Bangladesh Has Another Clothing Factory Fire "Bake" European And American Clothing Giants

"Sweatshops" sometimes do not adequately describe the working environment of less developed areas. In Bangladesh, the foundry enterprise has been like a fire pit.

A fire at a garment factory building near Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, has killed at least 110 people on the 24 day. Some labor rights organizations in Europe and the United States exposed many European and American customers, including C&A, in the garment factory. clothing Retail giants and WAL-MART's retail carriers.

By the time of press release, Wal-Mart In an interview with reporters, he said, "our hearts are in the same place as the families of the victims", but they did not disclose details of their cooperation with the fire factory.

The newspaper combs found that this is the third garment factory fire in Bangladesh since 2010, which killed more than 20 people. The disappearing life seems to have left the international giants "sitting on a volcano". The labor rights protection organization of the three party, the Worker Rights Consortium (hereinafter referred to as WRC), said the big international cards were indifferent to the potential extreme danger of workers in Bangladesh.

"Only with the pressure of public opinion can these retailers be forced to make improvements." WRC executive director Scott Nova (Scott Nova) told our reporter, "what we can do is find ways to put pressure on them."

While the flames are devouring life, it also reflects the hidden dangers behind the undertaking of industry.

　 Who should be accountable?

The fire has once again raised concerns about labour safety in Bangladesh. "The rescue is still in progress, and the death toll is likely to continue to rise." Dhaka police chief Abipol Rahman (HabiburRahman) said. This is one of the most serious factory fires in the history of the country.

The fire building is a Tazlin fashion company with eight floors. Rachman said that about 4000 workers were in the factory, and about 3000 people quickly escaped from the factory. Many workers stampede when they escape, or jump from different floors.

ILRF International Labor Rights Forum, a Washington labor force, said there was no emergency exit in the incident factory. A number of labor rights organizations said many workers were working overtime, and they were targeted at American retail giants including WAL-MART. US media reported that many brands of labels were found in the ruins of the fire, including a WAL-MART's own brand. ILRF said that the existing evidence shows that in addition to a brand OEM for WAL-MART, more than a dozen clothing brand labels and documents were found in the fire factory, including C&A and Dickies.

　　 C&A A statement has been issued confirming that there is a business relationship with Tazlin fashion. C&A has commissioned the latter to manufacture 220 thousand pullovers, which will be shipped to Brazil C&A company between December and February next year.

According to the news of the Tsing Lin website, the company employs 1200 workers and exports about $36 million a year, mainly to the US and Europe. In addition to the above European and American businesses, Tazlin's group also supplies Carrefour and IKEA, according to US media reports.

The garment industry is a pillar industry in Bangladesh. According to the Bangladesh clothing manufacturers and Exporters Association, Spin The industry accounts for more than 10% of the total GDP volume, occupying 80% of the total volume of Meng exports and providing over 3 million jobs. This India neighborhood also has many factories for H&M and other European and American clothing brands.

Police say the cause of the fire may be caused by a short circuit. "As a customer of a fire factory, WAL-MART and other enterprises have certain responsibilities." Nova said WAL-MART knew the location of these subcontracting sites.

Media reports said the owner of the fire factory had issued a dangerous environmental warning to WAL-MART last year. In the interview with our reporter, WAL-MART did not disclose more details. The Kevin Gardner, senior director of international business affairs, issued a statement to our reporter that the fire safety is the core concern of the WAL-MART factory supervision field. They also strengthened the training in Bangladesh and some independent organizations in this area. Kevin Gardner

Statistics from ILRF show that since 2005, more than 700 garment workers have died in high-risk buildings in Bangladesh. In February 23, 2006, a fire broke out in a textile factory in southeastern Chittagong, killing at least 51 people. In February 2010 and December, at least 21 people and 25 people died in the two garment factory fires.

The information obtained by our reporter from ILRF shows that many European and American garment enterprises have joined an agreement signed by Bangladesh related departments and labor rights organizations to strengthen fire safety. The brands include Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and so on. PVH, which owns Tommy Hilfiger and other brands, has been exposed by labor rights organizations as the least active enterprise to improve the employment environment in Bangladesh.

