government has said, the remaining victims will be paid after their identification is completed.
Meanwhile, Walmart, Gap, and Children's Place recently became the first three US companies to contribute to a $40 million fund for victims of the Rana Plaza collapse. Walmart along with the Walmart Foundation and Asda, a British supermarket subsidiary, contributed $3 million to the BRAC USA, one-third of which went to the Rana Plaza victims' fund. The Gap Foundation and the Children's Place each gave $500,000 to the BRAC USA. Primark, a British fashion chain, has become the biggest contributor, which is paying a total of $12 million in support of the victims, $8 million of which is counted as part of the ILO-backed scheme. As of April 16, 2014, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has raised $15 million, short of the $40 million target. Of the 28 brands linked to the Rana Plaza factory complex by campaigners, only about half have contributed to the fund.
However, such support schemes are not seen to provide full compensation for loss of earnings by injured workers and the families of those who died. For those families struggling to survive after losing not only family members but much-needed income it means the difference between remaining destitute or being able to rebuild their lives. Since financial supports from different sectors are yet to reach the right victims, survivors and relatives of those who died are continuing to suffer from life-changing injuries, psychological trauma and a loss of income.
After the Rana Plaza tragedy, more than 150 brands throughout the world have signed a safety deal, the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety. The deal is for checking the structural integrity of more than 1,600 factories in the country. Another consortium, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, formed by US-based Walmart and Gap, is checking more than 700 factories. On the other hand, the Bangladesh government, supported by funding from the UK and the Dutch governments, is aiming to look at those which fall outside the two international agreements. Also the government has taken some important steps which include raising minimum wage of the workers, hiring labour inspectors to conduct preliminary safety inspections and allowing 140 labour unions to register.
According to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, companies have a responsibility 'to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations,' and to take remedial action should abuses occur. The UN Global Compact encourages businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible practices in line with international human rights standards.
But there is much more work still to be done. All stakeholders - including the government, employers, and buyers of Bangladeshi products - bear a responsibility for ensuring safe working conditions of the Bangladesh garment industry. And on the top of that, the government bears the legal obligations and responsibility to ensure safety, security, and standard of living of its 4.2 million workers, the backbone of its $20 billion garment industry.
rbiswas@my.bridgeport.edu
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