On the 24th of April, 2013, a young Bangladeshi woman prepared for work, thinking little of her future. The only thing that stood between her and extreme poverty, was the job that she held as a garment worker in the Rana Plaza building. Every day, for almost all of the day, she would work tirelessly, sewing cheap clothes for women in affluent nations far away, women that she would never meet. She thought about them often. What were their lives like? What could they possibly want with all of the clothes she relentlessly churned out?

Little did she know when she got up that morning, only hours after going to bed, that on this this day, these women would finally think of her.

She hated her job. She worked long hours for hardly any pay. Less than she needed to survive if she was honest. The working conditions were terrible too, she regularly feared for her safety at that horrible place, but what other choice did she have? There were no trade unions to fight for her rights and if she quit she knew that there would be hundreds, if not thousands of willing young workers to take her place.

The Terrible Truth

BangladeshBe Vocal

Fashion Victims

No. There was no escaping this life.

Later that same day, with her eyes glued to her television set in horror, a young Australian woman plays mindlessly with a loose thread on her new shirt. She can hardly comprehend the scenes unfolding. People running towards the fallen building, others desperately searching for their family members in the crowd, and all the while, the cacophony of anguished wails plays on.

The Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh had collapsed.

As she watches people pull the lifeless body of a young woman from the rubble, the voice of a reporter tells her that she is witnessing the aftermath of a garment factory collapse, but it is not until she is readying herself for bed that night that realisation dawns.

The tag on her new shirt reads “Made in Bangladesh”.

Exploitation is not out of style

The Bangladeshi garment industry is accountable for more than 80% of the nation's total export revenue. On a global scale, the country itself is the second largest exporter of ready made garments after China. These two facts alone should be enough to indicate the national economic importance of the garment industry to Bangladesh.

This is not a new story. The garment industry has been at the heart of Bangladesh’s export boom ever since the first factory was opened in 1976. Since then, the industry has grown exponentially. In 2004, the Bangladeshi garment industry employed 2 million workers, and by 2013 had doubled that statistic. From 2004, to 2016 the export revenue generated from this industry alone jumped from US$6 billion to US$28 billion.

About 5,000 factories employ these millions of people, most of whom are women. However, despite the obvious economic importance of the industry to Bangladesh, none of the profits made are passed on to the garment workers themselves, who endure long hours and a hazardous work environment.

Dressing to Kill

On the 24th of April, 2013, the eight-storey Rana Plaza Building collapsed in the Savar area leaving

more that 1,100 people dead and more than 2000 people injured.Horrifyingly, the collapse itself followed the site’s evacuation (due to structural concerns) only the day before.

In the wake of the Rana Plaza building collapse, The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh was signed. The Accord is a five year independent, legally binding agreement between global brands and retailers and trade unions designed to build a safe and healthy

Baptist World Aid Australia Locked Bag 122 Frenchs Forest NSW 2086 AustraliaPhone: 1300 789 991 International: + 61 2 9451 1199 Fax: +61 2 9452 4720hello@baptistworldaid.org.au Australian Baptist World Aid Inc. ABN 63 430 709 718ARBN 092 125 203 (incorporated in NSW with limited liability of its members) www.baptistworldaid.org.au

Bangladeshi Ready Made Garment Industry.

Signed in May 2013 by over 200 fashion brands and retailers from more than 20 countries, as well as two global trade unions and their Bangladeshi couterparts, the Accord indicates an understanding that the responsibility for preventing such disasters should be globally shared. “For the first time in any global supply chain, genuinely independent inspections of garment factories are identifying and correcting life safety hazards that have killed hundreds of Bangladeshi garment workers in recent years” (Brown 2015).

Naturally, a preventable disaster of this scope was bound to call into question structural safety concerns, but it has done little to alleviate the exploitative labour practices and working conditions that have plagued the country’s garment industry for years.

A recent study by Human Rights Watch indicated that many workers, despite working in largely different factory contexts, shared the same concerns about their working conditions.

“For the first time in any global supply chain, genuinely independent inspections of garment factories are identifying and correcting life safety hazards that have killed hundreds of Bangladeshi garment

workers in recent years”.

Despite a recent increase in their minimum wage, Bangladeshi garment workers still receive one of the lowest industry wages in the world , a fact which is further exacerbated by many factory owners failing to pay at the legal rate. Furthermore, many factory owners still deny the payment of benefits such as overtime, maternity leave and sick leave.

Additionally, many workers still suffer abuse at the hands of their factory supervisors. In some instances workers were forced to work overtime in order to meet their quotas. Other workers reported abuse of a verbal, physical or sexual nature.