There are also companies that go their own way. ILRF executive director Gil Hart (Judy Gearhart) disclosed that GAP had withdrawn from the security consultations and set up a set of security measures. GAP is the European and American parity clothing retail enterprise which is equal to C&A and H&M.

Within 48 hours after the fire, a fire broke out in another garment factory building in Dhaka. Fortunately, no casualties were caused.

　　 Integration of politics and Commerce

In the report, McKinsey predicts that the total export volume of Bangladesh garment industry, which will total 18 billion US dollars this year, will reach three times by 2020.

High exports are at the expense of low incomes. Low labor cost is the core competitiveness of Bangladesh as the world's leading garment exporter. The workers here earn less than $50 a month, less than the price of a sweater they produce for European and American brands.

According to the world bank and American textile and apparel import Association As of May 31st this year, the top five countries in the US textile and clothing export were China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Mexico. Among the 5 countries, China has the highest labor cost and lowest Bangladesh.

Data show that in 2010, workers in Indonesia and Mexico had a minimum monthly salary of more than 100 dollars, while Vietnam was about 50 dollars, while Bangladesh was less than 25 dollars. Meanwhile, the proportion of workers with an average daily wage of less than 1.25 dollars was nearly 50% in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh social observers say the owners of the garment factories have a lot of influence. Factory owners are the main political donors and invest in the media industry step by step. In Bangladesh parliament, about 2/3 of the members are members of the three largest business associations in Bangladesh. "Politics and Commerce have been integrated and closely related." The Bengal branch of the international anti corruption organization "Transparency International" said, "the industry is closely related to those in power. The negotiating position of workers is very limited.

H&M's CEO Persson (Karl-Johan Persson) rushed to Bangladesh in September this year, and the prime minister, Hasina, called for raising the minimum wage of workers in the country.

Multinational giants can pay attention to the wages of workers in South Asia, but they do not mean that they are wearing seat belts for the South Asian industrial departments that are on the fast track.

This reporter learned from H&M that the supplier of the transnational garment enterprise also divided into three hundred and sixty nine categories, including first class suppliers and two level suppliers. H&M has also selected key suppliers from the first tier suppliers. The so-called two level supplier refers to the upstream supplier of a first-class supplier, that is, the supplier of the supplier. H&M also openly acknowledged that some suppliers may subcontract business. For the upstream suppliers of the two level suppliers, the H&M says it only reserves indirect influence.

　　 Differentiation of industrial transfer

Compared to the active transformation of China, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries seem to attract more attention from the multinational garment enterprises. Besides the rise of human capital in China, another major factor is that the related products are exported from Bangladesh to Europe without quota restrictions and duty-free concessions.

Many Chinese brands are also trying to transfer production to Southeast Asian countries. For example, since the second half of 2010, van customer has transferred some of its clothing capacity to Bangladesh, but it is still limited to a small quantity of basic production.

Fan guest company told reporters that at present, all customers are in contact with Indonesia, Kampuchea and other countries of the industry and commerce. "After the choice of overseas OEM, the cost of customers is down by 5%~10%."

In addition, Hongkong Li Feng Group has gradually shifted some production bases from mainland China to Bangladesh and Indonesia in recent years. The group's Li Feng Company Limited has also had an order with the tower, but has issued a notice that the fire will not have a substantial impact on its financial performance.

However, in Bangladesh, there are also deficiencies in OEM. The above customers said that the degree of maturity of the technology and industrial chain matching of the enterprises in the fine processing industry still has a big gap compared with that of China. For example, some of the businesses in Meng state can only provide simple excipients such as lines and buckles, and the main raw materials also rely on imports.

The personage also introduces that the cycle of OEM in Bangladesh is very long, which basically takes 4~6 months. Under normal circumstances, the domestic supplier delivery cycle requirements are 30~45 days, when replenishment cycle requirements even to 10~15 days.

Garment industry analyst Wang Qian said that although industrial transfer is the trend of the times, because of the limited population and clothing production capacity in Bangladesh and Vietnam, the magnitude of China's huge production and export is not at a level. Liu Gang, an associate professor at the school of management, Fudan University, who regards industrial development as one of the research directions, told our reporter that developed countries have gradually shifted the traditional labor-intensive manufacturing industry to developing countries. Besides cost considerations, environmental pressure is another factor.