Bangladesh's Textile And Garment Industry Has Great Potential Problems.

< p > < strong > a avoidable tragedy < /strong > < /p >
< p > the collapsed commercial building is a shopping center called Rana. There were eight floors before it collapsed, one of which was the market, there were hundreds of stores, the two level was banks, and three to eight floors were all garment factories. According to reports, the building was built in 2006, when the authorities only approved the construction of four stories, but the owners built fifth to eighth floors in violation of the regulations since 2008, and there were no load-bearing walls. At about 9 a.m. on April 24th, the floor of the four floor of the building was first broken, and then the whole building collapsed vertically. Only the bottom two tier structure remained intact. < /p >
< p > it is understood that one day before the collapse accident, the spider's Web cracks appeared on the outer wall of the building. However, < a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/index_c.asp" > the garment factory < /a > the boss ignored the warning, and on the 24 day, workers were allowed to enter the building. Selim Miah, a 19 year old garment worker who works in a garment factory on the three floor of the building, recalled: "when the building began to shake, I realized that the building might collapse, and many people were running around." Miah said that before the accident, the Bangladesh government had ordered the building to be closed and no entry was allowed. However, only two banks of Braque bank were allowed to comply with the ban. The owners and other garment manufacturers only gave half a day off to workers, but they still asked them to come to work the next day. "If the factory owners obey the ban, the tragedy will not happen." Miah said. < /p >
< p > in the special period of economic downturn, in order to gain more market and higher profits, many western "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/news/ "international brand < /a" continuously reduce the processing price of overseas representative factories, while the orders manufacturers disregard the health and safety of workers to reduce production costs. Some factory owners are reluctant to pay for the old machines or repair damaged factories because of the downward pressure on their incomes. On the other hand, because of the weak awareness of government production management and the severe punishment, the government has also laid a hidden danger for this tragedy. < /p >
< p > < strong > international buyers' original sin < /strong > /p >
< p > in addition to the factory owners and property managers who can not escape the blame, in this accident, what responsibility should the European and American a target= "_blank" href= "http://www.91se91.com/" > clothing "/a" brand take on the order made to the garment factory? At present, there is such a phenomenon in the international apparel production chain. Many factories with higher production standards often subcontract part of the order to some small workshops, so as to reduce the cost and meet the delivery time of the customers. The wages of workers in these small factories are very low, or even less than the minimum monthly salary of 38 dollars in the Bangladesh garment industry. Secondly, factory sites are often located in some illegal buildings with poor fire prevention facilities and lack of enough escape exits. < /p >
< p > in the process of forming the production chain, international buyers may be able to shirk their knowledge without knowing anything about it. But in pursuit of low cost, ignoring the safe production environment of the factory is a common problem for retailers. Even retailers who have requirements for production conditions will not be as harsh as domestic companies when they check the relevant inspection certificates of the foundry factories. Because everyone knows well about infrastructure construction, it is bound to push up a certain cost of production. < /p >
< p > according to the relevant provisions of the United Nations, the government and large companies must be responsible for protecting workers' rights. That is to say, in addition to the government, those western brands with production orders must also shoulder the responsibility to solve these problems. Kirena, Secretary General of industriALL, said: "if you can't create a safe labor environment, there will be no workers and trade unions." He appealed to brands and retailers to make more efforts to pay wages that guarantee quality of life. < /p >
< p > it is reported that the garment factory in the collapsed building is an OEM for "new weaving tide", "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/news/ "Mirage dress < /a >. These companies take orders from some well-known clothing retailers, including Dressbarn in the US, Primark in Britain and Mango in Spain. In the collapsed ruins, we also saw costumes marked with Benetton and Cato fashion labels. < /p >
At present, British fashion retailers Primark and Matalan, as well as Canadian brand Joe Fresh, have agreed to compensate suppliers who have been killed in collapsed buildings and provide food and assistance to the victims. P Other clothing retailers and brands have agreed to complete the fire and construction safety plan for OEM factories later this month to prevent the recurrence of disasters. < /p >
< p > < strong > clothing exports or affected < /strong > < /p >
After the P incident, officials of the United Nations International Labour Organization urged the country to strengthen supervision and close the garment factories lacking safe production conditions in May 4th. The EU side said that they are considering appropriate actions, including the adoption of the GSP policy to restrict Bangladesh's export duty free and quota free exports to Bangladesh, so as to improve the production environment of Bangladesh's "a href=" http://www.91se91.com "garment industry" /a. < /p >
< p > Bangladesh has 5000 "a target=" _blank "href=" http://www.91se91.com/ "> textile" /a "garment factories and 4 million textile production workers. The garment industry creates an annual export volume of US $19 billion, which accounts for 80% of the total export volume of the country. Among them, the EU is an important export market for Bangladesh. According to the EU trade data, in 2012, the European Union imported textiles and clothing from Bangladesh to 8 billion 560 million euros, an increase of 7.3% over the same period last year. A statement issued by EU officials earlier this month pointed out that as the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, the EU is very concerned about the labor conditions, health and safety regulations in Bangladesh's textile and garment factories. < /p >
"P > EU Trade Commissioner Carlo Degucht said:" this disaster has exposed the problems of Bangladesh garment manufacturers. After a few months ago, a fire broke out in a textile factory, which killed more than 100 workers, and the tragedy was repeated again. In view of the above events, the EU called on Bangladesh authorities to take immediate action to ensure compliance with international labour standards across all parts of the country, including the provisions of the International Labour Organization (ILO). < /p >
At the present stage, if the European Union or other purchasers impose stringent trade measures on Bangladesh's "a href=" http://www.91se91.com "clothing export" /a ", millions of workers will lose their jobs, and the blow to Bangladesh's clothing industry is self-evident. The Ministry of Commerce has asked the European Union not to impose severe sanctions against the collapse of the building, so as to avoid hurting the garment processing industry playing an important role in its economy. < /p >