Finally, workplace conditions continue to be unsanitary and a health risk. According to a major factory owner in Bangladesh, these complaints are common. Factory owners want to maximize profits, so they will cut corners on safety issues, on ventilation and sanitation. There are also growing concerns that the rising wage costs of garment workers could further undermine the efforts to improve worker safety as factory

owners are being forced by some retailers to absorb these new costs.

So, while undeniable strides have been made in improving the level of safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry, it is clear that progress area will be a slow and difficult task. Changes to legislation (such as the minimum wage law), while indicative of a willingness to change, are not always necessarily representative of reality, particularly where practices are so embedded.

Furthermore, consumer desire is insatiable. And while the demand for cheap clothing is still there, the temptation to cut corners and increase profits is equally strong. Which begs the question: Where does the responsibility to enact change really lie?

Your choice Matters

One senior executive at of a major High Street brand was reported to have asked: “If you buy a pair of jeans at $9.99 what are you really expecting about the working conditions of those who made them...?” (The Guardian 2014).

Today, many of the clothes that we wear are produced by workers overseas and often by people whose labour is being unfairly exploited. Cheap fashion is often dominated by multinational companies with a single focus on achieving the highest possible profit at the lowest possible cost.

Unlike every other major household expenditure, clothes

have become less expensive over time. Our growing demand for cheap fashion has led to millions of workers suffering unthinkable exploitation; producing that cheap clothing at an unacceptable cost.

Contrary to what many believe, exploitative garment factories are not a positive, or even necessary, step to economic development. In reality, corporations that deny the rights of workers actually prevent a whole sector of society from sharing in the benefits of growth, thereby trapping the vulnerable in a vicious cycle of poverty and oppression.

So the next time you need to purchase a new pair of pants, remember this: your choice matters. Where you choose to spend your money speaks volumes to the multinational corporations who control the fates of the vulnerable. To you it may simply be a question of the bottom line, but to exploited garment workers the world over, your choice makes all the difference.

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, 2015.<http://bangladeshaccord.org/bangladesh/>Fibre2Fashion 2014, ‘Bangladesh urges Japan to import more garments’, Fibre2Fashion.<http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=164088>The Guardian 2014, ‘The shirt on your back: the human cost of the Bangladeshi garment industry’, The Guardian.<http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/apr/bangladesh-shirt-on-your-back>Human Rights Watch 2015, Whoever Raises their Head Suffers the Most - Workers’ Rights in Bangladesh’s Garment Factories, Human Rights Watch, USA, p.8 - 26.<http://features.hrw.org/features/HRW_2015_reports/Bangladesh_Garment_Factories/assets/pdf/bangladesh0415_web.pdf>Brown, G 2015, ‘Bangladesh Blowback: Hopes for Improved Garment Factory Safety’,ISHN.<http://digital.bnpmedia.com/article/Bangladesh+Blowback%3A+Hopes+For+Improved+Garment+Factory+Safety+/1715837/0/article.html>Reuters 2014, ‘Rising wages squeeze Bangladesh garment makers as factories await upgrades’, Reuters.<http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/13/us-bangladesh-garments-idUSBREA3C0N520140413>

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Exploitation is not out of style

The Bangladeshi garment industry is accountable for more than 80% of the nation's total export revenue. On a global scale, the country itself is the second largest exporter of ready made garments after China. These two facts alone should be enough to indicate the national economic importance of the garment industry to Bangladesh.

This is not a new story. The garment industry has been at the heart of Bangladesh’s export boom ever since the first factory was opened in 1976. Since then, the industry has grown exponentially. In 2004, the Bangladeshi garment industry employed 2 million workers, and by 2013 had doubled that statistic. From 2004, to 2016 the export revenue generated from this industry alone jumped from US$6 billion to US$28 billion.

About 5,000 factories employ these millions of people, most of whom are women. However, despite the obvious economic importance of the industry to Bangladesh, none of the profits made are passed on to the garment workers themselves, who endure long hours and a hazardous work environment.

Dressing to Kill

On the 24th of April, 2013, the eight-storey Rana Plaza Building collapsed in the Savar area leaving

more that 1,100 people dead and more than 2000 people injured.Horrifyingly, the collapse itself followed the site’s evacuation (due to structural concerns) only the day before.

In the wake of the Rana Plaza building collapse, The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh was signed. The Accord is a five year independent, legally binding agreement between global brands and retailers and trade unions designed to build a safe and healthy

Baptist World Aid Australia Locked Bag 122 Frenchs Forest NSW 2086 AustraliaPhone: 1300 789 991 International: + 61 2 9451 1199 Fax: +61 2 9452 4720hello@baptistworldaid.org.au Australian Baptist World Aid Inc. ABN 63 430 709 718ARBN 092 125 203 (incorporated in NSW with limited liability of its members) www.baptistworldaid.org.au

Bangladeshi Ready Made Garment Industry.

Signed in May 2013 by over 200 fashion brands and retailers from more than 20 countries, as well as two global trade unions and their Bangladeshi couterparts, the Accord indicates an understanding that the responsibility for preventing such disasters should be globally shared. “For the first time in any global supply chain, genuinely independent inspections of garment factories are identifying and correcting life safety hazards that have killed hundreds of Bangladeshi garment workers in recent years” (Brown 2015).

Naturally, a preventable disaster of this scope was bound to call into question structural safety concerns, but it has done little to alleviate the exploitative labour practices and working conditions that have plagued the country’s garment industry for years.

A recent study by Human Rights Watch indicated that many workers, despite working in largely different factory contexts, shared the same concerns about their working conditions.

“For the first time in any global supply chain, genuinely independent inspections of garment factories are identifying and correcting life safety hazards that have killed hundreds of Bangladeshi garment

workers in recent years”.

Despite a recent increase in their minimum wage, Bangladeshi garment workers still receive one of the lowest industry wages in the world , a fact which is further exacerbated by many factory owners failing to pay at the legal rate. Furthermore, many factory owners still deny the payment of benefits such as overtime, maternity leave and sick leave.

Additionally, many workers still suffer abuse at the hands of their factory supervisors. In some instances workers were forced to work overtime in order to meet their quotas. Other workers reported abuse of a verbal, physical or sexual nature.

Finally, workplace conditions continue to be unsanitary and a health risk. According to a major factory owner in Bangladesh, these complaints are common. Factory owners want to maximize profits, so they will cut corners on safety issues, on ventilation and sanitation. There are also growing concerns that the rising wage costs of garment workers could further undermine the efforts to improve worker safety as factory

owners are being forced by some retailers to absorb these new costs.

So, while undeniable strides have been made in improving the level of safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry, it is clear that progress area will be a slow and difficult task. Changes to legislation (such as the minimum wage law), while indicative of a willingness to change, are not always necessarily representative of reality, particularly where practices are so embedded.

Furthermore, consumer desire is insatiable. And while the demand for cheap clothing is still there, the temptation to cut corners and increase profits is equally strong. Which begs the question: Where does the responsibility to enact change really lie?

Your choice Matters

One senior executive at of a major High Street brand was reported to have asked: “If you buy a pair of jeans at $9.99 what are you really expecting about the working conditions of those who made them...?” (The Guardian 2014).

Today, many of the clothes that we wear are produced by workers overseas and often by people whose labour is being unfairly exploited. Cheap fashion is often dominated by multinational companies with a single focus on achieving the highest possible profit at the lowest possible cost.

Unlike every other major household expenditure, clothes

have become less expensive over time. Our growing demand for cheap fashion has led to millions of workers suffering unthinkable exploitation; producing that cheap clothing at an unacceptable cost.

Contrary to what many believe, exploitative garment factories are not a positive, or even necessary, step to economic development. In reality, corporations that deny the rights of workers actually prevent a whole sector of society from sharing in the benefits of growth, thereby trapping the vulnerable in a vicious cycle of poverty and oppression.

So the next time you need to purchase a new pair of pants, remember this: your choice matters. Where you choose to spend your money speaks volumes to the multinational corporations who control the fates of the vulnerable. To you it may simply be a question of the bottom line, but to exploited garment workers the world over, your choice makes all the difference.

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, 2015.<http://bangladeshaccord.org/bangladesh/>Fibre2Fashion 2014, ‘Bangladesh urges Japan to import more garments’, Fibre2Fashion.<http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=164088>The Guardian 2014, ‘The shirt on your back: the human cost of the Bangladeshi garment industry’, The Guardian.<http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/apr/bangladesh-shirt-on-your-back>Human Rights Watch 2015, Whoever Raises their Head Suffers the Most - Workers’ Rights in Bangladesh’s Garment Factories, Human Rights Watch, USA, p.8 - 26.<http://features.hrw.org/features/HRW_2015_reports/Bangladesh_Garment_Factories/assets/pdf/bangladesh0415_web.pdf>Brown, G 2015, ‘Bangladesh Blowback: Hopes for Improved Garment Factory Safety’,ISHN.<http://digital.bnpmedia.com/article/Bangladesh+Blowback%3A+Hopes+For+Improved+Garment+Factory+Safety+/1715837/0/article.html>Reuters 2014, ‘Rising wages squeeze Bangladesh garment makers as factories await upgrades’, Reuters.<http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/13/us-bangladesh-garments-idUSBREA3C0N520140413>

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